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With Illustra- tions by J. D. Watson. Whiston's Josephus. Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson. Plat^Yl. JUNIUS INCLUDING LETTERS BY THE SAME WRITER, UNDER OTHER SIGNATURES (NOW FIRST COLLECTED). TO WHICH ARE ADDED, HIS CONFIDENTIAL CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR WILKES, AND HIS PRIVATE LETTERS ADDRESSED TO MR H, S. WOODFALL. A PRELIMINARY ESSAY, NOTES, FAC-SIMILES, &c. Stat nomlnis umbra. LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, Limitel BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL GLASGOW, MANCHESTER, AND NEW YORK 1890 LON DON : BrADEURV, ACNEW, & CO. LIMD., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIAHS. stack Annex mo PREFACE. EvnRV reader is acquainted with the fruidess eftorts which have been made to solve the mystery of the authorship of the Letters of Junius. These inquiries, which may be said to have begun with the pubHcation of the first letter in 1769, are still being prosecuted in 187^, and will probably continue to amuse the leisure of the literary woild for many years to come. To these speculations we have nothing new to contribute. We have no theories, we have no opinions. It seems to us that the fog ill which the Jnniiin paternity is wrapped is just as thick now as it was when our forefathers were scratching their wigs and whispering their suspicions to one another. Dimly -burning lanterns are waved amid this fog and cast an illumination of some few inches in circumference around their blinded anri energetic bearers ; but it is not too much to say that in spite of the prodigiou;; efforts that have b<;en made to prove Sir Philip Francis the author of the Letters, scarcely a fact in support of his pretensions lias been advanced which might not be matched with one equally convincing in support of the claims of Dyer and Burke, of Boyd and Dunning, of the Duke of Portland and Lord George Sackville, of Earl Temple and Single-speech Hamilton. Who was yunius f All are agreed, whoever he was, that he was intimately acquainted with the inner and secret life of the War-office ; that he was intimately acquainted with the inner and secret life of the Foreign-office ; that he was about the court ; ^ that if he were not a member of the Lower House, he was frequently present at the debates held there ; that at one time he hated and at another time admired and defended Lord Chatham ; that he had a great personal kindness for Woodfall, his printer ; that he was ti man of brilliant parts, immense courage, and dogged perseverance ; who did an in- calculable amount of good and not a little harm ; who crushed the Duke of Grafton and insulted the Earl of Mansfield ; who was a scarecrow of violence to court-jobbers and back-stairs officials, and who conquered the law with his libels. But the man himself is not less absolutely unknown to us than the Man in tlie Iron Mask. It is perfectly intelligible that a great literary mystery of this kind should exercise a pecu- liar fascination upon the mind. The profound learning of Bentley checked a con- troversy which Boyle's elegance, decorated with Atterbury"s tinsel, might have kept alive to the days of Porson. The forgeries of Macpherson advocated by the well-meaning ' Walpoliana, vol. i. p. 71. 'Garrick, dining with me, told me that having been at Woodfall's, he learnt that the yiutins of that day would be the last, upon which, hurrying to St James's, he reported this intelligence to several people. Ne.xt day he received a letter from Junius, inform- ing him that if he used such freedoms, a letter to him should appear. From this Garrick con- cluded that the author v.as about the court.' PREFACE. but pedantic Blair was a sin that descended through several generations and made a controversialist of Goethe long after the absurd cause had been abandoned on both sides the Tweed. The internal evidence against the antiquity of the Rowley poems fortunately overpowered the clever reasoning of Tyrwhitt ; but William Ireland, backed by Parr, Kemble, and Croft, might long have perplexed the predecessors of Mr Payne Collier, had not the youth's conscience hastened to the rescue of a long-suffering public. It is otherwise with Junius. He is an incomparable enigma. Men of the greatest genius have fastened upon this abstraction and proved him— a mystery. It is our in- tention to advert briefly to some of the speculations which have been directed towards the identification of this ' airy nothing ' with various public characters. It M-as Sir Joshua Reynolds' opinion that Samuel Dyer was the author of the letters, and that he was assisted by Burke and Burke's cousin William. Dyer is represented as a man of great attainments, but so modest and reserved that he would frequently sit silent in company for an hour, and seldom speak unless appealed to ; when he generally showed himself master of the subject that was under discussion. i Through the influence of his friend Chamier,2 Dyer procured some post connected with the army ; and Junius in his second letter exhibits an intimate acquaintance with the then state of the War Departn>ent. Dyer was a complete master of French and Italian, and had spent some years abroad : and one of his first literary attempts was a translation of ' Les Moeurs." In Junius there are one or two gallicisms ; he was apparently much used to French reading, and when he had occasion to divide his paragraphs numerically, he adopted the French mode, i°. 2", &c. It was long supposed that Junius died soon after his papers were discontinued. Dyer died shortly after the letters had ceased to appear. William Burke went to his lodgings immediately after his death, and tore many of his friend's papers into minute fragments. Sir Joshua Reynolds saw these broken papers scattered all over the room. This hypothesis, it was held, explained many circum- stances that had before puzzled all the conjecturers. It accounted for the prompt and intimate knowledge that Junius exhibited in his letters after the event or whatever else he discussed. Dyer lived on such friendly terms with Burke that from him he could learn everything that was going on or that was even meditated. It accounted also for the novelty of the style ; and Burke's corrections and interpolations are everywhere dis- cernible in those passages the resemblance of which to his known style caused him to be regarded by many as the writer of the letters. The notion, indeed, that if Burke were not the author he was very largely concerned in the manufacture of the letters, was long current in Burke's own family. This im- pression was entirely dispelled by the publication of Junius' letters to Mr Granville. If further evidence were needed in refutation of the conjecture, it might be found in the great improbability of a man of Burke's fine character countenancing anything that bore severely upon the Duke of Grafton, who, to quote Sir James Prior, ' while a minister exhibited kindly feeling and recommended him strongly to office under Lord Chatham "as the readiest man upon all points in the House." ' 3 But the most convincing of all arguments is Burke's spontaneous denial of the authorship. ' I should have believed Burke,' says Johnson, ' to be _7«/////'-r because I know no man but Burke who is capable of writing these letters ; but Burke spontaneously denied it to me. The case would have * Maloniana, 119. "^ Anthony Chamier. He is frequently mentioned in Boswcll. 3 Life of Edmond Malone, 423. See also the same writer's ' Life of Burke, vol. 1. p. 1S6. PREFACE. been different had I asked him if he was the author; a man so questioned as to an anonymous pubhcation, may think he has a right to deny it.'i And yet as late as 1775 Johnson still professed his belief in Burke's authorship. 'Johnson said that he looked upon Burke to be the author of Junius, and that though he would not take him contra viundum, yet he would take him against any man. Baretti was of the same mind.' 2 Grattan was also of this opinion. ' Three persons are considered as having the best claim to the authorship of Junius' Letters — Gibbon, Hamilton, and Burke. . . I incline to think that Burke was Junius.' Gibbon is out of the question ; but some good arguments have been advanced in support of William Gerard Hamilton. ' I really suspect Single-speech Hamilton to have been the author from the following circumstance,' says Walpole. ' One day at a house where he happened to be, he repeated the contents of that day's Junius ; while in fact the printer had delayed the publication till next day. Hamilton was also brought forward by Lord Holland ; and it is remarkable that Lord Holland, though very open to censure, is not once mentioned.' 3 Wraxall, after fully weighing all circum- stances, gives it as his conviction that Hamilton was Junius. ' I well remember," says Mrs Piozzi, 'when they (the letters) w^ere most talked of — and N. Seward said, " How the arrows of Junius were sure to wound and likely to stick." " Yes, sir," replied Dr Johnson, "yet let us distinguish between the venom of the shaft and the vigour of the bow," at which expression Mr Hamilton's countenance fell in a manner that to 7ne betrayed the author. Johnson repeated the expression in his next pamphlet— and Junius wrote no more.' ■* In Malone's opinion, Hamilton was quite capable of having written these letters, but he finds his style very different. ' He would have still more point than they exhibit, and certainly more Johnsonian energy.' Moreover he was all his life distinguished for political timidity and indecision, and dared not, even under a mask, have entered into a decided warfare with persons whom he might find necessary afterwards to him as colleagues. ' This Mr Hamilton is extremely tall and handsome,' writes Miss Burney, ' has an air of haughty and fiishionable superiority ; is intelligent, dry, sarcastic, and clever. I should have received much pleasure from his conversational powers had I not been previously prejudiced against him by hearing that he is infinitely wilful, double, and crafty,' ^ These very qualities are held as proving decisively that he was not the author of the letters : for, says Malone, ' he could not have divested himself of the apprehension of a discovery, having long accustomed his mind to too refined a policy, and being very apt to suppose that many things are brought about by scheme and machination which are merely the offspring of chance.' ^ One of the last persons we should expect to find among the number of the suspected, is Glover, the author of 'Leonidas.' What reason is given for believing this poet Junius we have not discovered. Anderson in his Life of Glover makes no reference to the accusation. His speeches printed in the 'London Magazine" and 'Annals of Europe' are called by his biographer elegant and spirited : but his prose is not the prose of Junius. He was accredited with a great knowledge of public affairs, and his ' in- ■ Boswell, 625. ^ Dr T. Campbell's Diary, published in 1854. 3 Walpoliana, 71. ** Mrs Piozzi's Autobiography, by Hayward, vol. i. 343. Johnson attacked Junius in his tract on the Falkland Islands, and it is ludicrous to read of him delighting his imagination with the thoughts of having destroyed his opponent. 5 Diary and Letters, vol. i. 247. 6 Maloniana, 419. PREFACE. formation concerning trade and commerce pointed him out to the merchants of London as a proper person to conduct their application to Parliament on the subject of the neg- lect of tlieir trade. He accepted the ofTice, and in summing up the evidence gave very striking proofs of his oratorical powers. "i Glover died in November, 1785, aged 73. The pretensions of Delolmeand the Duke of Portland are ridiculed by Lord Brougham . He points out that the sole ground for presuming the authorship of the Duke lies in the interest betrayed by Junius in the question respecting the honour of Inglewood Forest, which, he says, occupied the attention at tliat time of every man who talked or wrote upon politics. Delolme he characterizes as an extremely feeble writer, and one uncon- sciously ignorant of most constitutional points. ^ Little is to be said in support of the candidature of Lord Chatham, Dunning, Lord Temple, or Lord Sackville, though an ingenious attempt was made to identify one or the other of these last-mentioned noble- men with Junius by ^L Charles de Remusat in the * L'Angleterre au Di.xhuitieme Siecle.' \\'e now come to Sir Philip Francis, on whom it is proper that we should bestow the greatest share of our attention. His claims have been advocated by many distinguished men ; and by a large and intelligent class his identity with Junius is considered proven. For our part, we shall avoid offering any opinion on the subject one way or the other ; vve propose merely to present, in as clear a light as we can, the reasons ad- vanced by those who believe and by those who deny Sir Philip Francis to be the author of the Letters. For this purpose we shall epitomize the reasoning pursued by Lord Brougham in 1817,3 which we believe may be held fairly to express the opinions still preserved by the believers in the Franciscan theory. Lord Brougham first deals with the question of internal evidence, and transcribes a few specimens of Francis's writings, which he considers amply justify the assertion that the author of Junius, whoever he might be, was not a person of greater talents than Francis. He then submits certain extracts from a speech deUvered in 1797 by Francis, and exclaims : ' We humbly conceive that the most careless reader must be struck, not only with the general ability and eloquence of all these passages, but with their extra- ordinaiy coincidence with the Letters of Junius in all their most remarkable charar.- teristics. The boldness and even fierceness of \\\e tone — the studied force and energy of the diction— the pointed and epigrammatic cast of the style — the concise and fre- quent metaphors — and the mixture of the language of business and affairs, with a cer- tain scholastic elegance and elaborate sarcasm." He next goes on to consider various particular circumstances of a personal and historical character, which go much further than the general indications of internal evidence to make out the proposition contended for. I. He finds that the dates of the Junian Letters exactly tally with Francis's re- sidence in this country and his going abroad. 2. Francis was a clerk in the War-office, and Junius exhibits an intimate acquaintance with the business and persons of that de- partment. 3. Francis was appointed a clerk in the Foreign-office in 1756. Junius shows an uncommon acquaintance with and mterest in the transactions of the Foreign Depart- ment as well as the War-office ; and the period to which his knowledge refers, precedes the death of Lord Egremont in 1763. 4. The manner in which Junius always treats * Anderson's British Poets. ' Life of Glover,' p. 469. ' Kdinburgh Review, vol. xxix. p. 95. 3 This article was published in Nov. 1817. Francis died Dec. 22, 1818. It was therefore in his power to publish a contradiction. PREFACE. Lord Chatham coincides exactly with the expressions of Sir Philip in his speeches and writings. 5. The high adniiration of Lord Chatham which yuniiis shows is not recon- cilable with his kindness towards his antagonist Lord Holland. But the history of Sir Philip explains this. His father was Lord Holland's domestic chaplain. Sir Philip himself received from Lord Holland his first place in the Foreign-office ; and sentiments of gratitude would overconie the natural inducement which Junius had to join in the attacks upon Lord Holland. 6. From his private correspondence it is plain that Junius bore a great personal good-will towards Woodfall. Woodfall was educated at St Paul's School, where Francis is known to have been bred ; and Woodfall's son would afterwards speak of the acquaintance formed at that school between his father and Francis as having given rise to a mutual kindness during their after lives. 7. There is reason to believe that Junius was known to Garrick ; Sir Francis, in the Preface to 'England," says that he enjoyed the friendship and esteem of Garrick. 8. It is un- questionable that Junius used to attend the debates in Parliament, and take notes of the more important speeches ; Francis attended the debates during the same period. 9. There are many favourite expressions in their printed works which are common to eacli ; such as 'Of his side' — 'So far forth' — ' /";•(?_}/ never mind' — ' Pray icW me' — &c. 10. Lord Brougham then tells the following story : Mr Jackson of Ipswich was in Woodfall's employment at the period of the Letters ; and he states that he once saw a tall gentleman, dressed in a light coat, with bag and sword, throw into the office door opening in Fry Lane, a letter of Junius's, which he picked up and immediately fol- lowed the bearer of it into St Paul's Churchyard, where he got into a hackney-coach and drove off. Taylor, in his ' Identity of Junius,' states that the figure and appearance of Sir Philip Francis answer to this description as far as it goes. 11. There are various peculiarities of spelling which occur uniformly in both writers. Lastly, though the letters are known to be written in a feigned hand, the general character agrees well with that of Francis.^ Such is Lord Brougham's reasoning, taken in the order in which his arguments are stated. We will now add some further testimonies in support of his opinion. ' My own impression,' says Rogers, the poet, 'is that the Letters of Junius were written by Sir Philip Francis. In a speech which I once heard him deliver at the Mansion House concerning the partition of Poland, I had a striking proof that Francis possessed no ordinary powers of eloquence.' - Mr Herman Merivale is equally satisfied : ' I regard,' he says, ' the authorship of Junius by Francis, as proved to reasonable satisfaction by the arguments which long ago seemed conclusive to most of our literary men of emin- ence who have carefully examined the subject.' ^ Lord Macaulay's opinion is well known ; he declares that the evidence in favour of Francis ' is such as would support a verdict in a civil, nay, in a criminal proceeding.' Sir James Mackintosh was so per- fectly satisfied that Francis was the man that he begins an entry in his journal (1817) thus : ' Dec. 8. Dined with Junius. His wife is a woman of informed mind and ' In 1871 was published 'The Handwriting of Junius Professionally Investigated,' by Mr Charles Chabot, edited by the Hon. E. Twistleton. A writer in the ' Quarterly Review' declares that this book has settled once for all the long-disputed controversy. Further than this, it is not necessary to refer to this publication : but the reader will presently remark the entirely different views expressed by a writer in the same Review in 1868, upon the identity of Francis with the Letters. = Table-Talk. 3 Note in Forster's ' Life of Goldsmith.' I u* \ PREFACE. as:reeable person. The vigorous hatreds which seem to keep Francis ali\c arc very amusing," &c.i Let us now turn to the other side of the question. It is shown that until forty years had expired since the publication of tlie last of tlie Junian letters, the name of Francis was never mentioned in connection with them : which is represented as a fact of con- siderable importance, since it is to be expected tl:at contemporaries should be acquainted with a variety of citcumstances bearing upon the question of identity of which their posterity cannot but be ignorant. It is urged with great emphasis by Sir Fortunatus Dwarris that no one who knew, or heard, or read Francis, thought him capable of pro- ducing yiaiius. Tierney, who was accjuainted with Francis, declared that ' he knew no better reason for believing the fellow to be Junius than that he was always confound- edly proud of something and no one could ever guess what it could be.' It is laid dow n broadly, as a matter of fact, that in the cases of all the candidates (thirty or forty in number) peculiarities of spelling or expression are almost invariably forthcoming : and that the same thing may be said of the handwriting of yunius, which clearly supports Mr Smith's theory that Lord Temple wrote the Letters with his wife for an amanuensis. The War-office paper by which Lord Macaulay triumphantly establishes the connection oi Junius \\\\\\ the War-office turned out to be a fiction or fancy of Mr Parkes. If Francis were Junius he systematically assailed Wood, Welbore Ellis, Lord Egremont, Lord Barrington, and Calcraft, to all whom he was bound by ties of gratitude and by the liveliest sense of favours to come. — Junius was an accomplished rhetorician ; but the warmest champion of the Franciscan theory, Mr Merivale, admits that Francis's style was hard and meagre, without grace, polish, variety, or flow. — It is next shown that the times at which the letters of Junius were received by Woodfall do not tally with the dates of Francis's known residence in London.^ 'The late attempt,' says a writer in 1833, ^ ' to give the honour to Sir Philip Francis has failed like the rest, and from a cause admitting of no answer. Sir Pliilip had not talents for the task. Writing all his life and even emulously adopting the style of Junius, he never was able to adopt his spirit. The habiliments were there : the man to wear tlicm was wanting. The epigrammatic turn, the terseness, the virulence, the abniptncss, all the errors were there, and all exaggerated : but the redeeming qualities of the great w^riter — the vividness, the fine originality— the concealed metaphor shining through and giving beauty to the simplest phrase— the intense poignancy striking like a 'dagger to the heart, were not there, and Junius has gone to his inimortality unencumbered by the clay of Sir Philip Francis.' Sir N. H. Nicholas, after years of exploration, arrived at the same conclusion. One thing, however, we cannot fail to observe in the arguments that are put forth respecting the Franciscan theory : we mean the tendency on the one hand to unduly exalt, on the other hand to unduly depreciate, the merits of the man whose identity is supported or denied. It is not perhaps unreasonable that the advocates of Francis should extol him as a great genius since it is their business to prove him the author of a very wonderful book. But it does not necessarily follow that he should be a mediocrist, an insignificant fel- low, as he has been termed, because his opponents are persuaded that he did not write the letters. Some who have gone so far as to admit the most distinctive and telling * Two stanch Franciscans are Lord Campbell and Earl Stanhope. ^ Quarterly Review, vol. cxxiv., art. ' Lord Macaulay and his School.' 3 Blackwood's Magazine. PREFACE. points in the reasoning of Lord Brougham and Mr Taylor, still refuse to believe Francis capable of the letters, and suggest that he was probably the amanuensis of Jioiiiis. Without committing ourselves to any opinion, we still cannot help thinking that it is not necessary to represent Francis as an incompetent man in order to demolish the theories of the Franciscans. Some allowance no doubt is to be made for the very active prejudices with which the stories that were related of Francis's temper and man- ners caused his name to be pursued by those who refused to recognize him as yuniiis. Even Macaulay, a zealous advocate of Sir Philip, owned that the man was arrogant and insolent and malevolent : and during his lifetime many anecdotes were current of the ferocity or sullenness of his behaviour. Wraxall declares he never saw him smile, and that he was bursting with bile. But this assertion scarcely qualifies an outburst of profound admiration for the man's genius. * Nature,' he says, ' had confen'ed on him talents such as are rarely dispensed to any individual — a vast range of ideas, a retentive memory, a classic mind, considerable command of language, energy of thought and ex- pression.' Judging him by his career, by his speeches, and even by his writings, it seems to us that Sir Philip Francis was a man of first-rate abilities ; and whether our estimate of him be just or not, we cannot conceive that it should be in any wise prejudiced by the most narrow inspection of hk pretensions to the authorsliip of the Letters. However, assuming, as most of our readers probably will, the Junian riddle to be still unsolved, it is impossible to think of the writer of these, wonderful Letters without feel- ings of the deepest astonishment and admiration. In an age when the rancour of political animosity made jealousy and curiosity two very fervent sentiments, this sur- prising writer, surrounded on all sides by men open-cared to hear of him, open-eyed to stare at him, preserved an impenetrable masquerade. What an unutterable sense of loneliness must sometimes have possessed him ! There is an austerity in his triumph that is almost painful to think on. He must liave thought in whispers and muffled his very instincts. He had unbounded fame ; but he could not enjoy it, being unknown. What transports he knew were surely tiger-like : it was the sudden leap and dcadh- blow that composed the sum of his literary pleasures. We may figure him wringing in the morning the hand that ere nightfall he had resolved should be laid agninst a wounded heart. He glided through his brief span of being, a very shadow : wielding material weapons with shadowy hands ; making his very wit tragical with the spirit of the mystery that hedged him about. Let Mr Forster speak for us — he is never more eloquent than when he is dealing with ytnuus. ' A friend of Gray relates that he had an appointment to meet the poet (Goldsmith) at his lodgings in Jermyn Street, and found him so deeply plunged in the columns of a newspaper, which with his dinner had been sent him from a neighbouring tavern, that h.is attention was with difficulty drawn from it. "Take this," said he in a tone of excitement: "here is such writing as I never before saw in a newspaper." It was the first letter with the signature of Junius. But it is not what we must now associate witli Junius: not the leckless calumnies and scandals ; not the personal spites and hatreds ; not such halting liberalism as his approval of the taxation of America, and his protest against the dis- franchisement of Old Sarum, which then so completely seized upon the reason as well as the tempers of men. It was the startling manifestation of power and courage ; it was the sense that unscrupulous ministers had now an enemy as unscrupulous ; that here was knowledge of even the worst chicaneries of office which not the most sneering official could make light of ; that no minister in either House, no courtier at St James's, r.* 2 PREFACE. no obsequious judge at Westminster, no supercilious secretary in any of the departments, could hereafter feel hivisclf safe from treachery and betrayal ; and from what hitherto had only been a vulgar, half-articulate cry from the Brentford hustings, or at best a faint whisper imperfectly echoed from St Stephen's, was now made the properly and enjoy- ment of every section of the people— of the educated by its exquisite polish, of the vulgar by its relish of malice, of the great middle-class by its animated plainness, vigorous shrewdness, and dogged perseverance.' This great man's remarkable words are : — ' I am the sole depositary of my secret, and it shall die with me.' Is that secret known ? CONTENTS. — ■• 1 rAGii PAGE PRELIMINARY ESSAY I fall in vindication of himself against the Mr Burke's opinion of Junius, iioig 2 charge in the city petition, of being ' the Lord North's „ „ 2 public defaulter of unaccounted mil- Story of the late duke of Richmond and lions,' «^Vt? 60 W. G. Hamilton, note 4 History of the dispute between the rt. Opinion of the style of JuNifS by a con- hon. George Onslow, now lord Onslow, temporary hostile writer, note 29 and Mr Home afterwards Mr Tooke, Persons to whom the letters have been note ... 62 attributed ... ... ... 33 Remonstrance of ihe city of Westminster, On ti.e pretensions of Mr Charles Lloyd 33 note ... ... ... 69 „ ,, John Roberts 33 Letter to lord North, signed Brutus, note 73 ,, ,, Samuel Dyer 33 Conclusion of a letter from Mr Wilkes to ,, „ the rt. hon. Edm. Mr Home, note 74 Burke* ' 33 Letter from Junius to Mr David Garriok 75 Extracts from Mr Burke's speech on Mr Wilkes's reply to Mr Home, and com- American taxation 34 pliments to the genius of Mr Garrick, On the pretensions of the rt. hon. \V. note 75 G. Hamilton 38 Case of Meares and Shepley against An- E.\tracts from Mr Malone's Preface to sell, note 79 Parliamentary Logic, in disproof that Hamilton was the writer of Ju.vics ... 33 PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE be- On the pretensions of Dr Butler, bishop of tween Junius and I\Ir Wilkes S7 Hereford 30 Copy of the resolutions of the Supporters On the pretensions of the Rev. Philip of the Bill of Rights, «^/^ 91 Rosenhagen 40 Extracts from Mr Wilkes's letter to the On the pretensions of general Charles Lee 40 Livery of London, in defence of himself Extracts from general Lee's Letters ... 43 from an attack made on him by Mr On the pretensions of Mr Wilkes 44 Townshend, ftote i<^5 ,, ,, Mr Hugh Macau- Extract from Messrs Wilkes and Bull's lay Boyd 44 address to the Livery on employing the On the pretensions of Mr Dunning, after- military under the pretence of a.ssisting .vards lord Ashburton 51 ih civil power, note 106 On the pretensions of Henry Flood, Esq. M.P. of Ireland 51 TUNIUS'S Dedication to the EnglishNation 112 Extracts from a speech of Mr Flood ... 52 Preface 115 On the pretensions of lord George Sackville 32 Woodfall's Case, w^/^ LETTER 117 PRIVATE LETTERS addressed to Mr I. Jmnius to the printer of the P. A. 123 H. S. WooDF.\LL by Junius 55 II. Sir Wm Drr.per's answer to the Middlesex Petition to the king, note ... 55 foregoing letter of Junius, ad- City of London „ note ... 53 dressed to the printer of the P. A. 133 Lord Holland's letter to the lord mayor Short sketch of sir William Draper's (Mr Beckford). «tf^2ti Address, remonstrance, and peti- tion of il'.e city of London to tlie ki'ig, note Hi.« Majesty's answer to the fore f^oing, note Jjint address of Lords and Coiii- mons reprobating the city ad- dress, note ... His Majesty's answer to the same, note Another address, remonstr.ance, I'vrc, from the ciiy, in conse- quence of the preceding, note His Majesty's answer to it, note The lord mayor's (Beckford; re- ply to his ^Majesty's answer, note ... 229 Lord Barrington's letter to IMr Justice Ponton, note ... ... 231 Mr Dunning's letter to the cham- berlain of Londim, on receiving the freedom of the city, note ... S32 173 I .'cxvviii. Junius to the printer of the P. A. 233 159 , 160 I 162 170 172 178 227 22S 228 229 XX XIX. Octennial act of the Irish parlia- ment, note ... _ Origin of the dispute with Ameri- ca, 7iote Failure of the plan to reduce the anecdote of the duke, notes i83 four per cents, w^/t" 241 ; On the contest for mayor, &c. for Case of ALatthew and Patrick Ken- Bedford, note ... 190 nedy, note 242 \ XXIV. Sir W. Draper to Junius 19.T XI.. Junius to lord North 24.5 1 XXV. Junius to sir W. Draper 194 Intelligence extraordinary. — Re- , XXVI. Sir W. Draper to Junius 196 signation of colonel Luttrell, t XXVII. Junius to the printer of the who had been appointed adju- P. A 198 tant-general in Ireland, ncie 244 . Sir W. D. in explanation of his xi.i. To the rt. hon. lord Mansfield 244 voyage to America, note 198 Lord Mansfield. E.vplanation of M. Tuilius in defence of the duke the story of his having drank the of Bedford, note 199 Pretender's health upon his 1 xxvni Junius to the printer of the P. A, 201 knees, note 245 , XXIX . Philo Junius „ „ ,, 202 Judge Yates. — Anecdote of him. XXX Ju.'.ius „ ,, „ 204 note 246 General Gansel's case, and brigade Bingley. — Further accour.t of his CONTEXTS. XI.V XLVI. XLVIII. XI. IX. discharge from prison, note ,., Libels. — Unsuccessful attempt to bring in an Enacting Bill to enable juries to try the whole issue, note Mr Fox more successful at a sub- sequent period, note ... JlNR s to the printer of the P. A. Dr Johnson. — Extracts from his 'Thoughts on the late trans- actions respecting Falkland's Islands,' fiote Letter to the printer of the P. A. on the suiiject of a cancel in the foregoing pa:nphlet, wf/^ Philo Junius to the printer of the P. A Philo [unius to the printer of the ¥.A.,fu^/e JiNiLS to the printer of the P. .\. I'he duke of Richmond's moiiun for an .iddress to his Majesty, and lord Chatham's speech ia support of it, Mo/t' Philo Junius to the printer of the P. A Erasure of the decision of the House of Commons on the Mid- dlesex election, from their Jour- nals, with Mr. Wilkes's speech in prefacing his motion for that purpose, fiofe Short biographical notice of Mr Wilkes's political life, from the period of publishing the North Briton, No. 45, to his death, fioie Philo Junius tfi the printer of the P. A Jl Nils to the duke of Grafton ... Election of Messrs Wilkes and Bull to be sheriffs of London, and Mr Robinson's note in fa- vour of the ministerial candi- dates, fiote Origin of the dispute between Jf- NR s and Mr Home, ^/ote The Rev. Mr Home to Junius Whipcord to the Rev. Mr Home, .accusing him of plagiarism, fiofe JiNiLS to the Rev. ^Ir Home... Account of the quarrel between Mr Wilkes and Mr Hornc, and ex- tracts from various letters which passed between them during the dispute, tmte The Rev. Mr Home to Junius Mr Home's explanation, as ex- tracted from one of his letters, of his reasons for originally sup- porting Mr Wilkes, note Mr Wilkes's reply to a passage in the foregoing extract, nofe ... .\GE LETTER 247 I I VI. 257 ' I. VII. zCZ ■2Cu Si 274 ' l.VllI. LIX. LXIV. I. XV. W. B. to the Rev. Mr Home, on a passage in his letter, taken from a remark made by Mr Wilkes on the margin of his Clarendon, ttote ... c83 Vote of thanks from the Common Council to lord Chatham, for his declaration in favour of short parliaments, note 290 1 Lord Chatham's reply to the com- mittee deputed to present it ... =•:- ■ Ji'.NiLS to the printer of the P. A. 297 Philo Junius „ ,, 206 The Rev. Mr Home to Junius '-07 Junks to the duke of Grafton ... aqZ Statement of the cause between the duke of Portland and sir j. Lowther, 7/otc ... 299 Decision of the coiut of E.xche- qiier on it, «ject of America, 7iote 390 XXIII XXV. XXVI. 368 370 373 373 575 376 37S 380 380 ^81 ^82 383 386 333 389 CONTEXTS. LETTER r.\GE xxxii. Lucius to the printer of the P. A. — Sir J. Amherst's disnrission 391 xxxiir. Atticus to the printer of the P. A. on the general state of the country ... 391 XXXIV. Valerius to the printer oT the P. A. attributing the dismission of sir J. Amherst to the influ- ence of lord Bute 393 XXXV. Lucius to the earl of Hills- borough, on sir J.A.'s dismis- sion 396 XXXVI. Cieophas to the printer of the P. A. in defence of the earl of Hillsborough ... 398 XXXVII. Lucius to the earl of H. in reply to Cieophas 399 Lord H.'s letter to sir J. A. and A. B.'s answer, rtotcs ... 399, 400 XXXVIII. L. L. to the printer of the P. A. in support of sir J. A. ... 402 XXXIX. Lucius to the earl of Hills- borough. — The same subject continued ... 402 XI.. Cieophas to the printer of the P. A. in answer to Lucius ... 403 XLi. Lucius to the earl of H. — At- tack upon his Lordship con- tinued 404 xi.ii. The same to the same 406 Conclusion of Scrutator's letter in answer to the foregoing, note 407 Corrector in reply to some an- swers given to Lucius's pre- ceding letter, note 408 xi.iii. Lucius to the earl of H. on the subject of sir J. A 408 XLiv. The same to the same 410 XLV. Atticus to the printer of the P. A. on the state of the nation 411 XLVr. Temporum Felicitas to the print- er of the P. A. — Ironical de- fence of lord Hillsborough in the affair of sir J. A 413 XLVii. Brutus to the printer of the P. A. in reply to an attack on the letter of Atticus 414 XLvni. Atticus to the printer of the P. A. giving a description of the members who formed the ad- ministration, together with the then state of the country ... 414 xi.TX. Why? to the printer of the P. A. on the appointment of lord Rochford to be secretary for the Northern department ... 418 L. Brutus to the printer of the P. A. in support of the letters of At- ticus 479 LI. Atticus to the printer of the P. A. — The subject of his last con- tinued 420 Lii. Juxifs to the printer of the P. A. — Observations on the conduct of the duke of Grafton and lord Camden towards Mr Wilkes 422 LIU. To the It. hon. G. Grenville on American affairs Character of Mr Grenville, an anecdote respecting Florida and Louisiana, by Mr Knox, form- erly his private secretary, 710 te Liv. Junius to the printer of the P. A. in consequence of the monody on his supposed death by Poet- ikastos The monody, and Silurus's de- scription of Junius, 7iote LV. Your real Friend, to the marquis of Granby, to induce his voce against administration, on the question of seating col. Lutt- rell for Middlesex LVi. Simple.^ to the printer of the P. A. — An attack on the duke of Grafton and sir William Blackstone, for the pardon of M'Quirk LVii. Amicus Curi?e to the printer of the P. A. in defence of the Let- ters of Junius Lvni. Junia to the printer of the P. A. — A pretended female challenge to Junius, and in support of the decision of the House of Commons on the Middlesex election Lix. Junius to the printer of the P. A. assuming Junia to be his wife Junius disavows, though not di- rectly, the last letter, 7ioti' ... i.x. Augur to the printer of the P. A. reprobating the abusive lan- guage of the ministerial writers i.xi. A. B. to the duke of Grafton, printed by the desire of, though not written bj', Junius, on cer- tain justices of the peace being made for the county of Leices- ter at the request of lord Den- bigh Lxii. Messala to the printer of the P. A, in reply to the foregoing LXiii. X. X. to the printer of the P.A. with a letter from Mr Onslow to Mr Wilkes Another letter of Mr Onslow to Mr Wilkes, wtf/^ LXiv. X. X. to the printer of the P.A. in answer to Modestus on the subject of general Gansel's rescue i.xv. Y. Y. to the printer of the P.A. being a reply to the preceding letter Lxvi. X. X. to the printer of the P.A. in rejoinder Lxvii. Modestus to Junius, in support of the officers concerned in gen- eral Gansel's rescue Lxvm. X. X. to the printer of the P. A. on the subject of the foreg-sing 433 434 435 435 43^ 437 438 CONTEXTS. LXIX. .XXIV. I.XXV LXXXI I. XXXI I TACE Domitian to the printer of the P. A.— Sketches of the cha- racters of several members of administration .. 44^ Moderatus to the printer of the P. A. on the dispute which oc- curred \sith the sheriffs of London previous to presenting the cit J' address, &;c. ... 443 Further particulars of this dispute, with lord Weymouth's letters, note ... 443 Q in the Corner to the printer of the P. A., wherein Miss Urad- shaw is charged with havmg sold the place of surveyor of the pines in America 44; A Labourer in the same Cause, to the printer of the P. A., in dis- sent to a recommendation that Mr Wilkes should stand for- ward as a candidate for the city of London on the death of Al- derman Beckford ... ^ ... 44*^ Mr Alderman Townshend's tri.al of the validity of the Land-tax Act, on the pretence that the intrusion of Mr Luttrell h.ad vitiated the parliament, note 446 Mr Grey Cooper to the printer of the P. A., in answer to Q in the Corner 44S Q in the Corner to the printer of the P. .A., in reply 448 Q in the Corner to Thomas Brad- shaw, E.sq., on the subject of his former letters 44^ A Labourer in the same Cause to the printer of the P. A., in sup- port of his previous opinion ... 449 Testis to the printer of the P. A., being remarks on a declaration of lord Barrington, reflecting upon all the general officers of the army ... ... ... 450 Testiculus to the printer of the P. A. — An ironical defence of his Lordship ... ... ... 451 Domitian to the printer of the P. A. — A review of the political conduct of the duke of Grafton, and imitation of his oratorial powers ... 452 Chapter of facts or materials for history 454 .Second chapter of facts, &c. ... 455 j Phalaris to the printer of the j P. A., on lord Mansfield Laying t a copy of his charge in Wood- fall's case on the table of the Hou.se of Lords 456 Nerva's defence of his Lord.ship, | note ... ... ... ... 456 j Domitian to the printer of the 1 P. A. on the re-appointment of lord Sandwich to be minister i.etti:r r.\GE for foreign affairs 459 i.xxxiv. Phalari.s' card to sir ... 460 Lxxxv. Intelligence E.xtraordinary.— On lord Sandwich's removal to the Admiralty, and Whately's con- duct after the death of G. Grenville ... ... ... 460 Lxxxvi. Anti-W. to the printer of the P. A., in defence of Junius 4C1 i.xwvil. Domitian to the printer of the P. A. — Review of the conduct of the Princess Dowager of Wales, and ob.servatlons on the different members who com- posed the ministry ... ... 4^12 i.wwiii. A member of one House, K:c. to the printer of tb.e P. A. on the convention with Spain respect- ing Falkland's Islanos ... 465 Further account of this occur- rence, note ... 465 Maserano's declaration, and the earl of Rochford's Rcceptance, note 465 Lord Chatham's queries respect- ing the declaration, and lord Mansfield's answer, «^/£? ... 466 Address of thanks carried in both Houses of parliament, wt'i'^ ... 466 Protest against the address of the House of Lords, signed by nine- teen peers, note 467 1. XXXIX. A. B. to the printer of the P. A. upon lord Gower's election to be a Knight of the Garter ... 469 xc. Vindex to the printer of the P. A. upon the Spanish declaration 470 xci. Vindex to the printer of the P. A. upon the same 471 xcil. An Englishman, &c. to the printer of the P. A. on the subject of the power of the House of Comn-.ons to imprison during pleasure ... 471 Detail of the origin of this dis- pute by the resistance of Whe- ble and Miller ... 471 The lord mayor's speech in the House of Commons, and his committal to the Tower ... 472 xrni. G. W.'s address to the lord mayor, Src, on the proclama- tion f.)r taking the printers into custody 473 Mr .Morris's speech to the Bill of Rights Society on this sub- ject, note 475, S'S' :\\. G. W.'s second address to the lord mayor, &c., on the pri- vilege of parliament ... _ ... 47c Lord chief justice Holt's opinion upon the subjects of the fore- going letters, w^/^ 479 cv. A Whig to the printer of the P. A. upon the same subjects ... 479 Minutes of the House of Com- CONTENTS. mons in respect to their mes- senger ... ... ... ... The messenger indicted in de- fiance of the resolution of the House, and a true bill found against him A noli /;vjty;// entered, and the speech of 5lr Adair against it Ml attorney-general's speech in answer Mr Adair's reply to the attorrey- general, and iioli prosequi granted ... Hcnricus to the earl of Suffolk on his joining administration Henricus to the earl of Suffolk, on the same Domitian's answer to a card call- ing upon him to bring forward the affair of f line's patent ... An Innocent Rcaderto the printer of the P. A., being an account of the emperor Valentinian ... Anti-Fo.\ to the printer of the P. A — An attack on the late ^frFo.^• A. B. to the printer of the P. A. in support of Jlnus on the bailment of Eyre One of the Bail and Anti-Junius in defence of lord Mansfield, notes Ciimbrlensis to the duke of Cujn- I'erland. — Ironical congratul.i- tion on his marriage with col. LuttrcH's si.ster, Mrs Iloiton .\GE 48t 482 4S2 4S5 A'^ a' 'I 4S9 490 491 4)1 492 492 TTER PAGE cm. Anti-Belial to the printer of the P. A. requesting that lord Mans- field might be left to the care of Junius 495 CIV. Juniper to the printer of the P.A. in support of jL'NtUS ... ... 495 cv. Veteran to lord Barrington on Mr Chamicr beingmade deputy secretary at war ^96 cvi. Anti-Belial to the printer of the P. A. in defence ,of the doc- trine maintained by Junius, in Letter L.wiii. to lord Mans- field 497 CVI I. ^'eteran to lord Barrington on his political tergiversation ... 498 cviii. ^'cteran to lord Barrington on his insult to the army and to gen- eral Harvey 50c tix. Veteran to lord Barrington. — General observations on his political conduct 501 c.\". Veteran to the printer of the 1*. .\. on the removal of Messrs DOylyand Francis from the War'Otfice 503 CXI. Sci>tusto lord Barrington. — Iron- ical defence of the Scotch ... 503 CMi. Arthur Tell-ttuth to the lords of the Admiralty on the appoint- ment of Ivir Bradshaw to be a member of that board ... 504 oiii. Nemesis to the printer of the \'. A., which the author en- titled. Memoirs of lord Bar riiigt(,ii 505 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. It was not from personal vanity, but a fair estimate of his own merit, and the im- portance of the subject on which he wrote, that the author of the ensuing letters pre- dicted their immortality. Their matter and their manner, the times they describe, and the talents they disclose, the popularity which attended them at their outset, the im- pression they produced on the public mind, and the triumph of most of the doctrines they inculcate, all equally concur in stamp- ing for them a passport to the most distant posterity. In their range these letters comprise a period of about five years ; from the middle of 1767 to the middle of 1772 : and never has the history of this country, from its origin to the present hour, exhibited a period of equal extent that more peremptorily de- manded the severe, decisive, and overpower- ing pen of such a writer as Junius. The storms and tempests that, within the last twenty years, have shaken the political world to its centre, have been wider and more tre- mendous in their operation ; but they have, for the most part, discharged their fury at a distance. The constitutions of other coun- tries have been swept away by the whirl- wind ; but that of England still towers, like the pyramids of Eg>'pt, a wonderful and im- mortal fabric, overshadowing the desert that surrounds it, and defying the violence of its hurricanes. In the period before us, however, this stupendous and beautiful fabric itself was attacked, and trembled to its founda- tion : a series of unsuccessful ministries, too often profligate and corrupt, auu not unfre- quently cunning, rather than capable ; a succession of weak and obsequious parlia- ments, and an arbitrary, though able chief justice, addicted to the impolitic measures of the cabinet, fatally concurred to con- found the relative powers of the state, and equally to unhinge the happiness of the crown and of the people ; to frustrate all the proud and boasted triumphs of a glorious war, concluded but a few years before by an inglorious peace ; ^ to excite universal con- tempt abroad, and universal discord at home. Hence France, humiliated as she was by her losses and defeat, did not hesi- tate to invade Corsica in open defiance of the remonstrances of the British minister, and succeeded in obtaining possession of it; whilst Spain dishonourably refused to make good the ransom she had agreed to, for the restoration of the capital of the Philippine Isles, which had been exempted from pillage upon this express stipulation. They saw the weakness and distraction of the English cabinet, and had no reason to dread the chastisement of a new war. The discontents in the American colonies, which a little address might at first have stifled for ever, were blown into a flame of open rebellion, through the impolitic vio- lence of the very minister who was ap- pointed, by the creation of a new office at this very time and for this express purpose, ^ In 1763, through the negotiation of the duke of Bedford. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. to examine into the causes of dissatisfaction, and to redress the grievances complained of : while, at hcrv.e, the whole of the ways and means of the ministry, instead of being directed against the insolence of the com- mon enemy, were exhausted against an in- dividual, who, perhaps, would never have been so greatly distinguished, had not the ill-judged and contumacious opposition of the cabinet, and their flagrant violation of tlie most sacred and important principles of the constitution in order to punish him, raised him to a height of popularity seldom attained even by the most successful can- didates for public applause ; and embroiled themselves on his account in a dispute with the nation at large, almost amounting to a civil war, and which, at length, only termin- ated in their own utter confusion and de- feat.' * In the language of lord Chatham, delivered May I, 1771, in the House of Lords, " they ren- dered the very name of parliament ridiculous, by carrying on a constant war against Mr Wilkes." * They were generally copied from the Public Advertiser into all the daily and evening papers. 3 That the same general impression was pro- duced by the appearance of these letters iu parliament, which is so well known to have been produced o/ii of it, is evident from almost all the speeches of the day, if the editor had time to refer to them. But the following extracts from two speeches, one of Mr Burke and one of lord North will, he presumes, be sufficient for the purpose. The ensuing is part of a speech delivered by Mr Burke. " Where then shall we look for the origin of this relaxation of the laws and all government ? How oomes this Junius to have broke through the cobwebs of the law, and to range uncon- trouled, unpunished, through the land? The myrmidons of the court have been long, and are still, pursuing him in vain. They will not spend their time upon me, or you, or you. No : they disdain such vermin, when the mighty boar of the forest, that has broke through all their toils, is before them. But what will ail their efforts avail? No sooner has he wounded one than he lays down another dead at his feet. For my part, when I saw his attack upon the King, I own my blood ran cold. I thought he had ven- tured too far, and there was an end of his triumphs, not that he had not asserted many truths. Yes, Sir, there are in that composition many bold truths, by which a wise prince might profit. It was the rancour and venom with which I was struck. In these respects the North It was at this period, and under these circumstances, that the ensuing letters suc- cessively made their appearance in the Pub- lic Advertiser, the most current newspaper of the day." The classical chastity of their language, the exquisite force and perspicuity of their argument, the keen severity of their reproach, the extensive information they evince, their fearless and decisive tone, and, above all, their stern and steady attacl)ment to the purest principles of the constitution, acquired for them, with an almost electric speed, a popularity which no series of letters have since possessed, nor, perhaps, ever will ; and what is of far greater consequence, diffused among the body of the peoj^le a clearer knowledge of their constitutional rights than they had ever before attained, and animated them with a^more determined spirit to maintain them inviolate. ^ Enveloped Briton is as much inferior to him, as in strength, wit, and judgment. But while I expected in this daring flight his final ruin and fail, behold him rising still higher, and coming down souse upon both Houses of Parliament. Yes, he did make you his quarry, and yon still bleed from the wounds of his talons. You crouched, and still crouch, beneath his rage. Nor has he dreaded the terrors of your brow, Sir ; he has '' attacked even you — he has — and I believe you have no reason to triumph in the encounter. In short, after carrying away our Royal Eagle in his pounces, and dashing him against a rock, he has laid you prostrate. King, Lords, and Com- j mons are but the sport of his fury. Were he a | memljer of this House, what might not be ex- pected from his knowledge, his firmness, and integrity? He would be easily known by his contempt of all danger, by his penetration, bj' his vigour. Nothing would escape his vigilance and activity. Bad ministers could conceal no- ticing from his sagacity ; nor could promises nor j threats induce him to conceal any thing from the ! public." I The followin:^ is part of a speech delivered by ! lord North. " When factious and discontented men have brought things to this pass, why should we be surprised at the difficulty of bringing libellers to justice? Why should we wonder that the great boar of the wood, this mighty Junius, has broke through the toils and foiled the hunters ? Though there may be at present no spear that will reach him, yet he may be some time or other caught. At any rate he will be exhausted with fruitless i efforts ; those tusks which he has been whetting j to wound and gnaw the constitution will be worn out. Truth will at last prevail. The public wnl see and feel that he has either advanced false I'RELIMIXARV IISSAV. in the cloud of a fictitious name, the writer of these philippics, unseen himself, beheld with secret satisfaction the vast influence of his labours, and enjoyed, though, as we shall afterwards observe, not always without apprehension, the universal hunt that was made to detect him in his disguise. He beheld the people extolling him, the court execrating him, and ministers and more than ministers trembling beneath the lash of his invisible hand. It is by no means, liowever, the intention of the editor of the present volume to vin- dicate the whole of the method pursued by Junius towards the accomplishment of the patriotic objects on which his heart appears to have been most ardeiuly engaged. Much of his individual sarcasm might perhaps have been spared with advantage — and especially the whole of his personal assaults upon the character and motives of the king- Aware as the editor is of the arguments in favour of occasionally attacking the cha- racter of the chief magistrate, as urged by Junius himself in his Preface, /c;jV, p. 125, and in p. 296, he still thinks that no possible circumstances could justify so gross a disrespect and indecency ; that no principle of the constuuiion supports it, and that every advantage it was calcu- lated to produce, might have been obtained in an equal degree, and to an equal extent, by animadverting upon the conduct of the kings ministers, instead of censuring that of the king in person. In the volume be- fore us the editor is ready to acknowledge that these kinds of paragraplis seem at times not altogether free from — what ought never to enter the jxiges of a writer on national facts, or reasoned falsely from true principles ; and that he has owed his escape to the spirit of the times, not to the justice of his cause. The North Briton, the most flagitious libel of itsday, ' would have been equally secure, had it been as powerfully supported. But the press had not then overflowed the land with its black gall, and poisoned the minds of the people. Political writers had some shame left; they had some reverence for the crown, some respect for the name of Majesty. Nor were there any members of parliament hardy enough to harangue in de- fence of libels. Lawyers could hardly be brought to piead for them. But the scene is now cnlirely subjects — individual spleen and enmity. But well may we forgive such trivial aberra- tions of the heart, in the midst of the momentous matter this volume is well known to contain, the important principles it inculcates ; and especially under the recollection that but for the letters of Junius, the Commons of England might still have been without a knowledge of the transactions of the House of Commons, consisting of their parliamentary represent- atives — have been exposed to the absurd and obnoxious harassment of parliamentary arrests, upon a violation of privileges unde- fined and incapable of being appealed against— defrauded of their estates upon an arbitrary and interested claim of the crown —and deprived of the constitutional right of a jury to consider the question of law as well as of fact. To the steady patriotism of the late Mr Fox is the nation solely in- debted for a direct legislative decision upon this last important point ; — but the ground was previously cleared by the letters before us ; it is not often that a judge has dared openly to controvert this right since the manly and unanswerable argument of Junius upon this subject, in opposition to the arbitrary and illegal doctrine of lord Mansfield, as urged in the case of the King against W'oodfall : ' — an argument which seems to have silenced every objection, to have convinced every party, and without which perhaps even the zeal and talents of Mr Fox himself might ha\e been exercised in vain. But, after all, who or what was JUNIUS ? this shadinc of a nauie, who thus shot his unerring arrows from an impenetrable con- cealment, and punished without being per- changed. Without-doors, within-doors, the same abusive strains prevail. Libels find patrons in both Houses of Parliament as well as in West- minster Hall. Nay, they pronounce libels on the very judges. They pervert the privilege of this House to the purposes of faction. They catch and swallow the breath of th"; inconstant multitude, because, I suppose, they take their voice, which is now that of libels, to be the voice of God." * See this case more particularly detailed in note to Preface, post, p. 117, and in note to PRELIMINARY ESSAY. ceived ? The question is natural ; and it has been repeated almost without intermis- sion, from the appearance of his first letter. It is not unnatural, moreover, from the per- tinacity with which he has at all times eluded discovery, that the vanity of many political writers of inferior talents should have induced them to lay an indirect claim to his Letters, and especially after the danger of responsibility had considerably ceased. Yet while the editor of the pre- sent impression does not undertake, and, in fact, has it not in his power, to communi- cate the real name of Junius, he pledges himself to prove, from incontrovertible evidence, afforded by the private letters of Junius himself during the period in ques- tion, in connection with other documents, that not one of these pretenders has ever had the smallest right to the distinction which some of them have ardently coveted. These private and confidential letters, addressed to the late Mr Woodfall, are now for the first time made public by his son, who is in possession of the author's auto- graphs ; * and from the various facts and anecdotes they disclose, not only in relation to this extraordinary character, but to other characters as well, they cannot fail of being highly interesting to the political world. To have published these letters at an earlier period would have been a gross I breach of trust and decorum : the term of trust, however, seems at length to have ex- I pired ; most of the parties have paid the debt of nature, and should any be yet living, the length of time which has since elapsed has so completely blunted the asperity of the strictures they contain, that they could scarcely object to so remote a publication of them. Junius, in the career of his activity, was the man of the people ; and when the former can receive no injur}' from the dis- closure, the latter have certainly a claim to every information that can be communi- cated concerning him. It was on the 28th of April, in the year 1767, that the late Mr H. S. Woodfall re- ceived, amidst other letters from a great number of correspondents for the use of the Public Advertiser, of which he was a proprietor, the first public address of this celebrated wTiter. He had not then as- sumed the name, or rather written under the signature, of Junius ; nor did he always indeed assume a signature of any kind. ^ There must have been some misunderstand- ing either of the extent of the question or the nature of the answer in that part of a conversa- tion which Mr Campbell, in his Life of Hugh Boyd, states to have occurred between Mr H. S. Woodfall (editor and one of the proprietors of the Public Advertiser), and himself, ni relation to the preservation of these autographs. " I proceeded," says Mr Campbell, "to ask him if he had preserved any of the manuscripts of Junius? He said he had 7iot.'" p. 164. The veracity of ^Mr H. S. Woodfall is well known to have been unimpeachable ; and it is by no means the intention of the editor to suspect that of Mr Campbell. It is probable that Mr Woodfall understood the question to be whether he had regularly preserved the manuscripts of Junius, or had preserved any of the manuscripts of Junius which had publicly appeared imder\ that sigjiatare? No man, not even Mr Camp- bell himself, could have suspected Mr Woodfall to have been guilty of a wilful falsehood : nor can any advantage be assigned, or even con- ceived, that could possibly have resulted from such a falsehood, had it taken place. It is equally extraordinary that Mr Campbell, in this same conversation, should represent Mr Woodfall as saying that "as to the story about Hamilton quoting Junius to the late duke of Richmond, he Jcueiv it to be a misconception." In regard to the story itself, Woodfall knew it to be founded in fact from Hamilton's own re- lation — and has repeatedly mentioned it as such ; but he may have meant that the story as told by Mr Canipbelt was a misconception. In effect the late duke of Richmond himself distinctly informed the son of the late Mr Wood- fall, that such a communication with Hamilton had taken place, while his Grace was riding with sir James Peachey, afterwards lord Selsey, in the park at Goodwood, though he could not at that distance of time recollect the particular letter to which it referred. The clue to the mystery is that Mr Hamilton was acquainted with the late Mr H. S. Woodfall, and used occasionally to call at his office ; whence it is highly probable that Mr Woodfall had shown him or detailed to him a letter from Junius then just received, and intended for publication on a certain day. Hamilton alluded to the general purport of this letter, on the day on which it was to have been published, as though he had just read it ; when to the astonishment of his Grace and sir James Peachey, to whom he thus mentioned it, no such letter appeared, though it did appear the next day or the daj- after. PRELIMINARY ESSAY WTien he did so, however, his signatures %vere diversified, and the chief of them were Mnemon, Atticus, Lucius, Junius, and Brutus. Under the first he sarcastically ; opposed the ministry upon the subject of; the Nullum Tempus bill, which involved the celebratf;d dispute concerning the transfer on the part of the crown of the duke of Portland's estate of the forest of Inglewood, and the manor and castle of Carlisle, to sir James Lowther, son-in-law of lord Bute, upon the plea that these lands, which formerly belonged to the crown, had not been duly specified in king William's grant of them to the Portland family ; and that hence, although they had been in the Portland family for nearly seventy years, they of right belonged to the crown still. The letters signed Atticus and Brutus relate chiefly to the growing disputes with the American colonies : and those subscribed Lucius, exclusively to 4hc outrageous dis- mission of sir J effery Amherst from his post of governor of Virginia. 'Ihe name of Mnemon was, perhaps, taken up at hazard. That of Atticus was unquestionably assumed from the author's own opinion of the purity of his style, an ! opinion in which die public universally con- ; cuned ; and the three remaining signatures j of Lucius, Junius, and Brutus were ob- 1 viously deduced from a veneration for the i memory of the celebrated Roman patriot who uni:ed these three names in his own. ^ That those under the signature of Lucius were early and generally traced to the pen of JuMf.^ even by writers of the opposite party, may be fairly inferred from the following passage in a letter in the Public Advertiser of the date of April 27lh, 1769, signed 'A long forgotten correspondent,' intended as an antidote to the poison that Junius was supposed to be propagat- ing. ' In the warm and energetic, though keen and 1 sarc/istic style of JuNics, ne may, I think, ' easily descry the Lucius, long dreaded by his opponents ; and from the warmth of his senti- ments, if they do indeed correspond with his ex- pressions, we may expect a future Brutus, a patriotic character much to be dreaded by all those who, content with the portion of power now in the hands of government (if government had the spirit to e.\ert it , wish not to .see the people, by their factious and unmeaning rage, Various other names were also occasion- ally assumed by this fertile political writer, to answer particular purposes, or more com- pletely to conceal himself, and carry forward his extensive design. That of Philo-Junius, lie has avowed to the public, in the author- ized edition of the Letters of Junius : but besides this, he is yet to be recognized under the mask of Poplicola, Domitian, Vindex, and several others, as the sub- joined pages will sufficiently testify, ,| The most popular of our author's letters anterior to those published with the signa- ture of Junius in 1769, were those sub- scribed Atticus and Lucius ; to the former of which the few letters signed Brutus seem to have been little more than auxiliary, and are consequently not polished with an equal degree of attention. These letters, in point of time, preceded those with the signature of Junius by a few weeks: they are cer- tainly written with admiiable spirit and perspicuity, and are entitled to all the popu- larity they acquired : — yet they are not per- haps possest of more merit than our author's letters signed Mnemon. They nevertheless deserve a more minute attention from their superior celebrity. The proofs of their having been composed by the writer de- nominated Junius are incontestable : the manner, the phraseology, the sarcastic, ex- probratory style, independently of any other evidence, sufficiently identify th:::ii.* These provoke their long-suffering Sovereign to throw real chains over them, and correct their madness i with stripes and hunger, the proper cure for i phrenzy, the only .specific for such headstrong and vicious insanity.' The celebrity acquired by these earlier letters of Junius, under the signature of Lucius, in- duced several other writers of the same period to adopt the same signature ; and hence Lucius, and Lucius Verus, are common signatures in the Public Advertiser during the years 1769, 1770. But there is no more reason to suppose that Junius himself ever had recourse to this signa- ture than he had to that of Atticus, or Brutus, after the assumption of this last appellative. He would not degrade the name of Lucius by an unfinished production, and to all that he regarded 2i%_fijiis!ied he continued to subscribe Junius as a still more popular signature. An attempt, also, for the same reason, was once made by another correspondent, to publish PRELIMINARY ESSAY. therefore, together with such others as are equally and indisputably genuine, are now added to the acknowledged letters of Junius, to render his productions complete.* It is no objection to their genuineness that they were omitted by Junius in his own edition published by Mr Woodfall : — there is a material difference between print- ing a complete edition of the letters of Junius, and a complete edition of the letters that appeared under this name. The first was the main object of Junius himself, and it was not necessary, therefore, that he should have extended it to letters composed by him under any other signature, except- ing indeed those of Philo-Junius, which it was expedient for him to avow ; the second is the direct design of the edition before us ;— and it would be inconsistent with it to suppress any of his letters, under what signature soever they may have appeared, that possess sufficient interest to excite the attention of the public. The first of the letters (signed Atticus) was written in the beginning of August, 1768. It takes a general, and by no means an uncandid, survey of the state of the under the sipjnature of Junius ; but the letter was refused to be inserted with that nama by the printer, who signified his refusal in one of his notices to his correspondents. Yet it is curious to observe, that one or two spurious letters under the signature of Philo-Junius, found their way, as genuine epistles, into the P. A. (probably from the casual absence of the editor), if we may determine from the following statement written immediately after Juxius's public avowal that the letters subscribed Philo-Junius were his own productions. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, A paragraph having appeared in your paper of Saturday last, intimating that * you have the author's consent to declare that the letters published In that paper under the signa- ture of Philo-Junius are written by Junius,' I take the liberty of acquainting you and the public, that during the course of the year? 1768 and 1769 several letters under that signature were written and inserted in the Public Adver- tiser, not by Junius, but by Your humble servant, Oct. 21, 1771. G. F. ' [The printer presumes not to doubt the assertion of his correspondent, though it is not nation at that period, and particularly in regard to its funded property, the alarming and dangerous depression of which, from the still hostile appearance of France, the prospect of a rupture with the American colonies, the wretchedness of the public finances, and the imbecility of the existing administration, struck the writer so forcibly as to induce him, as he tells us, to transfer his property from the funds to, what he conceived, the more solid security of landed estate. The conclusion of this letter ex- hibits so much of the essential style and manner of Junius, that it has every claim to be copied in this place as affording an internal proof of identity of pen. ' We are arrived at that point when new taxes either produce nothing, or defeat the old ones, and when new duties only operate as a prohibition : yet these are the times when every ignorant boy thinks himself fit to be a minister. Instead of attendance to objects of national importance, our worthy governors are contenterl to divide their time between piivate pleasures and ministerial intrigues. Their activity is just equal to the persecution of a prisoner in the King's possible for him to charge his memory with the circumstances at this distance of time.]' Tha printer might, however, with great safety have denied this assertion of G. F., which on the face of it bears evident marks of inaccuracy, as the first letter of Junius published in the genuine edition bears date January 21, 1769, and the only one under that signature printed in 1768 is IMIscellaneous Letter, No. LI I., which did not receive support from an auxiliary signature of any kind. The fact is that the only Philo-Junius not genuine is one which appeared in the P. A. of November 8, 1771, and was the next day dis- avowed by the printer. Philo-Junius, No. XXXI. was originally published in the Public Advertiser under the signature of Moderatus. ^ When the late Mr Woodfall, so early as the summer of 1769, had an intention of re-publlsh- ing such of the Letters of Junius as had already appeared In the Public Advertiser, the author, in Private Letter, No. 7, observed to the printer, ' Do with my letters exactly what you please. I should think that to make a belter figure than Newberry, some others of my letters may be added, and so throw out an hint, that you have reason to suspect they are by the same author. If you adopt this plan, I shall point out those which I would recommend ; for, you know, I do not, nor indeed have I time to give equal care to them all.' PRELIMINARY ESSAY. Bench, and to the honourable struggle of providing for their dependants. If there be a good man in the king's service they dis- miss him of course; and when bad i ews arrives, instead of uniting to consider of a remedy, their time is spent in accusing and reviling one another. Thus the debate con- cludes in some half misbegotten measure, which is left to execute itself. Away they go : one I'etircs to his country house ; another is engaged at an horse race ; a third has an appointment with a prostitute ; and as to their country, they leave her, like a cast off mistress, to perish under the diseases they have given her' It was just at this period that the very ex- traordinary step occurred of the dismissal of sir Jefifery Amherst from his government of Virginia, for the sole purpose, as it should seem, of creating a post for the earl of Hillsborough's intimate friend lord Boute- tort, who had completely ruined himself by gambling and extravagance. This post had been expressly given to sir Jeffery for life, as a reward for his past services in America, and it was punctiliously stipulated that a personal residence would be dispensed with. Itwasan atrocity well worthy of public attack and condemnation ; and the keen vigilance of J UNius, which seemsfirst to have traced it out, hastened to expose it to the public in all its indecency and outrage, and with the warmth of a personal friendship for the vete- ran hero. The subject being of a different description from that he had engaged in under the signature of Atticus, he assumed a new name, and for the first time sallied forth under that of Lucius, subscribed to a letter addressed to the earl of Hillsborough, min- ister for the American department, and pub- lished in the Public Advertiser, Aug. loth, 1768. A vindication, or rather an apology, was entered into, by three or four corre- spondents under different signatures, but almost every one of whom was regarded by Junius, and indeed by the public at large, as the earl of Hillsborough himself, or some individual writer under his immediate con- troul ; thus assuming a mere diversity of mask the better to accomplish the purpose of a defence. Lucius Junius followed up the contest without sparing, — the minister be- came ashamed of his conduct, and sir Jeffery, within a few weeks after his dismiss- al and the resignation of two regiments which he had commanded, was restored to the command of one of them, and appoint- ed to that of another ; and in May, 1776, was created a peer of the realm, which the duke of Grafton had refused him, under the strange and impolitic assertion that he had not fortune enough to maintain such a dig- nity with the splendour it required. The sarcastic remark of Lucius upon this observ- ation of his Grace, is entitled to attention, as identifying him with Junius in his pe- culiar severity of reproach. ' The duke of Grafton's idea of the pro- per object of a British peerage differs very materially from mine. His Grace, in the true spirit of business, looks for nothing but an opulent fortune ; meaning, I presume, the fortune which can purchase, as well as maintain a title. We understand his Grace, and know who dictated that ar- ticle. He has declared the terms on which Jews, gamesters, pedlers, and contractors (if they have sense enough to take the hint), may rise without difficulty into British peers. There was a time indeed, though not with- in his Grace's memory, when titles were the reward of public virtue, and when the crown did not think its revenue ill employed in contributing to support the honours it had bestowed. It is true his Grace's family de- rive their wealth and greatness from a dif- ferent origin, from a system which he, it seems, is determined to revive. His con- fession is frank, and well becomes the can- dour of a young man, at least. I dare say, that if either his Grace or your Lordship had had the command of a seven years' war in America, you would have taken care that poverty, however honourable, should not have been an objection to your advance- ment ; — you would not have £too4 in the predicament of sir Jeffery Amherst, who is refused a title of honour, because he did not create a fortune equal to it, at the expense of the public' PRELIMINARY ESSAY. He is not less severe upon lord Hillsbo- rough in a succeeding letter ; and the editor extracts the following passage for the same purpose he has introduced the preceding. ' That you are a civil, polite person is true. Few men understand the little morals better or observe the great ones less than your Lordship. You can bow and smile in an honest man's face, while you pick his pocket. These are the virtues of a court, in which your education has not been neg- lected. In any other school you might have learned that simplicity and integrity are worth them all. Sir Jeffery Amherst was fighting the battles of his country, while you, my lord, the darhng child of prudence and urbanity, were practising the generous arts of a courtier, and securing an honour- able interest in the antechamber of a fa- vourite.' Having thus signally triumphed in the affair of sir Jeffery Amherst, our invisible \ state-satyrist now returned to the subject he ' had commenced under the signature of At- j ticus, and pursued it in three additional j letters with the same signature, from the ' beginning of October till the close of No- ; vember, in the same year ; offering a few i general remarks upon collateral topics, in two or three letters signed Brutus. The ■ characteristics of Junius are often as con- ; spicuous here as in any letters he ever [ wrote : it will be sufficient to confine our- selves to two passages, since two competent j witnesses are as good as a thousand. The i following is his description of the prima ' minister of the day. ' When the duke of Grafton first entered ! into office, it was the fashion of the times to suppose that young men might have wisdom j w^ithout experience. They thought so them- ' selves, and the most important affairs ofj this country wers committed to the first trial of their abilities. His Grace had honour- ably fleshed his maiden sword in the field of opposition, and had gone through all the discipUne of the minority with credit. He dined at Wildman's, railed at favourites, looked up to lord Chatham with astonisli- ment, and was the declared advocate of Mr Wilkes. It afterwards pleased his Grace to enter into administration with his friend lord Rockingham, and in a very little time it pleased his Grace to. abandon him. He then accepted of the treasury upon terms which lord Temple had disdained. For a short time his submission to lord Chatham was unlimited. He could not answer a pri- vate letter without lord Chathams permis- sion. I presume he was then learning his trade, for he soon set up for himself. Until he declared himself the minister, his cha- racter had been but little understood. From that moment a system of conduct, directed by passion and caprice, not only reminds us that he is a young man, but a young man without solidity of judgment. One day he desponds and threatens to resign, the next he finds his blood heated, and swears to his friends he is determined to go on. In his public measures we have seen no proof either of ability or consistency. The Stamp Act had been repealed (no matter how un- wisely) under the preceding administration. The colonies had reason to triumph, and were returning to their good humour. l"he point was decided, when this young man thought proper to revive it without either plan or necessity ; he adopts the spirit of Mr Grenville's measures, and renews the question of taxation in a form more odious and less effectual than that of the law which had been repealed.' The following is his character of the members of the cabinet generally. ' The school they were bred in taught them how to abandon their friends, without deserting their principles. There is a littleness even in their ambition ; for money is tJieir first object. Their professed opinions upon some great points are so different from those of the party with which they are now united, that the council-chamber is become a scene of open hostilities. While the fate of Great Britain is at stake, these worthy coun- sellors dispute without decency, advise with- out sincerity, resolve without decision, and leave the measure to be executed by the man who voted against it. This, I con- ceive, is the last disorder of the state. The PRELIMINARY ESSAY. consultation meets but to disagree, opposite medicines are prescribed, and the last fixed on is changed by the hand that gives it.' The attention paid to these phih'ppics, and the celebrity they had so considerably acquired, stimulated the author to new and additional exertions : and having in the beginning of the ensuing year completed another with more than usual elaboration and poHsh, which he seems to have intended as a kind of introductory address to the nation at large, lie sent it forth under the name of Junius (a name he had hitherto assumed but once), to the ofifice of the Pub- lic Advertiser, in which journal it appeared on Saturday, January 21, 1769. The popu- larity expected by the author from this per- formance was more than accomplished ; and what in some measure added to his fame, was a reply (for the Public Ad\ertlser was equally open to all parties) from a real character of no small celebrity both as a scholar and as a man of rank, sir W'm Draper ; principally because the attack upon his Majesty's ministers had extended itself to lord Granby, at that time com- mander in chief, for whom sir WilUam professed the most cordial esteem and friendship. Sir Wm Draper appears to have been a worthy, and, on the whole, an independent man ; and lord Granby was perhaps the most honest and immaculate of his Majesty's ministers. Junius did not begin the dis- pute with the former, and seems, from, a regard for his character, to have continued it unwillingly: 'My answer," says he to him in his last letter,^ upon a second assault, and altogether without reason, 'shall be short ; for I write to you li'ith reluctance, and I hope we shall now conclude our cor- respondence for ever ! ' At the latter he had only glanced incidentally (for upon the whole he approved his conduct)," and seems rather to have done so on account of the ' Letter XXV. ^ See his opinion of lord Granby given under the name of Lucius, in the Miscellaneous Letters, Letter XXXV. ; as also in the note at the close of Letter VII.. I company he consorted with, than from any '• gross misdeeds of his own. Nothing could j therefore have been more improvident or impolitic than this attack of sir Wm Dra- I per : if volunteered in favour of the ministry, ! it is impossible for a defence to have been worse planned ; — for by confining the vin- dication to the individual that was least accused, it tacitly admits that the charges advanced against all the rest were well founded ; while, if volunteered in favour of lord Granby alone, it might easily have been anticipated by the writer that his visionary opponent would be hereby challenged to bring forward peccadillos which would otherwise never be heard of, and that he would not fiiil, at the same time, to scrutin- ize thecharactcr of sir William himself, and to ascribe this act of precipitate zeal to an interested desire of additional promotion in the army. It was too much for sir Williani to expect that Junius would be hurried into an intemperate disclosure of his real name by a swaggering offer to measure swords w ith him ; while the following re- buke was but a just retaliation for his challenge. ' Had }ou been originally and without provocation attacked by an anonymous writer, you would have some right to de- mand his name. But in this cause you are a volunt(;er. You engaged in it with the unpremeditated gallantry of a soldier. You were content to set your name in opposition to a man who would probably continue in concealment. You understood the terms upon which we were to correspond, and gave at least a tacit assent to them. After voluntarily attacking me under the character of Junius, what possible right have you to know me under any other? Will you for- give me if I insinuate to you, that you fore- saw some honour in the apparent spirit of coming forward in person, and that you were not quite indifferent to the display of your literary qualifications ? ' In reality Junius, though a severe satyr- ist, was not in his general temper a male- volent writer, nor an ungenerous man. No one has ever been more ready to admit the PRELIMINARY ESSAY. brilliant talents of sir William Blackstone than himself, or to apply to his Comment- aries for legal information, while reprobat- ing his conduct in the unconstitutional expulsion of Mr Wilkes from the House of Commons. ' If I were personally your enemy,' says he in his letter to him upon this subject, ' 1 should dwell with a ma- lignant pleasure upon those great and useful qualifications zvhich you certainty possess, and by which you once acquired, though they could not preserve to you, the respect and esteem of your country ; I should enumerate the honours you have lost, and the virtues you have disgraced : but having no private resentments to gratify, I think it sufficient to have given my opinion of your public conduct, leaving the punishment it deser\-es to your closet and to yourself.' The rescue of general Gansel, by means of a party of guards, from the hands of the sheriff's officers, after they had arrested him for debt, was an outrage upon the law which well demanded castigation ; and the attempt to quash this transaction on the part of the minister, instead of delivering the culprits over to the punishment they had merited, was an outrage of at least equal atrocity, and demanded equal repro- bation. The severity with which the min- ister was repeatedly attacked by Junius on this subject is still well known to many : but the reason is not yet known to any one, perhaps, why the latter suddenly dropped this subject, after having positively declared in his letter of November 15, 1769, p. 209, ' if the gentlemen, whose conduct is in question, are not brought to a trial, the duke of Grafton shall hear from me again.' From his Private Letters to Mr Woodfall, we shall now learn that he was solely actu- ated in his forbearance by motives of hu- manity : 'The only thing,' says he in a note alluding to this transaction, 'that hinders my pushing the subject of my last letter, is really the fear of ruining that poor devil Gansel, and those other blockheads,"* In like manner having been betrayed by the first rumours of the day into what he afterwards found to have been too atrocious an opinion, and expressed himself with too indignant a warmth upon the conduct of Mr Vaughan in his well-known attempt to purchase of the duke of Grafton the reversion of a patent place in Jamaica, he hastened to make him both publicly and privately all the reparation in his power. ' I think my- self obliged,' says he in a letter to the duke of Grafton, ' to do this justice to an injured man, because I was deceived by the appear- ances thrown out by your Grace, and have frequently spoken of his conduct with indig- nation. If he really be, what I think him, honest, though mistaken, he will be happy in recovering his reputation, though at the expense of his understanding.'" Vaughan himself had so high an opinion of our author's integrity, though a total stranger to him, that he entrusted him with his pri- vate papers upon the subject in question, which Junius in return took care to employ to Vaughan's advantage.^ From the extraordinary effect produced by his first letter under the signature of Ju- nius, he resolved to adhere to this signature exclusively in all his subsequent letters, in which he took more than ordinary pains, and which alone he was desirous of having attributed to himself ; while to other letters composed with less care, and merely ex- planatory of passages in his more finished addresses, or introduced for some other collateral purpose, he subscribed some ran- dom name which occurred to him at the mo- ment. The letters of Philo Junius are alone an exception to this remark. These he al- ways intended to acknowledge; and in truth they are for the most part composed with so much of the peculiar style and finished accuracy of the letters cf Junius, properly so called, that it would have required but little discernment to have regarded the two * See Private Letter, No. 11. ^ Page 225. examined these papers, and especially the pas- 3 Compare his private letter to Woodfall, Dec. j sage, 'You laboured then, by every species of I?, 1769, No. 15, with his public letter to the ' false suggestion, and even by publishing coun- duke of Grafton, February 14, 1770, after he had , terfcit letters, &c.' Page 225. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. TI correspondents as the same person under different characters, — idem d alter — if Ju- MUS himself had not at length admitted them to be his own productions, which he expressly did, in an authorized note from :lie printer, inserted in the Public Advertiser, Oct. 19, 1771. ' The auxiliary part of Phi- lo Junius,' says he in his Preface, p. 115, ' was indispensably necessary to defend or explain particular passages in Junius, in answer to plausible objections; but the sub- ordinate character is never guilty of the in- decorum of praising his principal. The fraud was innocent, and I always intended to explain it.' Yet whatever were the sig- natures he assumed, or the loose paragraphs he occasionally addressed to the public, without a signature of any kind, we have his own assertion, that from the time of his corresponding, as Junius, with tiie editor of the Public Advertiser, he never wrote in any other newspaper. ' I believe, ' says he, ' I need not assure you that I have never written in any other paper since I began w ith yours ; ' Private Letter, No. 7. So also in another Private Letter, Xo. 13 : 'I some- times change mv signature, but could have no reason to change ///^ /<^7/^r, especially for one that does not circulate half so much as yours.' That he was not only a man of highly cultivated general talents and education, but who had critically and successfully studied the language, the law, the constitution, and history of his native country is indubitable. Yet this is not all ; the proofs are just as clear that he was also a man of independent fortune, that he moved in the immediate circle of the court, and was intimately ac- quainted, from its first conception, with al- most every public measure, ever}' ministe- rial intrigue, and every domestic incident. That he was a man of easy, if not of af- fluent circumstances, is unquestionable from the fact that he never could be induced in any way or shape to receive any acknow- ledgment from the proprietor of the Public Advertiser, for the great benefit and popu- larity he conferred on this paper by his writings, and to which he was fairly entitled. When the first genuine edition of his letters was on the point of publication, Mr Wood- fall again urged him either to accept half its profits, or to point out some public charity or other institution to which an equal sum might be presented. His reply to this request is contained in a paragraph of one of his Private Letters, No. 59, and con- fers credit on both the parties. ' What you say about the profits is very handsome. I like to deal with such men. As for myself, be assured that lamfarahoveallpeciiniai-y vieios, and no other person I think has any claim to share with you. Make the most of it, therefore, and let all your views in life be directed to a solid, however moderate, in- dependence : without it no man can be happy, nor even honest.' In this last sentence he reasoned from the sphere of life in which he was accustomed to move; and, confining it to this sphere, the transactions of every day show us that he reasoned correctly. It is an additional proof, as well of his affluence as of his generosity, that not long after the comm.encement of his correspondence with the printer of the Public Advertiser, he wrote to him as follows : ' For the matter of assistance, be assured that, if a question should arise upon any writings of mine, you shall not want it; — in point of money, be assured you shall never suffer.' ^ In perfect and honourable consonance with which, when the printer w^as at length involved in a prosecution in consequence of JUNius's letter to the King, he wrote to him as fol- lows : 'If your affair should come to a trial, and you should be found guilty, you will then let me know what expense falls particularly on yourself : for I understand you are engaged with other proprietors. Some way orotherjjv// shall be reimbursed. ' - 'As you have told us,' says sir W. Dra- per, in his last letter to Junius, 'of your importance ; and that you are a person of i-a7ik and fortimc, and above a comynon bribe, you may, in all probability, be not un- known to his Lordship (earl of Shelburne) Private Letter, No. 6, dated Atig Private Letter, No. ip. 6, 1769. 12 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. who can satisfy ycu of the truth of what I , say." ^ Sir William alludes, in this passage, to a short public note of Junius to the printer of the Public Advertiser, addressed in consequence of some verses which liad just appeared in that paper, entitled ' The tears of Sedition on the death of Junius ; ' in which he observes : ' It is true I have re- fused offers which a more prudent or a more interested man \\ould have accepted. Whether it be simplicity or virtue in me, I can only affirm that / am in earliest, be- cause I am convinced, as far as my under- standing is capable of judging, that the present ministry are driving this country to destruction ; and you, I thinlc, Sir, may be satisfied that my ranlc and fortune place me above a common bribe.'" Sir William sneers at the appeal, and treats it as the mere unfounded boast of a man of arrogance and invisibility ; but the reader now sees .sufficiently that it had a solid foundation to rest upon. That Junius moved in the immediate circle of the court, and was intimately and confidentially connected, either directly or indirectly, with all the public offices of government, is, if possible, still clearer than that he was a man of independent property ; for the feature that peculiarly characterized him, at the time of his writing, and that cannot even now be contemplated without surprise, was the facility with which he became acquainted with every ministe- j rial manoeu\Te, whether public or private, : from almost the very instant of its concep- tion. At the first moment the partisans of i the prime minister were extolling his official integrity and virtue, in not only resisting the terms offered by Mr Vaughan for the j purchase of the reversion of a patent place j in Jamaica, but in commencing a prosecu- j tion against Vaughan for thus attempting Pag? 194. ' See Miscellaneous Letters, No. LIV. 3 Private Letter, No. 10. ** The fuUowi.ng are two of the paragraphs alluded to in Private Letter, No. 42. * Tlie earl of Hertford is most honourably em- ployed as terrier to find out the clergyman that married the duke of Cumberland, an errand well fitted to the man. He might, however, be much better employed in marrying his daughters at the public expense. Witness the promise of an Irish peerage to Mr S — t, &c., &c.' ! * Nobody is so vociferous as the earl of Hert- ford on the subject of the late unprecedented marriage ! ' I 5 Private Letter, No. 5. to corrupt him, Junius, in his letter of Nov. 29, 1769, p. 209, exposed this af- fectation of coyness, as he calls it, by proving that the minister was not only privy to, but a party concerned in , the sale of j another patent place, though the former 1 had often been disposed of before in a ' manner somewhat if not altogether similar, j The particulars of this transaction are given j in his letter to the duke of Grafton, Dec. j 12, 1769, p. 210, and in his private note to Mr Woodfall of the same date, No. 15. The rapidity with which the affair of general Gansell reached him has been already noticed. In his letter to the duke of Bedford he narrates facts which could scarcely be known but to persons immedi- ately acquainted with the family. And when the printer was threatened with a prosecution in consequence of this letter, he says to him in a private note, 'it is clearly my opinion that you have nothing to fear from the duke of Bedford. I reserve some things expressly to awe him in case he should think of bringing you before the House of Lords. I am sure I can threaten him privately with such a storm, as would make him tremble even in his grave.' 3 He was equally acquainted with the domestic concerns of lord Hertford's family.* Of a Mr Swinney, a correspondent of the printer's, he observes in another confidential letter, ' That Swinney is a wretched but a dangerous fool : he had the impudence to go to lord G. Sackville, whom he had never spoken to, and to ask him whether or no he was the author of Junius — take care of him.' 5 This anecdote is not a little curious : the fact was true, and occurred but a short period before the letter was written : but liow Junius, unless he had been lord Sackville himself, should have been so soon acquainted with it, baffles all conjecture. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 13 In reality several persons to whom this transaction has been related, connecting it with other circumstances of a similar tend- ency, have ventured, but too precipitately, to attnbute the letters of Junius to his Lordship.* His secret intelligence respecting public transactions is as extraordinary. The accu- racy with which he first dragged to general notice the dismission of sir Jeffery Amherst from his governorship of Virginia has been already glanced at. ' You may assure the public,' says he, in a Private Letter, Jan. 17, 1771, ' that a squadron of four ships of the line is ordered to be got ready with all possible expedition for the East Indies. It is to be commanded by commodore Spry. Without regarding the language of ignorant or interested people, depend upon the as- surance / give you, that every man in administration looks upon war as inevit- able.' =■ • But it would be endless to detail every instance of early and accurate information upon political subjects with which his pubhc and private letters abound. In many cases he was able to indicate even to the printer of the Public Advertiser himself the real names of those who corresponded with him under fictitious signatures. ' Your Veridi- cus,' says he in one letter, ' is Mr W^iit- worth.3 I assure you I have not confided in him." ■* 'Your Lycurgus," he observes in another letter,^ ' is a Mr Kent, a young man of good parts upon town. ' Thus widely informed, and applying the information he was possessed of with an * In the Miscellaneous Letters, No. VII., the reader will meet with the following pas- sage, pretty conclusively showing the little ground there ever has been for any such opin- ion. ' I believe the best thing I can do will be to consult with my lord G. Sackville. His character is known and respected in Ireland as much as it is here ; and I know he loves to be stationed in the rear as well as myself.' The letter from which the above is an extract, inde- pendently of its containing the style and senti- ments of Ju.N'ius, is thus additionally brought home to him by the printer's customary acknow- ledgment in the P. A. being followed by the subjoined observation : ' Our friend and corre- spondent C. will always find the utmost attention paid to his favours.' unsparing hand, to purposes of general exposure in every instance of political de- linquency, it cannot but be supposed that Junius must have excited a host of enemies in every direction, and that his safety, per- haps his existence, depended alone upon his concealment. Of this he was sufficiently sensible. In his last letter to sir \V. Dra- per, who had endeavoured by every means to stimulate him to a disclosure of himself, he observes, ' As to me, it is by no means necessary that I should be exposed to the resentment of the worst and the most powerful men in this country, though I may be indifferent about yours. Though you would fight, there are others who would assassinate.'^ To the same effect is the following passage in a confidential letter to Mr Woodfall. ' I must be more cautious than ever : I am sure I should not survive a discovery three days ; or, if I did, they would attaint me by bill.' ^ On many occa- sions, therefore, notwithstanding all the calm- ness and intrepidity he affected in his public letters, it is not to be wondered at that he should betray some feelings of apprehension in his confidential intercourse. In one of his Private Letters, indeed, he observes, ' As to me, be assured that it is not in the nature of things that they (the Cavendish family), or you, or anybody else, should ever know me, unless I make myself known: all arts, or enquiries, or rewards, would be equally ineffectual.' ^ But in other letters he seems not a little afraid of detection or surmise. ' Tell mc candidly,' he says, at an early period of his correspondence with Mr Woodfall under the signature of Junius, ' whether you know or suspect who I ^ Private Letter, No. 28. The knowledge of this preparation was communicated four days before the meeting of parliament : the war how- ever did not take place ; but the preparation is now known to have been a fact, the ministry being themselves fearful that the temper of parliament would have forced them into hostili- ties, from which in truth they very narrowly escaped. See note to the Private Letter of this No. 3 Richard Whitworth, Esq.,M.P. for Stafford. 4 Private Letter, No. 6. ' 5 Id., No. 5. 6 Letter XXV. 7 Private Letter, No. 41. 8 Private Letter, No. 10. "^ I 14 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. am.' ^ ' You must not wTite to me again," he observes in another letter, ' but be assured I will never desert you.' " ' Upon no account, nor for any reason what- soever, are you to write to me until I give you notice.' ^ ' Change to the Somerset Coffee-house, and let no mortal know the alteration. I am persuaded you are too honest a man to contribute in any way to my destruction. Act honourably by me, and at a proper time you shall know me.' "* The Somerset Coffee-house formed only one of a great variety of places, at which answers and other parcels from the printer of the Public Advertiser were ordered to be left. No plan indeed could be better de- vised for secrecy than that by which this correspondence was maintained. A com- mon name, such as was by no means likely to excite any peculiar attention, was first chosen by JUNIUS, and a common place of deposit indicated : — the parcels from Junius himself were sent direct to the printing- office, and whenever a parcel or letter in return was waiting for him, the Public Ad- vertiser announced it in the notices to its correspondents by such signals as ' N. E. C — 'a letter,' ' Vindex shall be considered,' ' C. in the usual place, ' ' an old correspond- ent shall be attended to," the introductory C. being a little varied from that connnonly used ; or by a line of Latin poetry. ' Don't always use,' says our author, 'the same signal : any absurd Latin verse will answer the purpose .' s And when the answer im- plied a mere negative or affirmative, it was communicated in the newspaper by a simple ' Private Letter, No. 3 Id, No. 47. Id., No. 18. Id., N o. 41 5 Private Letter, No. 43. — As instances of these signals of different kinds the reader may accept the following, taken from the Public Ad- vertiser according to their dates. August 12, 1771. A Correspondent may rest as- sured that his directions ever have been, and ever will be, strictly attended to. Sept'.mber 13. c. 17. c. 21. c. 27. c. October 19. c. November 5. c. 8. c. yes or no. The names of address more commonly assumed were Mr William Mid- dleton, and Mr John Fretly ; and the more common places of address were the bar of the Somerset Coffee-house as stated above, that of the New Exchange, and Munday'3 in Maiden Lane, the waiters of wliich were occasionally feed ^ for their punctuahty. But even these names and places of abode were varied for others as circumstances might dictate. By what conveyance Junius obtained his letters and parcels from the places at which they were left for him is not very clearly ascertained. From the passage quoted from his Private I.^tter, No. 10, as also from the express declaration in tlie Dedication to his own edition of his letters, that he was at that time ' the sole deposit- ary of his own secret,' it should seem that he had also been uniformly his own mes- senger : yet in his Private Letter of January i8th, 1772, he observes, ' the gentleman who transacts the conveyancing part of our correspondence tells me there was much difficulty last night.'" In truth the diflr- culty and danger of his constantly perform- ing his own errand must have been extreme ; and it is more reasonable therefore to sup- pose that he employed some person on w horn he could place an implicit reliance ; while to avoid the apparent contradiction between such a fact and that of his affirm- ing that he was the sole depositary of his own secret, it is only necessary to conceive at the same time that the person thus con- fidentially employed was not entrusted with November December 17. * Private Letter Vindex shall be consider.?'!. Die quibus in terris, et mihi eris magnus Apollo. Quid rides? de 'J'E fabula narratur. Received. -dicere verum Quid vetat ? Jarn kova progenies ca?lo dimittitur alto. Received. Quis te .M.\GXE CATC taci- turn ? Infandum, regi.va I jubes renovare dolorem. No. yj. ' Ibid. No. 5T, PRELIMINARY ESSAY. IS the full scope and object of his agency.' He sometimes, as we learn from his own testimony, employed a common chairman as his messenger,- and perhaps this, after all, was the method most usually resorted to. That a variety of schemes were invented and actually in motion to detect him there can be no doubt ; but the extreme vigilance he at all times evinced, and the honourable forbearance of Mr Woodfall, enabled him to baffle every effort, and to persevere in his concealment to the last. ' Your letter,' says he in one of his private notes, ' was twice refused last night, and the waiter as often attempted to see the person who sent for it." "^ On another occasion his alarm was excited in consequence of various letters addressed to him at the printing-office, with a view, as he suspected, of leading to a disclosure either of his person or abode. ' I return you,' says he in reply, ' the letters you sent me yesterday. A man who can neither write conimoa English, nor spell, is hardly worth attending to. It is probably a trap for me : I should be glad, hou ever, to know what the fool means. If lie writes again, open his letter, and if it contain any- thing worth my knowing, send it : other- wise not. Instead of " C. in the usual place " say only ' ' a letter " when you have occasion to write to me again. I shall understand you.' ^ Some apprehension he seems to have suffered, as already observed, from the im- I pertinent curiosity of Swinney ; but his re- sentment was chiefly roused by that of j David Garrick, who appears from his own I account, and from intelligence on which he fully relied, to have been pertinacious in his attempts to discover him. For three weeks I or a month, he could scarcely ever write to Mr Woodfall without cautioning him to be specially on his guard against Garrick : and under this impression alone, he once changed his address.^ He wrote to Gar- rick a private note of severe castigation through the medium of the printer, which the latter, from an idea tiiat it was unneces- sarily acrimonious, resubmitted to his con- sideration with a view of dissuading him from sending it, ^ upon which our author desired him to tell Garrick personally to desist, or he would be amply revenged upon him. 'As it is important,' says he, ' to deter him from meddling, I desire you will tell him I am aware of his practices, I and will certainly be revenged if he does not desist. An appeal to the public from Junius would destroy him.'" It is not impossible to form a plausible guess at the age of Junius, from a passage in one of his Private Letters ; an enquiry, j which, though otherwise of little or no con- sequence, is rendered in some measure im- portant, as a test to determine the validity of the claims that have been laid to his writings by different candidates or their friends. The passage referred to occurs in his letter to Woodfall, dated Nov. 27, 1771: ' after long experience of theivorld,' says he, ' I aftirm before God, I never knew a rogue who was not unhappy.' ^ Now when this declaration is coupled with the two facts, that he niad^ it under the repeated promise and intenticn of speedily disclosing himself to his correspondent,'-^ and that the corre- spondent thus schooled, by a moral axiom gleaned from his own ' long experience of the world,' was at this very lime something more than thirty years of age ; it seems ab- surd to suppose that Junius could be much ^ Mr Jackson, the present respectable proprie- tor of the Ipswich Journal, who was at this time residing with the late Mr Woodfall, for the pur- pose of initruction in tlie London mode of con- ducting business, observed to the editor in a conversation on this subject, that he once saw a tall gentleman dressed in a light coat with bag and sword, throw into the office door opening in Ivy Lane, a letter from Junius, which he picked up and immediately followed the bearer of it into St Paul's Church-yard, where he got into a hackney coach and drove off. But whether this was ' the gentleman who transacted the con- vej-ancing part' or Junius himself, it is impossi- ble to ascertain. I - See Private Letters, Nos. 58, and 65, note. j 3 Id., No. 58 *• Id., No. 12. S Id., No. 41. I 6 Compare Private Letter, No. 41, with No. 43. The letter to Garrick will be found in the former of these. 7 Private Letter, No. 43. ^ IJ.^ No. 44. , 9ld., No. 41. I C 2 i6 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. less than fifty, or that he affected an age he had not actually attained. There is another point in the history of his life, during his appearance as a public writer, which for the same reason must not be suffered to pass by without observation, although otherwise it might be scarcely en- titled to notice ; and that is, that during a great part of this time, from January, 1769, to January, 1772, he uniformly resided in London, or its immediate vicinity, and that he never quitted his stated habitation for a longer period than a few weeks. This, too, we may collect from his private correspondence, compared with his public labours. No man but he, who with a thorough know- ledge of our author's style, undertakes to examine all the numbers of the Public Ad- letter of Nov. 8, 1769, 'for three weeks ; and though I got your last, could not con- veniently answer it.' * — On another occasion, ' I have been some dciys in the country, and could not conveniently send for your letter until this night : '- and again, ' I must see proof-sheets of the Dedication and Preface ; and these, if at all, I must see before the end of next wcek.'^ In like manner, 'I want rest most severely, and am going to find it in the country for a few days.' ■^ The last political letter that ever issued under the signature of JUNIUS was ad- dressed to lord Camden. It appeared in the Public Advertiser for Jan. 21, 1772, and followed the publication of his long and elaborate address to lord Mansfield upon the illegal bailing of Eyre ; and was de- vertiser for the three years in question, can 1 signed to stimulate the ncble earl to a have any idea of the immense fatigue and \ renewal of the contest which he had corn- trouble he submitted to in composing other letters, under other signatures, in order to support the pre-eminent pretensions and character of JUNIUS, attacked as it was by a multiplicity of writers in favour of admin- istration, to whom, as Junius, he did not chuse to make any reply whatever. Surely Junius himself, when he first undertook the office of public political censor, could by no means foresee the labour with which he was about to encumber himself. And instead of wondering that he should have disappeared at the distance of about five years, we ought much rather to be surprised that he should have persevered through half this period with a spirit at once so in- defatigable and invincible. Junius had no time for remote excursions, nor often for relaxation, even in the vicinity of the me- tropolis itself. Yet from his Private Letters we could al- most collect a journal of his absences, if not menced with the chief justice towards the close of the preceding session of parliament. It possesses the peculiarity of being the only encomiastic letter that ever fell from his pen under the signature of Junius. Yet the panegyric bestowed was not for the mere purpose of instigating lord Camden to the attack in question. There is sufficient evidence in his Private Letters that Junius had a very high, as well as a very just, opinion of the integrity of this nobleman ; and an ardent desire that the estimate he had formed of his integrity should be known to the world at large. In the whole course of his political creed there seems to have been but one point upon which they differ- ed, and that was the doctrine assented to by his Lordship, that the crown possesses j a power in case of very urgent necessity, of suspending the operation of an act of the legislature. It is a mere speculative doc- trine, and Junius only incidentally alluded an itinerary of his little tours : for he does to it in a letter upon a very different sub- not appear to have left London at any time ' ject. s The disagreement upon this point without some notice to the printer, either of his intention, or of the fact itself upon his return home ; independently of which the frequency and regularity of liis corre- spondence seldom allowed of distant travel. ' I have been out of town,' savs he, in his ' Private Letter, No. 11. - Id., No. 7. 3 Id., No. 45. * Id., No. 43- 5 Letter LIX, seems eagerly to have been caught at, how- ever, by another correspondent in the Public Advertiser, who chose the signature of Scos- PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 17 vola, apparently for the express purpose of involving the political satirist in a dispute with his lordship. ' Scasvola,' observes he in a private letter, ' I see is determined to make me an enemy to lord Camden. If it be not wilful malice, I beg you will sig- nify to him, that when I originally men- tioned lord Camden's declaration about the corn bill, it was without any view of dis- cussing that doctrine, and only as an in- stance of a singular opinion maintained by a man of great learning and integrity. Such an instance was necessary to the plan of my letter.'* And again, shortly after- wards, finding that the communication had not been received as it ought to have been, ' I should not trouble you or myself about that blockhead Scaevola, but that his absurd fiction of my being lord Camden's enemy has done harm. Every fool can do mis- chief, therefore signify to him what I said.' = Not satisfied however with this hint to the printer, he chose, at the same time, under the subordinate character of Philo-Junius, to settle the point, and preclude all pos- sibility of altercation by an address to the pubhc, that should dexterously mark out this single difference in a mere speculative opinion ; and while it amply defended the viev/ he had taken of the subject, should evince such an evident approbation of his Lordship's general conduct, as could not fail of being gratifying to him. This letter appeared in the Public .Advertiser, Oct. 15, 1771.3 Lord Camden, however, was not induced by this earnest attempt and last letter of Junius to renew his attack upon lord Mansfield ; yet this was not the reason, or at least not the sole or primary reason, for JUNlUS's discontinuing to write. It has already been observed, that so early as July, 1769, he began to entertain thoughts of dropping a character and signature which must have cost him a heavy series of labour, and frequently perhaps exposed him to no small peril. ' I really doubt ' says he, ' whether I shall write any more under this ' Private Letter, No. 45. ^ Id., No. 46. 3 Letter LX. * Private Letter, No. 5. signature. I am weary of attacking a set of brutes, whose writings are too dull to furnish me even with the materials of con- tention, and whose me.ioures are too gross and direct to be the subject of argument, or to require illustration.' ^ In perfect consonance with this declaration , in his reply to the printer, who had offered him half the profits of the letters at that time published under his own correction, or an equal sum for the use of any public institution he should chuse to name, he makes the following remark, of which a part has been already quoted on another occasion : ' As for myself, be assured that I am far above all pecuniary views, and no other person, I think, has any claim to share with you. Make the most of it there- fore, and let all your views in life be direct- ed to a solid, however moderate, independ- ence : without it no man can be happy, nor even honest. If I saw any prospect of uniting the city once more, I would readily continue to labour in the vineyard. When- ever Mr Wilkes can tell me that such an union is in prospect, he shall hear of me. Quod si quis existimat me aut voluntate esse inutata, aut debilitatd virtute, aut anitno fracto, vehementer errat.' ^ Even so long afterwards as Januar)' 19, 1773, in the very last letter we have any certain knowledge he ever addressed to Mr Woodfall, he urges precisely the same motives for his continuing to desist. ' I have seen the signals thrown out for your old friend and correspondent. Be assured that I have had good reason for not com- plying with them. In the present state of things, if I were to write again, I must be as silly as any of the horned cattle that run mad through the city, or as any of your wise aldermen. / meant the cause and tlie public : BOTH ARE GIVEN UP. I feel for the honour of this countr)', when I see that there are not ten men in it, who will unite and stand together upon any one question. But it is all alike vile and contemptible. S Private Letter, No. 59. 'But if any one believes me to be changed in will, weakened in integrity, or broken in courage, he errs grossly. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. You have never flinched that I know of ; and I shall always rejoice to hear of your prosperity. If you have any thing to com- municate (of moment to yourself), you may use the last address, and give a hint.'^ In effect from the dissolution of the con- solidated Whig party upon the death of George Grenville, the absurd divisions in I the Bill of Rights Society, and the political I separations in the city, our author had much reason to despair of the cause in I which he had so manfully engaged. I To the moral character of Junius this letter is of more value than all the popular addresses he ever composed in his life. It is impossible to suppose it to flow from the affectation of an honesty which did not exist in his heart. The circumstances under which it was sent altogether prohibit such an idea : luiknown as he was, and unknown as he had now determined to continue, to his correspondent, there was no adequate ' Priv.ite Letter, No. 63. The signals here referred to were thrown out on the very morning of the day on which this letter was written, and consisted of the following Latin quotation, in- serted in the Public Advertiser for January 19, 1773, among the other answers to correspondents. IteriDiiqitc, iteruDtqne inoncho. The printer, within a few weeks afterwards, availed himself of the liberty of making a communication to Ji-Nifs by the last address, and in the Public Advertiser of -March 8, gave the following hint : ''i"he letter from an old friend and cokrk- spoNDENT, dated January 19, came safe to hand, and his directions are sirict/y followed. Quod si gitis cxistiniat ant, Sec' The quotation is pe- I culiarly happy : for it is not only a copy of what JrNirs had cited himself in his last Private Letter but one, and was hence sure to attract his ; attention, but is a smart replication to the passage j in the letter it immediately refers to, ' i'oji have never flinched that I know of.' The subject of some part of the communication at this time made by the printer to Jumcs, the editor has been able to discover, by having accidentally found among Mr Woodfall's papers, and in his own hand-writing, a rough draft of one of the three letters of which it appears to have consisted. This letter the reader will meet with in the private correspondence, arranged according tr I its date, uhich is March 7, 1773. the day ante- cedent to the public notice given in the Public Advertiser as above. Among the answers to correspondents ^Ll^ch 20, we find another signal of tiie very same kind in the foUcv/ing terms, ^ Aiit voluntate esse iiintata ; ' and in the same place March 29, a third ensign under the follow- ing form, 'A ut debilitatA virtu te ; ' both of which motive for his assuming the semblance of an integrity which he felt not, and which did not fairly belong to him. It was, it must have been, a pure, disinterested testi- monial of private esteem and public patriot- ism, consentaneous with the uniform tenor both of his open and his confidential his- tor}', and conscientiously developing the real cause of his secession. In truth it must have been, as he himself states it, insanity, to have persisted any longer in any thing like a regular attack ; lord Camden had declined to act upon his suggestion ; the great phalanx of the Whig party was broken up by the death of Mr George Grenville ; the vanity and extreme jealousy of Oliver and Home had intro- duced the most acrimonious divisions into the Society for supporting the Bill of Rights ; and the \cM\\n^ patriots of the city had so intermixed their own private interests, and their own private squabbles with the public it will be observed, upon a comparison, are verbal continuations of JuNius's own quotation, and hence identify with double force the person to whom they relate. In the Public Advertiser of April 7, we find the following signal of a similar description, and it is the last we have been able to discover, 'Die qjiilnis in terris.^ It is pro- bable that these all related to matters of a personal concern, upon which, by the above private letter, the printer had still leave to ad- dress his correspondent : at least there is no reacon for believing that JiNirs ever broke through the silence upon which he so infle-xibly determined on January 19, or consented to re- appear before the public in any character what- ever. There were some very excellent letters signed Atticus that appeared in the Public Ad- vertiser between the dates of June 26, 1772, and October 14, 1773, and exhibit much of our author's style, spirit, and sentiments ; and which, hence, by some tolerable judges, have been actually ascribed to him : but fcr s'arious reasons, independently of that afforded by the above pri- I vate letter, the editor is conviiiced they are not I the production of Junius. The talents they i aflord proof of, though considerable, are in- I ferior ; they contain attacks upon some states- ! men who were never attacked by JUN'ius ; and ! it is well known from the following notice in- } serted among the addresses to correspondents in I the Public Advertiser for June 19, 1773, as well as from other facts, that there was at this period, I and had been for some time past, another writer I in this journal who assumed the name of Atticus. [ ' Some circumstances render it necessary that the I printer should communicate a line to AttiCUS, I not his OLD Correspondent.^ PRFJJMIXARY ESSAY 19 cause, as to render this cause itself con- temptible in the eye of the people at large. He had already tried, but in vain, to awaken the different contending parties to a sense of better and more honourable motives ; to induce thsKi to forego their selfish and in- dividual disputes, and to make a common sacrifice of them upon the altar of the con- stitution. ' Yet, at the same time, so small were his expectations of success, so mean his opinion of the pretensions of most of the leading demagogues of the day to a real love of their country, and so grossly had he himself been occasionally misrepresented by them, that in his confidential intercourse he bade his correspondent beware of en- trusting himself to them. 'Nothing,' says he, ' can be more express than my declar- ation against long parliaments : try Mr Wilkes once more (^loho toas in private possession of his soitiments upon this siib- jeci) ;^ speak for me in a most friendly but /irni tone, that I will not submit to be any longer aspersed. Between ourselves, let me recommend it to you to be much upon your guard \\\\.h. patriots.''^ \Vith his public address to the people, therefore, in Letter LIX., he seems in the first instance to have resolved upon closing his labours, at least under the character of Junius, provided no beneficial effect were likely to result from it, and as the printer had expressed to him an earnest desire of publishing a genuine edition of his letters, in a collective form, in consequence of a variety of incorrect and spurious editions at that time circulating through the nation, he seems to have thought that a consent to such a plan would afford him a good ostensible motive for putting a finish to his public career ; and on this account he not only acceded to the proposal, but under- took to superintend it as far as his invisi- bility might allow him ; and also to add a few notes, as well as a dedication and preface. * See JuKius, Letter LIX., and Private Let- ter, No. 65. ^ See Private Letter, No. 66. 3 Private Letter, No. 44. Nothing can be more absurd than the idea entertained by some writers, that Junius himself was the previous editor of one or two of these irregular editions, and especi- ally of an edition published but a short time anterior to his own, audaciously enough entitled ' The genuine letters of Junius, to which are prefixed, anecdotes of the au- thor ;' •* a pamphlet in which the anonym- ous anecdotist takes it for granted, from his ver>' outset, that Junius and Edmund Burke were the same person, and then pro- ceeds to reason concerning the former, from the known or acknowledged works of the latter. It was not till the appearance cf New- berr>''s edition, with which it iz not pre- tended that our author had any concern, that even W'oodfall himself had conceived an idea of the propriety of collecting these letters, and publishing them in an edition strictly genuine, in consequence of the numerous blunders by which the common editions were deformed ; of these New- berr>''s was, perhaps, the freest from mis- takes : yet Newberry's had so many, that our author, upon receiving a copy of it, addressed a note to Woodfall, begging him to hint to Newberr}-, that as he had thought proper to reprint his letters, he ought at least to have taken care to have corrected the errata : adding at the same time, ' I did not expect more than the life of a news- paper ; but if this man will keep me alive, let me live without being offensive.' ^ His answer upon Woodfall's application to him for leave to reprint his letters col- lectively, and subject to his own revisal, was as follows : ' I can have no manner of objection to your reprinting my letters, if you think it will answer, which I believe it might before Newberry appeared. If you determine to do it, give me a hint, and I will send you more errata (indeed they are innumerable) and perhaps a preface.' ^ It was on this occasion he added, as concelv- * Sec Mr Chalmers's Appendix to the Sup- plemental Apology, &c., p. 24. 5 Private Letter, No. 4. 6 Private Letter, No. 5. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. ing i: might afford him a proper opportunity for a general close of the character, though so early in his correspondence, under the name of Junius, as July, 1769, 'I really doubt whether I shall write any more under this signature ; I am weary of attacking a set of brutes, &c.' * In answer to Wood- fall's next letter upon the same subject he obser\'es, ' Do with my letters exactly as you please. I should think that, to make a better figure than Newberry, some others of my letters may be added, and so throto out a hint, that you have reason to suspect they are by the same author. If you adopt this plan, I shall point out those, which 1 1 would recommend ; for you know, I do not nor indeed have I time to give equal care to them all. "" The plan for publication, however, though it commenced thus early, was not matured till October, 1771 : when it was determined that the work should comprise all the letters which had passed under the signa- tures of Junius and Philo-Junius to this period exclusively, and be occasionally en- riched by a selection of other letters under a variety of other signatures, such as will be found in the Miscellaneous Letters of the present edition ; which, independently of that of Philo-Junius, our author, as has been observed already, not unfrequently employed to explain what required explana- tion, or defend what demanded vindication, and which ^he himself thought sufficiently correct to associate with his more laboured ' productions. In the prosecution of this intention, however, he still made the two ' following alterations. Instead of closing \ the regular series of letters possessing the | * Private Letter, No. 6. ^ Id., No. 7. 3 Letter LIX. 4 Private Letter, No. 45. The reader will readily pardon, and perhaps thank us, for point- ing out to his particular attention the following exquisite paragraph with which the above letter close;), but which formed no part of it as origin- ally addressed to Mr Wilkes. It refers to an able argument that an excision of the rotten boroughs from the representative system might perhaps produce more mischief than benefit to the constitution. ' The man, who fairly and com- pletely answers this argument, shall have my thanks and my applause. My heart is already signature of Junius with that dated October 5, 1771,^ upon the sitbject of ' the unhappy differences,' as he there calls them, ♦ which had arisen among the friends of the people, and divided them from each other' — he added five others which the events of the day had impelled him to write during the reprinting of the letters, notwithstanding the intention he had expressed of offering nothing further under this signature. And instead of introducing the explanatory letters written under other signatures, he confined himself, in order that the work might be ^published before the ensuing session of parliament, to three justificatory papers alone : the first, under the title of ' A Friend of Junius,' containing an answer to ' A Barrister at Law ; ' the second an anonymous declaration upon certain points on which his opinion had been mistaken or misrepresented ; and the third an extract from a letter to Mr Wilkes, drawn up for the purpose of being laid before the Bill of Rights Society, with a view of vindicating himself from the charge of having written in favour of long pariiaments and rotten boroughs. This last however was furnished, not by Mr Wilkes, but from his own notes ; ' you shall have the extract,' s^ys he, 'to go into the second volume : it will be a short one.'"* Of the five letters added after he meant to have closed, and had actually begun to reprint his series, four of them are either expressly addressed to lord Mansfield, or incidentally relate to him, in consequence of his having illegally (as it was contended) admitted a felon of the name of John Eyre I to bail, who, although possessing a fortune with him. — I am ready to be converted. — I ! admire his morality, and would gladly subscribe to the articles of his faith. — Grateful, as I am, to the GOOD BEING, whose bounty has imparted to me this reasoning intellect, whatever it is, I hold myself proportionably indebted to him, from whose enlightened understanding another ray of knowledge communicates to mine. But neither should I think the most exalted faculties of the human mind a gift worthy of the Divinity ; nor any assistance, in the improvement of them, a subject of gratitude to my fellow-creature, if I were not satisfied, that really to inform the under- standing corrects and enlarges the heart' PRELIMINARY ESSAY. of neirly thirty thousand pounds sterling, had stolen a quantity of paper in quires out of one of the public offices at Guildhall, and was caught in the very theft. The other letter is addressed to the object of his steady j and inveterate hatred, the duke of Grafton, upon the defeat of his attempt to transfer the duke of Portland's estate in Cumber- land, consisting of what had formerly been crown lands, to sir James Lowther, in order to assist the latter in securing his election for this county. i Such, however, was his anxiety to get this work completed and published before the winter session of parliament, that he was ready to sacrifice the appearance of the I whole of these additional letters, even that containing his elaborate accusation of lord Mansfield, and which he acknowledged to have cost him enormous pains, rather than that it should be delayed beyond this period. ' I am truly concerned,' says he in a private letter dated Januarj' 20, 1772, ' to see that the publication of the book is so long delayed. It ought to have appeared before the meeting of parliament. By no means would I have you insert this long letter, if it make more than the difference of two days in the publication. Believe me, the delay is a real injury to the cause.' * The difficulties, however, of sending proofs and revises forward and backward were so considerable, that the an.xiety of the author was not gratified : parliament met, but the book was not published. Junius became e.^tremely impatient ; yet still, in the most earnest terms, pressed its publica- tion before alderman Sawbridge's motion in favour of triennial parUa?nents which was to be brought forward in the beginning of March. ' Surely, ' says he, in his private letter of Februar>' 17,- ' you have misjudged it very much about the book. I could not have conceived it possible that you could protract the publication so long. At this time, particularly before Mr Sawbridge's motion, it would have been of singular use. ' Private Letter, No. 51. - Id. No. 55. 3 The Letters were actually published March 3, and alderman Sawbridge's motion discussed the You have trifled too long with the public expectation : at a certain point of time the appetite palls : I fear you have already lost the season. The book, I am sure, will lose the greatest part of the effect I expected from it. — But I have done.' He was soon however consoled by intelli- gence from his friend Woodfall that, tmduly as the book had been postponed, it was not for want of any exertions of his own ; and that late as the season was, it would still precede the expected motion of alderman Sawbridge.3 He, in consequence, replied as follows : ' I do you the justice to believe that the delay has been unavoidable. The expedient you propose, of printing the De- dication and Preface in the Public Adver- tiser is unadviseable. The attention of the public would then be quite lost to the book itself. I think your rivals will be dis- appointed : nobody will apply to them, when they can be supplied at the fountain- head. — All I can now say, is, make haste with the book.* The Dedication, Preface, and the materi- als for his notes were all finished about the beginningof the preceding November (1771). The letters at large, excepting the first two sheets which were revised by the author himself, were from the difficulty of convey- ance entrusted to the correction of Mr Woodfall, with incidental amendments ob- tained, as they could be, by an interchange of letters. The Dedication and Preface were confided to the correction of Mr Wilkes, s with whose attention the author expresses himself well pleased. 'When you see Mr Wilkes,' says he in a note of Februarj' 29, 1772, ' pray return him my thanks for the trouble he has taken. I wish he had taken more : ' ^ intimating hereby that there were still errors of which he was aware, and which he would have corrected if possible. Yet though he thus continued to adhere rigidly to his determination never again to appear before the public in his full dress, or ensuing day — which motion, however, was lost by a majority of 251 against 83. 4 Private Letter, No. 56. 5 Id., No. 40. 6 Id., No. 57. ^ PRELIMINARY ESSAY. under the signature of Junius, as he ex- presses it in his Private Letter of November 8, 1 77 1, he did not object occasionally to introduce his observations and continue his severe strictures in a looser and less elaborate form, and under some appellative or other, that might not interfere with the claims of JUNIUS as a whole, as in the case of his series of letters to lord Barrington, see No. CV., CVII., &c. These, however, it was not easy, in spite of the characteristic style that still, to an acute eye, pervaded them, for the world at large to bring com- pletely home to the real writer, though many of them were frequently charged to the account of Junius by the political critics of the day, in different addresses to the printer upon this subject. To judge of the moral and political cha- racter of Junius from his writings, as well private as public, he appears to have been a man of a bold and ardent spirit, tena- ciously honourable in his personal connex- ions, but vehement and inveterate in his enmities, and quick and irritable in con- ceiving them. In his state principles he was strictly constitutional, excepting perhaps upon the single point of denying the impec- cability of the crown ; in those of religion he, at least, ostensibly professed an attach- ment to the established church. Of his personal and private honour, we can only judge from his connexion with Mr Woodfall. Yet this connexion is perhaps sufficient; for throughout the whole of it he appears in a light truly ingenuous and liberal. ' If undesignedly,' says he in one of his letters, ' I should send you any- thing you may think dangerous, judge for yourself, or take any opinion you think pro- per. You cannot offend or afflict me, but by hazarding your own safety.' ^ To the same effect in another letter, ' For my own part I can very truly assure you that nothing would afflict me more than to have drawn you into a personal danger, because it admits of no recompense. A little expense is not to be regarded, and I hope these ^ Private Letter, No. 43. papers have reimbursed you. I never will send you any thing that / think dangerous; but the risk is yours, and you must deter- mine for yourself.'* Upon another occasion, being sensible that he had w-ritten with an asperity that might alarm his correspondent, he again begged him not to print if he apprehended any danger ; adding that, ^'or himself he should not be offended at his desisting ; and merely requesting that if he did not chuse to take the risk he would transmit the paper as sent to him, to a printer who was well known to be less cautious than himself. ' The inclosed,' says he in one of his notes, ' is of such importance, so very material, that it 7nust be given to the public immedi- ately. / rolll not advise, though I think you perfectly safe. All I say is that I rely upon your care to have it printed either to- morrow in your own paper, or to-night in the Pacquet.' 3 — To the same effect is the following upon another occasion. ' I hope you will approve of announcing the inclosed Junius to-morrow, and publishing it on Monday. If, for any reasons that do not occur to me, you should think it unadvise- able to print it, as it stands, I must entreat the favour of you to transmit it to Bingley, and satisfy him that it is a real Junius, worth a North Briton extraordinary. It will be impossible for me to have an oppor- tunity of altering any part of it.' '^ Upon the printer's being menaced with a prosecution on the part of the duke of Grafton, in consequence of the publication of JUNius's letter to him of the date of De- cember 12, 1769, accusing this nobleman of having, in the most corrupt and sinister manner, either sold or connived at the sale of a patent place in the collection of the customs at Exeter, he writes as follows : ' As to yourself, I am convinced the ministry will not venture to attack you ; they dare not submit to such an enquiry. If they do, show no fear, but tell them plainly you will justify, and subpoena Mr Hine, Burgoyne, "^ Private Letter, No. 33. Id., No. 38. 4 Id., No. 34. PRELIMINARY ESSAY, and Bradshaw of the Treasury ; that will silence them at once.'' The printer, how- ever, was still fearful, and could not avoid expressing himself so to his invisible friend; who thus replied to his proposal of volun- teering an apolog)' : 'Judge for yourself. I enter sincerely into the anxiety of your situation ; at the same time I am strongly inclined to think that you will not be called upon. They cannot do it without subject- ing Hine"s affair to an enquiry, which would be worse than death to the minister. As it is, they are more seriously stabbed with this last stroke, than all the rest. At any rate, stand firm : (I mean with all the humble appearances of contrition:) if you trim or faulter, you will lose friends without gaining others.' - The friendly advice thus shrewdly given was punctiliously followed ; and the predictions of Jl'NIUS were more than ac- complished : for the minister not only did not dare to enforce his menaces, but at the same time thought it expedient to drop ab- ruptly the prosecution of Mr Vaughan, which this attack upon him was expressly designed to fight off, and to drop it, too, after the rule against Vaughan had been made absolute. Upon the publication of Juxius's letter I to the King, Woodfall was not quite so fortunate— but his invisible friend still fol- lowed him with assistance ; he offered him, as has already been observed, a reimburse- ment of whatever might be his pecuniary expenses, and aided him in a still higher degree with the soundest prudential and legal advice. Upon a subsequent occasion also, he makes the following observation. I 'As to yourself, I really think you in no' danger. You are not the object, and punishing j^« would be no gratification to the king." 3— But upon this subject, the following is one of the most important notes, as, although he expressly denies all professional knowledge of the law, it suffi- ciently proves that he was better acquainted with it than many who are actual prac- ' Private Letter, No. 15. = Id., No. 17. 3 Id., No. 43. "♦ At that tiir.e Attorney-General. titioners. ' I have carefully perused the Infonnation : it is so loose and ill-drawn that I am persuaded Mr De Grey ■* could not have had a hand in it. Their inserting the whole, proves they had no strong pas- sages to fix on. I still think it will not be tried. If it should, it is not possible for a jury to find you guilty.' 5 In his first opinion he was mistaken ; in his second he was correct. The cause was tried at Nisi Prius — but no one has yet for- gotten that the verdict returned was ' guilty of printing and publishing only ;' which in fact implied not guilty at all.^ It is to this cause, as has been already glanced at, we are chiefly indebted for an acknowledged and unequivocal right in the jury to return a general verdict — that is, a verdict that shall embrace matter of law as well as matter of fact. From the ambiguity of the verdict however, in the case before us, a motion was niade by the defendant's coun- sel in arrest of judgment; at the same time that an opposite motion was advanced by the counsel for the crown, for a rule upon the defendant to show cause why the ver- dict should not be entered up according to the legal import of the words. On both sides a rule to show cause was granted, and the matter being argued before the court of King's Bench, notwithstanding the bench appears to have been strongly and unanimously in favour of the verdict being entered up, the result was the grant of a new trial ; which, however, was not proceeded in, for want of proof of the pub- lication of the paper in question. That Junius was quick and irritable in conceiving disgust, and vehement, and even at times malignant, in his enmities, we may equally ascertain from his private and his public communications. In the violence of his hatreds almost every one whom he attacks is guilty in the extreme ; there are no degrees of comparison either in their criminality or his own detestation : the whole is equally superlative. If the duke 5 Private Letter, No. 20. 6 See Editor's notes, p. 118 and p. 213. 24 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. of Cirafton be the objfct of his address, j ' every villain in the kingdom,' says he, ' is arbitrary tendencies : as introduced into Carlton-house against the consent of his pre- sent Majesty's royal grandfather, through th.e overweening favouritism of the princess dowager of Wales ; as having obtained an I your friend ' — the very sunshine you live in I is a prelude to your dissolution.' =^ If lord ; Mansfield faW beneath his lash, _ io not i scruple to affirm, with the most solemn ; entire ascendancy over this princess, and 1 appeal to God for my sincerity, that, in w.y- ' through this princess over the king, whose 1 judgment, he is the very worst and most | non-age had been entirely entrusted to him, I dangerous man in the kingdom.' 3 An ! and through the king over the cabinet and I opinion corroborated by him in his private I the parliament itself. The introduction of I correspondence : ' We have got the rascal ! lord Bute into the post of chief preceptor ' down,' says he, 'let us strangle him if it j to his Majesty was in our author's opinion be possible,' 4 In like manner addressing j an inexpiable evil. ' T/ia/,' says he, ' was himself to lord Barrington, 'You are so j the salient point from which all the mis- detested and despised by all parties (be- cause all parties know you) that England, Scotland, and Ireland have but one wish concerning you ; ' s while his note to the printer accompanying this address, closes thus : ' The proceedings of this wretch are unaccountable. There must be some mys- j tery in it, which I hope will soon be dis- I covered to his confusion. Next to the } duke of Grafton, I verily believe that the blackest heart in the kingdom belongs ; to lord Barrington.' ^ Even Screvola, an anonymous writer, whom he knew not, is i ' a blockhead ' and ' a fool ' ^ for opposing William Blackstone are but light and casual when compared with his incessant and un- mitigated tirades against these noblemen. Firmly rooted in the best Whig principles of the day, he had an invincible hatred of lord Bute as the grand prop and founda- tion-stone of Toryism in its worst and most ' Letter LXVII. ^^ Ibid. 3 Letter LXIX. ■♦ Private Letter, No. 24. 5 Miscellaneous Letters, No. CXL ' chiefs and disgraces of the present reign took life and motion.' Letter XXXV., note. Thus despising the tutor, he could have no great reverence for the pupil : and hence the personal dislike he too frequently betrays, and occasionally in language altogether in- { temperate and unjustifiable, for the sove- reign. Hence, too, his unconquerable prejudice against Scotchmen of every rank. The same cause excited his antipathy against lord Mansfield, even before his Lord.ship's arbitrary line of conduct had proved that our author's suspicions con- him : Swinney, for his impertinent enquiry j cerning him were well-founded. Lord of lord G. Sackville, ' a wretched but a Mansfield was a Scotchman : but this was dangerous fool ; ' ^ and Garrick, on the , not the whole. Under the patronage of same account, ' a rascal, and a vaga- ! lord Stormont, he had been educated with bond.' ^ I the highest veneration for the whole Stuart Yet it is not difficult to account for the j family, and especially for the Pretender ; more violent of his political abhorrences ; and which seem, indeed, to have been almost exclusively directed against the three ministerial characters just enumerated in conjunction with the earl of Bate : for his whose health, when a young man, had been his favourite toast, and to whom his bro- ther was attached as a confidential and private agent. It was for these sentiments, and for the politics which intruded them- attacks upon the duke of Bedford and sir j selves in his judicial proceedings, where the crown was concerned, that our author expressed himself in such bitter terms against the chief justice. ' Our language," says he, in Letter XLL, 'has no term of reproach, the mind has no idea of detestation, which has not already been happily applied to you, and exhausted. 6 Private Letter, No. 61. 7 Id., Nos. 46 and 47. 9 Id., Nos. 41 and 43. 8 Id., No. s. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. — Ample justice has been done by abler pens than mine to the separate merits of your life and character. Let it be my humble office to collect the scattered sweets, till their united virtue tortures the sense.' His detestation of the duke of Grafton proceeded from his Grace's having aban- doned his patron lord Chatham, and the Whig principles into which he had been initiated under him, to gratify his own ambition on the first offer that occurred : from his ha\iiig afterwards united some- times with the Bedford party, sometimes with lord Bute, and sometimes with other connexions of whatever principles or pro- fessions, whenever the union appeared fa- vourable to his personal views ; and from his having hereby prevented that general coalition of the different divisions of Whig statesmen, which must in all probability have proved permanently triumphant over the power of the king himself. ' My abhor- rence of the duke,' says Junius, ' arises from an intimate knowledge of his character, and from a thorough conviction that his base- ness has been the cause of greater mischief to England than even the unfortunate am- bition of lord Bute.' ^ It was not necessary for lord Barrington to be a Scotchman in order to excite the antipathy of Junius. He might justly de- spise and even hate him (if it be allowable to indulge a private hatred against a public character of any kind) for his political ver- satilities and want of all principle ; for atrocities, indeed, which no man can yet have forgotten, and which never can be buried in forgetfulness but with the total oblivion of his name. Barrington, inde- pendently of these general considerations, however, was the man who moved for Wilkes's expulsion from parliament, in which he was seconded by Mr Rigby. These were the prime objects of our author's abhorrence ; and in proportion as j other politicians were connected with them I by principles or want of principles, con- ' Letter I,IV. federacy, nation, or even family, he ab- horred them also. His reasons for believing that the con- stitution allows him to regard the reigning prince as occasionally culpable in his own person, are given at large iu his Preface. To few people perhaps in the present day will they carry conviction. But, bating this single opinion, his view of the prin- ciples and powers of the constitution ap- pears to be equally correct and perspicuous. Upon the question of general warrants ; of the right of juries to return general verdicts, or in other words, to determine upon the law as well as upon the fact ; of the un- limited power of Lords Chief Justices to admit to bail ; of the illegality of suspend- ing acts of parliament by proclamation, we owe him iviuch ; he was a warm and rigid supporter of the co-extent, as well as co- existence, of the three estates of the govern- ment, and it was from this principle alone that he argued against the system of inde- finite privilege as appertaining to either House individually ; and as allowing it a power of arbitrary punishment, for what may occasionally be regarded as a con- tempt of such House, or a breach of such privilege. Personally and. outrageously inimical, however, as he was to the reigning prince, and earnestly devoted as he seems to have been to the cause of the people, neither his enmity nor his patriotism hurried him into any of those political extravagancies which have peculiarly marked the character of the present age : a limited monarchy, like our own, he openly preferred to a repubhc ; he contended for the constitutional right of impressing, in case of emergency, sea-faring men for the common service of the country ; strenuously opposed the supporters of the Bill of Rights, in their endeavours to restore annual parliaments, and their fanciful, but, as it appeared to him, unconstitutional plan of purifying the legislature by dis- franchising a number of boroughs which they had chosen to regard as totally cor- rupt and rotten ; and anterior to the Ame- rican contest was as thoroughlv convinced 26 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. as Mr George Grenville himself of the supremacy of the legislature of this country over the American colonies. ^ Upon the first point he observes : ' I can more readily admire the liberal spirit and integrity than the sound judgment of any man, who prefers a republican form of go- I vernment, in this or any other empire of\ equal extent, to a monarchy so qualified and limited as ours. I am convinced, that j neitlier is it in theory the wisest system | of government, nor practicable in tliis country."" Upon the second point he appears to have been cliiefly influ- enced by judge Foster's argument on the legahty of pressing seamen, and his com- ment on that argument maybe seen in his ob- servations, pp. 307, 318, and 321. Upon the tiiird and fourth points he thus ingenuously expresses himself : ' Whenever the question shall be seriously agitated, I will endeavour (and, if I live, will assuredly attempt it) to convince tlie English nation, by arguments to viy understanding unansweraljle, that they ought to insist upon a triennial, and banish the idea of an annual parliament. As to cutting away the rotten bo- roughs, I am as much offended as any man at seeing so many of them under the direct influence of the crown, or at the disposal of private persons ; yet, I own, I have both doubts and apprehensions, in regard to the remedy you propose. I shall be charged, perhaps, with an unusual want of political intrepidity, when I honestly confess to you, that I am startled at the idea of so extensive an amputation. In tlie first place, I ques- tion the power, de jure, of the legislature to disfranchise a number of boroughs, upon the general ground of improving the con- j stitution. — When you propose to cut away I the rotten parts, can you tell us what parts are perfectly sound f Are there any certain limits, in fact or theory, to inform you at what point you must stop, —at what point the mortification ends ? ' ^ Junius has been repeatedly accused of having been a party-man, but perhaps no ' See Miscellaneous Letters, No. X., as well ' as various others in the year 1768. ( 2 Letter LIX. 3 Letter LXIX. political satirist was ever less so. To Mr Wilkes and Mr Home he was equally in- different, except in regard to their public principles and public characters. In his estimation the cause alone was every thing, and they were only of value as the tempor- ary and accidental supporters of it. ' Let us employ these men,' says he, ' in whatever departments their various abilities are best suited to, and as much to the advantage of the common cause, as their different in- clinations will permit. — If individuals have • no virtues, their vices may be of use to us. I care not with what principle the new-born patriot is animated, if the measures he sup- ports are beneficial to the community. The nation is interested in his conduct. His motives are his own. The properties of a patriot are perishable in the individual, but there is a quick succession of subjects, and tlie breed is worth preserving.' •♦ It was in this view of the politics of the day, that he privately cautioned his friend Woodfall, as has been already noticed, ' to be much upon his guard against patriots ;"^ and in the consciousness of possessing a truly in- dependent spirit, that he boasted of being ' disowned, as a dangerous auxiliary, by twexy party in the kingdom,' ^ his creed not expressly comporting with any single party creed whatever. Yet there were statesmen whom he be- lieved to be truly honest and upright, and for wliom he felt a personal as well as a political reverence : and it is no small proof of the keenness of his penetration that the characters, whom he thus singled out from the common mass of pretenders to genuine patriotism, have been ever since growing in the public estimation, and are now justly looked back to as the pillars and bulwarks of the English constitution. His high opinion of the general purity and virtue of lord Camden we have already noticed. ' Lord Bute,' says he, in describing several others of whom he equally approved, * found no resource of dependence or se- curity in the proud, imposing superiority of 4 Letter LIX. 5 Private Letter, No. 44. 6 Letter X LI V PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 37 lord Chatham's abilities, the shrewd, in- flexible judgment of Mr Grenville,' nor in the mild, but determined integrity of lord Rockingham.'^ He also seems disposed to have entertained a good opinion of lord Holland ; and this is the rather entitled to attention, as the opinion was communicated confidentially. ' I wish,' says he, ' lord Holland may acquit himself with honour : if his cause be good, he should at once have published that account to which he refers in his letter to the mayor." ^ With respect to Mr Sawbridge, and his worthy colleague, he obser\'es, ' My memory fails me if I have mentioned their names with disrespect ; — unless it be reproachful to acknowledge a sincere respect for the character of Mr, Sawbridge, and not to have questioned the innocence of Mr Oliver's intentions.' •* And again, adverting to the former, it were much to be desired, that we had many such men as Mr Sawbridge to represent us in parliament.— I speak from common report and opinion only, when I impute to him a speculative predilection in favour of a re- public. — In the personal conduct and man- ners of the man, I cannot be mistaken. He has shown himself possessed of that re- publican firmne.cs, which the times require, and by which an English gentleman may be as usefully and as honourably dis- tinguished, as any citizen of ancient Rome, of Athens, or Lacedcemon.' 5 Yet the times were too corrupt, and the instances of defection too numerous, to allow so wary a statesman as Junius to regard even these exalted characters with- out occasional suspicion and jealousy. Much as he approved of the marquis of Rockingham personally, he regarded him publicly as forming a feeble administration that dissolved in its own weakness.^ He had more than once some doubts of the ' Of all the political characters of the day Mr Grenville appears to have been our author's favourite ; no man was more open to censure in many parts of his conduct, but he is never cen- sured ; while, on the contrary, he is extolled wherever an opportunity offers: yet Junius positively asserted that he had no personal know- ledge of Mr Grenville. Compare Miscellaneotrs motives both of lord Camden and lord Chatham : their opposition at the com- mencement of the American contest he was jealous of ; and ascribed it rather to poHtic- al pique than to liberal patriotism. 7 To his friend he writes thus confidentially, ' The duke of Grafton has been long labour- ing to detach Camden ; ' ^ and in unison with this idea he tells his Lordship himself publicly, ' If you decline this honourable I office, I fear it will be said that, for some months past, you have kept too much com- pany with the duke of Grafton. '^ And even as late as August, 1771, when lord Chatham had been progressively growing on his good opinion, he thus cautiously praises him. ' If his ambition be upon a level with his understanding ; — // he judges of what is truly honourable for himself, with the same superior genius, which animates and directs him to eloquence in debate, to wisdom in decision, even the pen of Junius shall con- j tribute to reward him. Recorded honours 1 shall gather round his monument, and I thicken over him. It is a solid fabric, and I will support the laurels that adorn it. — I ; am not conversant in the language of I panegyric. — These praises are extorted from ine ; but they will wear well, for they have been dearly earned.' '" In his religious opinions Junius has been accused of deism and atheism ; but on what account it seems impossible to ascer- tain : he has by others been conceived to have been a dissenter ; '' yet with as little reason. To judge from the few passages in his own writings that have any bearing upon the question, and which occur chiefly in his letter, under the signature of Philo- Junius, of Aug. 26, 1771, Letter LV., he aj>- pears to have been a Christian upon the most sincere conviction ; one of whose chief objects was to defend the religion established Letters, No. XXIX., with Letters, No. XVIII. '-' Letter XV. 3 Private Letter, No. 5. 4 Letter LIV. 5 Letter LIX. 6 Letter XXIIL 7 Letter I. 8 Private Letter, No. 47. 9 Letter LXIX. '° Letter LIV. ^^ Heron's edition of the Letters of Junius, vol. i. p. 69. 23 PRELIMINARY ESSAY by law. and who was resolved to renounce and give up to public contempt and indig- nation every ir.an who should be capable of uttering a disrespectful word against it. To the religion cf the court, it must be con- fessed that he was no friend ; and to speak the truth it constituted, at the period in question, an anomaly not a little difficult of solution. To behold a sanctuary self-sur- rounded by a moat of pollution ; a prince strictly and exemplarily pious, selecting for his confidential advisers men of the most i abandoned debauchery and profligacy of I life, demanded, in order to penetrate the j mystery, a knowledge never completely ac- { quired till the present day, which has suf- ficiently demonstrated how impossible ic is for a king of England to exercise at aU times a real option in the appointment of I his ministers. Tlie severity with which our ! author uniformly satirized every violation of I public decorum, at least entitles him to I public gratitude, and does credit to the I purity of his heart : ^ and if his morality may be judged of by various occasional observations and advices scattered through- out his private intercourse with Mr Wood- fall, some instances of which have already been selected, it is inrpossible to do other- wise than approve both his principles and his conduct. \Vhethcr the writer of these letters had any other and less worthy object in view than that he uniformly avowed, namely, a desire to subserve the best political interests of his country, it is impossible to ascertain with precision. It is unquestionably no common occurrence in history, to behold a raan thus steadily, and almost incessantly, for five years, volunteering his services in the cause of the people, amidst abuse and slander from every party, exposed to uni- versal resentment, unknown, and not daring ^ See c3z-£c'iaiJv Letters XIII., XIV., and XXIII. - The only hints which can be gathered that he had any prospect at any time of engaging in public life, are in Private Letters, No. 17 and No. 65 : but even these are of questionable mean- ing. 3 Private Letter, No. 18. to be known, without having any personal object to acquire, any sinister motive of in- dividual aggrandizement or reward. Yet nothing either in his public or private let- ters affords us any tangible proof that he was thus actuated.' Throughout the whole, from first to last, in the midst of all his warmth and rancour, his argument and de- clamation, his appeal to the public, and his notes to his confidential friend, he seems to have been influenced by the stimulus of sound and genuine patriotism alone. With this he commenced his career, and with this he retired from the field of action, retaining, at least a twelvemontli afterwards, the latest period in which we are able to catch a glimpse of him, the same political sen- timents he had professed on his first appear- ance before the world, and still ready to re- new his efforts the very moment he could perceive they had a chance of being attend- ed with benefit. Under these circumstances, therefore, however difficult it may be to acquit him altogether of personal consider- ations, it is still more difficult, and must be altogether unjust, ungenerous, and illogical, to suspect his integrity. It has often been said, from the general knowledge he has evinced of English juris- prudence, that he must have studied the law professionally : and in one of his Pri- vate Letters already quoted, he gives his personal opinion upon the mode in which the information of the King against Wood- fall was drawn up, in a manner that may serve to countenance such an opinion. Yet on other occasions he speaks obviously not from his own professional knowledge, but from a consultation with legal practitioners : ' The information,' says he, ' will only be for | a misdemeanour, and / am advised that no jury, escebiallyin tliese times, will find it." 3 In like 4 manner, although he affirms in his * He speaks in like manner of legal consultation, and the difficulties he laboured under of obtain- ing legal advice, from the peculiarity of his situ- ation, in Private Letter 70. And in the same letter, he makes the following pointed confes- sion : ' though I u.se the terms of art, do not injure me so much as to suspect I am a lawyer. I had as lief be a Scotchman.' PRELIM IXARY ESSAY. elaborate letter to lord Mansfield, ' I well knew ihQ practice of the court, and by what leg^al rules it ought to be directed ; " yet he is for ever contemning the intricacies and littlenesses of special pleading, and in his Preface declares unequivocally, ' I am no lawyer by profession, nor do I pretend to be more deeply read than every English gen- tleman should be in the laws of his country. If therefore the principles I maintain are truly constitutional, I shall not think myself answered, though I should be convicted of a mistake in terms, or of misapplying the language of the law.' " That he was of some rank and conse- quence seems generally to have been ad- mitted by his opponents, and must indeed necessarily follow, as has been already casu- ally hinted at, from the facility \\ ith which he acquired political information, and a knowledge of ministerial intrigues. In one place he expressly affirms that his ' rank and fortune place hiin above a common bribe ; ' ^ in another, ' I should have hoped that even 7ny name might carry some authority' with it.'-* On one occasion he intimates an in- tention of composing a regular history of the duke of Grafton's administration. ' These obser\'ations,' says he, 'general as they are, might easily be extended into a faithfid his- tory of your Grace's administration, and perhaps may be the employment of a future hour ; '^ and on another, that of Lord Towns- hend's, ' the history of this ridiculous ad- ministration shall not be lost to the public.'^ And on two occasions, and on two occasions only, he appears to liint at some prospect, though a slender one, of taking a part in the government of the country. They occur in his Private Letters to Woodfall and Wilkes : to the former he says, ' if things ^ Letter LXVIII. " Pref..p. 115. 3 Miscellaneous Letters, No. LIV. 4 Letter III. 5 Letter XI. 6 Page 217, note. 7 Private Letter, No. 17. 8 Id., No. 65. 5 The following character of his style and talents is the production of a pen contempo- raneous but hostile to him. It occurs in a letter in the Public Advejrtiscr subscribed Alciphron, and dated August 22, 1771. The writer had well studied him. taie the turn I expect, you shall know me by my -iii. iipon almost every prin- ciple of politics had indeed drawn a strong line of separatio/i between them and some others. [The marquess of Rockingham.] # *• * * ' The purpose of this pamphlet, and at which it aims directly or obliquely in every page, is to persuade the public of three or four of the most difficult points in the world— that all the advan- tages of the late war were on the part of the Bourbon alliance ; that the peace of Paris per- fectly consulted the dignity and interest of this country ; and that the A merican Stajnp A ct zvas a master-piece of policy and finatice ; that the only good minister this nation has enjoyed since his Majesty's accession, is the earl of Bute ; and the only good managers of revenue we have seen are lord Despenser and Mr George Grenville ; and under the description of men ofvirtne and ability, he holds them ottt to 71s as the only per- sons fit to put our affairs in order.' — Burke's Works, vol. ii. Svo edit., pages 11, 12, and 15. ^ See Svo edit, of his Works, vol. ii. p. 389, et seq. JBiiCcfces. ^^^UieJL JHP]B«JT4sr ^^C^u^ -^ iffWiIkes's. l^J/m. M'i^ ^'. ^at^/a^ ^r i/fiifMr '^ <^^-. \^ eIFiijnrKBit3''s o L ^.^^/ /^ ■^'^ ^^ -^5^ c^ >; y/^r/^a^ fAi^i^^*^ r PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 35 Treasury department [lord Rockingham"'. It was indeed in a situation of little rank and no consequence, suitable to the medi- ocrity of my talents and pretensions. But a situation near enough to enable me to see, as well as others, what was going on ; and I did see in that noble person such sound principles, such an enlargement of mind, such clear and sagacious sense, and such unshaken fortitude, as have bound me, as well as others much better than me, by an inviolable attachment to him from that time forward.' * ' I think the enquiry lasted in the com- mittee for six weeks ; and at its conclusion this House, by an independent, noble, spirit- ed, and unexpected majority ; by a majority that will redeem all the acts ever done by majorities in parliament ; in the teeth of all the old mercenary Swiss of state, in despite of all the speculators and augurs of political events, in defiance of the whole embattled legion of veteran pensioners and practised instruments of a court, gave a total repeal to the Stamp Act, and (if it had been so per- mitted) a lasting peace to this whole em- pire.'* ' I will likewise do justice, I ought to do it, to the honourable gentleman who led us in this House [general Conway] . Far from the duplicity wickedly charged on him, he acted his part with alacrity and resolution. We all felt inspired by the example he gave us, down even to myself, the weakest in that phalanx. I declare for one, I knew well enough (it could not be concealed from anybody) the true state of things ; but, in my life, I never came with so much spirits into this House. It was a time for a man to act in. We had powerful enemies ; but we had faithful and determined friends ; and a glorious cause. We had a great battle to fight ; but we had the means of fighting ; not as now, when our arms are tied behind us. We did fight that day and conquer.' ^ ' I remember, Sir, with a melancholy pleasure, the situation of the hon. gentle- ^ Burke's Works, vol. ii. p. 399. Id., p. 403. 3 Id., p. 407. man [general Conway] who m.ade the mo- tion for the repeal ; in that crisis, when the whole trading interest of this empire, cram- med into your lobbies, with a trembling and anxious expectation, waited almost to a winter's return of light, their fate from your resolutions. When, at length, you had de- termined in their favour, and your doors thrown open, showed them the figure of their deliverer in the well-earned triumph of his important victory, from the whole of that grave multitude there arose an in- voluntary burst of gratitude and transport. They jumped upon him like children on a long absent father. They clung about him as captives about their redeemer. All England, all America, joined in his ap- plause. Nor did he seem insensible to the best of all earthly rewards, the love and admiration of his fellow-citizens. "Hope elevated and joy brightened his crest." I stood near him ; and his face, to use the expression of the Scripture of the first mar- tyr, "his face was as if it had been the face of an angel." I do not know how others feel ; but if I had stood in that situation, I never would have exchanged it for all that kings in their profusion could bestow. I did hope, that that day's danger and hon- our would have been a bond to hold us all together for ever. But, alas ! that, with other pleasing visions, is long since vanished. ' Sir, this act of supreme magnanimity has been represented, as if it had been a measure of an administration, that, having no scheme of their own, took a middle line, pilfered a bit from one side and a bit from the other. Sir, they took 710 middle lines. They dif- fered fundamentally from the schemes of both parties ; but they pre<:erved the objects of both. They preserved the authority of Great Britain. They presers'ed the equity of Great Britain, They made the Declar- atory Act ; they repealed the Stamp Act. They did both fully ; because the Declar- atory Act was without gtcalif cation, and the repeal of the Stamp Act total."* ' Sir, the agents and distributors of false- 4 Burke's Works, vol. ii. p. 409. 36 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. hoods have, with tlieir usual industry, cir- culated another lie of the same nature witii the former. It is this, that the disturbances arose from the account which had been re- ceived in America of the change in the ministry. No longer awed, it seems, with the spirit of the former rulers, they thought themselves a match for what our calnm- niaiors chuse to qualify by the ?ia?ne of so feeble a ministry as succeeded : Feeble in one sense these men certainly may be called ; for with all their efforts, and tliey have made many, they have not been able to resist the distempered vigour and insane alacrity with which you are rushing to your ruin.' ^ ' On this business of America I confess I am serious, even to sadness. I have had but one opinion concerning it since I sat, and before I sat in parliament. * * * -» * I honestly and solemnly declare, I have in all seasons adhered to the system of 1766, for no other reason than that I think it laid deep in your truest interests, and that by limiting the exercise, it fi.\es on the firmest foundations a real, consistent, well-grounded authority in parliament. Until you come back to that system, there will be no peace for England.' * ' No m.an can believe, that at this time of day I mean to lean on the venerable memory of a great man whose loss we deplore in common. Our httle party differ- ences have been long ago composed ; and I have acted more with him, and certainly with more pleasure with him, than ever I acted against him. Undoubtedly Air Grenville was a first-rate figure in this country. With a mascuhne understanding, and a stout and resolute heart, he had an npplication undissipated and unwearied. He took public business not as a duty which he was to fulfil, but as a pleasure he was to enjoy ; and he seemed to have no delight out of this House, except in such things as some way related to the business that was to be done within it. If he was ambitious, I will say this for him, his ambition was of Burke's Works, vol. ii. p. 414. ^ Id., p. 439. a noble and generous strain. It was to raise himself not by the low pimping politics of a court, but to win his way to power through the laborious gradations of public service ; and to secure himself a well-earned rank in parliament, by a thorough know- ledge of its constitution, and a perfect practice in all its business. * * * * He was bred in a profession . He was bred to the law, which is, in my opinion, one of the first and noblest of human sciences ; a science which does mora to c^uicken and invigorate the understanding, than all the other kinds of learning put together ; but it is not apt, except in persons very happily born, to open and to liberaUze the mind exactly in the same proportion.' ^ Let the reader compare the opinions contained in the above extracts with the ! following, taken almost at hazard, from different productions of Junius, and he w ill have no difficulty in determining that the writer of the one set could not be the writer of the other. 'To prove the meaning and intent of the legislature, will require a minute and tedious deduction. To investigate a question of law demands some labour and attention, though very little genius or sagacity. As a practical profession, the study of the law requires but a moderate portion of abilities. The learning of a pleader is usually upon a level with his integrity. The indiscriminate defence of right and wrong contracts the understanding, while it corrupts the heart. Subtlety is soon mistaken for wisdom, and impunity for virtue. If there be any in- stances upon record, as some there are un- doubtedly, of genius and morality united in a lawyer, they are distinguished by their singularity, and operate as exceptions.' "♦ ' Whenever the question shall be seriously agitated, I will endeavour (and if I live, will assuredly attempt it,) to convince the English nation, by arguments to j>iy under- standing unanswerable, that they ought to insist upon a triennial, and banish the idea of an annual parliament. ***** 3 BuFke's Works, vol. ii. p. 389. •♦Letter LXVIII. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 37 I am convinced that, if shortening the dur- ation of parliaments (which in effect is keeping the representative under the rod of the constituent) be not made the basis of our new parUamentary jurisprudence, other checks or improvements signify nothing." ^ ' When the Septennial Act passed, the legislature did what, apparently and pal- pably, they had no power to do ; but they did more than people in general were aware of ; they, in effect, disfranchised the whole kingdom for four years.' - ' It would be to no purpose at present to renew a discussion of the merits of the Stamp Act, though I am convinced that even the people w ho were most clamorous against it, either never understood, or wilfully misre- presented every part of it. But it is truly astonishing that a great number of people should have so little foreseen the inevitable consequence of repealing it. * * * * * * * » * There was indeed one man [G. Grenville] who wisely foresaw every cir- cumstance which has since happened, and who, with a patriot's spirit, opposed him- self to the torrent. He told us, that, if we thought the loss of outstanding debts, and of our American trade, a mischief of the first magnitude, such an injudicious com- pliance with the terms dictated by the colonies, was the way to make it sure and unavoidable. It was ne vioriare, mori. We see the prophecy verified in every par- ticular, and if this great and good man was mistaken in any one instance, it was, perhaps, that he did not expect his predic- tions to be fulfilled so soon as they have been.' 3 ' It is not many months since you gave me an opportunity of demonstrating to the nation, as far as rational inference and pro- bability could extend, that the hopes which some men seemed to entertain, or to profess at least, with regard to America, were with- out a shadow of foundation. * * * * * * * But whatever were their views or expectations, whether it was the mere en- mity of party, or the real persuasion that ' Letter LXIX. = Ibid. 3 .Misccllavious Letters, No. X. they had but a little time to live in office, every circumstance that I then foretold is confirmed by experience. * * * * * * * We find ourselves at last reduced to the dreadful alternative of either making war upon our colonies, or of suffering them to erect themselves into independent states. It is not that I hesitate now upon the choice we are to make. Every thing must be hazarded. But what infamy, what punish- ment do those men deserve, whose folly or whose treachery hath reduced us to this state, in which we cannot give up the cause without a certainty of ruin, nor maintain it without such a struggle as must shake the empire. ******* Mr Con- way since last December has, in the face of the House of Commons, defended the re- sistance of the colonies upon what he called revolution principles. ******* If we look for their motives, we shsU find them such as weak and interested men usually act upon. They were weak enough to hope that the crisis of Great Britain and America would be reserved for their suc- cessors in office, and they were determined to hazard even the ruin of their country, rather than furnish the man [G. Grenville] whom they feared and hated, with the me- lancholy triumph of having truly foretold the consequences of their own misconduct. But this, such as it is, the triumph of a heart that bleeds at every vein, they cannot deprive him of. They dreaded the acknow- ledgment of his superiority over them, and the loss of their own authority and credit, more than the rebellion of near half the em- pire against the supreme legislature. * * * * * * * It is impossible to conceal from ourselves, that we are at this moment on the brink of a dreadful precipice ; the question is whether we shall submit to be guided by the hand which hath driven us to it, or whether we shall follow the patriot voice [G. Grenville's] which has not ceased to warn us of our dangers, and which would still declare the way to safety and to honour.' •* 4 Miscellaneous Letters, No. XXIX. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. ' Whether it be matter of honour or re- proach, it is at least a singular circumstance, that whoever is hardy enough to maintain the cause of Groat Britain against subjects who disown her authority, or to raise his ! voice in defence of the laws and constitu- tion, is immediately pointed out to the pub- lic for Mr Grenville's friend. * * * * * * * * It is true he professes doc- trines which would be treason in America, but in England at least he has the laws on his side, and if it be a crime to support the supremacy of the British legislature, the Sovereign, the Lords and Commons, are as guilty as he is. ******* If the pretensions of the colonies had not been abetted by something worse than a faction here, the Stamp Act would have executed itself. Every clause of it was so full and explicit that it wanted no further instruction ; nor was it of that nature that required a military hand to carry it into execution. For the truth of this I am ready to appeal even to the colonies themselves. * * * ****** Your correspondent [who had answered Miscell. Lett. XXIX.] confesses that Mr Grenville is still respect- able ; yet he warns the friends of that gen- tleman not to provoke hiin, lest he should tell them what they may not like to hear. These are but words. He means as little when he threatens as when he condescends to applaud. Let us meet upon the fair ground of truth, and if he finds one vulner- able part in Mr Grenville's character, let him fix his poisoned arrow there.' ^ ' If there be any thing improper in this address [a letter addressed to G. Grenville], ihe singularity of your present situation will, I hope, excuse it. Your conduct attracts the attention, because it is highly interesting to the welfare of the public, and a private man who only expresses what thousands think, cannot well be accused of flattery or detraction. ******* This letter, I doubt not, will be attributed to some party friend, by men who expect no applause * Miscellaneous Letters, No. XXXL = Id., No. LIII. 3 p. X.XX. et seq. 4 ' It has been said that he at the same time but from tlieir dependents. But you, Sir, have the testimony of your enemies in your favour. After years of opposition, we see them revert to those very measures with violence, with hazard and disgrace, which in the first instance might have been con- ducted with ease, with dignity and moder- ation. ' While parliament preserves its constitu- tional authority, you will preserve yours. As long as there is a real representation of the people, you will be heard in that great assembly with attention, deference, and respect ; and if, fatally for England, the designs of the present ministry should at last succeed, you will have the consolation to reflect that your voice was heard, until the voice of truth and reason was drowned in the din of arms ; and that your influence in parliament was irresistible, until every question was decided by the sword.' * How far the same principles were sup- ported by the same writer under the sig- nature of Junius, the reader will find in Letters I. and LIX., and it is not necessary to copy farther. Mr Malone, in his preface to a well-known work of Mr Hamilton, entitled Parliament- ary Logic, 3 offers a variety of remarks in disproof that this gentleman was the writer of the letters, several of which are possessed of sufficient force, though few persons will perhaps agree with him in believing that if Hamilton had written them, he would have written them better. The following are his chief arguments : • Now (not to insist on his own solemn asseveration near the time of his death, that he was not the author of Junius) *» Mr Ham- ilton was so far from being an ardent party man, that during the long period above men- tioned [from Jan. 1769 to Jan. 1772] he never closely connected himself with any party. * * * * Notwithstanding his extreme love of political discussion, he never, it is believed, was heard to speak of any administration or any opposition with ve- declared that he k7ic7i> who was the author ; but unquestionably he never made any such declara- tion.' Malone. PRELIMINARY ESSAY 39 hemence either of censure or of praise ; a character so opposite to the fer\-ent and sometimes coarse acrimony of Junius, that this consideration alone is sufficient to settle the point, as far as relates to our author, for ever. ♦ * * * On the question — who 'ivas the author? — he was as free to 1 talk as any other person, and often did ex- I press his opinion concerning it to the writer of I this short memoir ; an opinion nearly coin- I ciding with that of those persons who appear I to have had ilie best means of information ' on the subject. In a conversation on this much agitated point, he once said to an in- timate friend, in a tone between seriousness and pleasantry, — " You know, H * * * * » « * n, I could have written better papers than those of Junius : " and so the gentleman whom he addressed, who was himself distinguished for his rhetorical powers, and a ver>- competent judge, as well as many other persons, thought. ' It may be added, that his style of composition was entirely different from that of this writer. * * * * That he had none of that minute couimissarial know- ledge of f)etty niilitar}' matters, which is displayed in some of the earlier papers of Junius. 'And finally it maybe observed, that the figures and allusions of Junius are often of so different a race from those which our author [Hamilton] would have used, that b.e never spoke of some of them without the strongest disapprobation ; and particularly when a friend, for the purpose of drawing him out, affected to think him the writer of these papers ; and bantering him on the subject, taxed him with that passage in which a nobleman, then in a high office, is said to have " travelled through ever\- sign in the political zodiac, from the scorpion, in which he siu/ig lord Chatiiam, to the hopes of a virgin," &c., as if this imagerv' were much in his style, — Mr Hamilton with great vehemence exclaimed, "had I written such a sentence as that, I should have thought I had forfeited all pretensions to good taste i.a composition for ever!" ' Mr Malone further observes, that Ham- ilton filled the office of chancellor of the exchequerin Ireland, from September, 1763, to April, 1784, during the very period in which all the letters of Junius appeared before the public ; and it will not very readily be credited by any one that this is likely to have been the exact quarter from which the writer of the letters in question fulminated his severe criminations against government. The subject moreover of par- liamentar}' reform, for which Junius was so zealous an advocate, Mr Malone expressly tells us was considered by Hamilton to be ' of so dangerous a tendency, that he once said to a friend now living, that he would sooner suffer his right hand to be cut off", than vote for it .' The only reason indeed that appears for these letters having ever been attributed to Hamilton is, that on a certain morning he told the duke of Richmond, as has been already hinted at, ' the substance of a letter of Junius which he pretended to have just read in the Public Advertiser ; but which, on consulting the Public Advertiser, was not found to appear there, an apology in- stead of it being offered for its postpone- ment till the next day, when the letter thus previously adverted to by Hamilton did actually make its appearance. That Hamil- ton, therefore, had a knowledge of the existence and purport of this letter is un- questionable ; but without conceiving him the author of it, it is easy to account for the fact, by supposing him (as we have supposed already) to have had it read to him by his friend Woodfall, antecedently to its being printed. Another character that has been started as a claimant to the letters of Junius, is the late Dr Butler, bishop of Hereford, for- merly secretary to the right hon. Bilson Legge, chancellor of the exchequer, and fatb.er to the present lord Staweli. Dr Butler was a man of some talents, and was occasionally a political writer, and felt no small disgust and mortification upon his patron's dismissal from office. But he * See ante, p. 4, note. 40 PRKLIMIXARV ESSAY. never discovered those talents that could in any respect put him upon an equality with Junius. He was moreover a man of mild disposition, and in no respect celebrated for political courage. To which general remarks, in contravention of this gentle- man's claim, the editor begs leave to sub- join the following extract of a letter upon the subject, addressed by a friend of Dr Butler's, and who himself took an active part in the politics of the times, to a high official character of the present day, and which he has been allowed the liberty of copying :-— ' Mr ^Vilkes showed me the letters he received privately from JUNIUS : parts of one of these were printed in the public papers at the request of the Bill of Rights. The autograph was remarkable — it was firm and precise, and did not appear to me at all disguised. Mr Wilkes had been in- timate with bishop Butler when quartered as colonel of the militia at Winchester ; and from some very curious concurrent circumstances, he had strong reasons for considering that the bishop was the author, and I had some reasons for conjecturing the same. Yet I must confess, that if these suspicions were stronger and more con- firmed, yet I think I should require more substantial proofs ; and my reasons are, that from all I was ever able to learn of the bishop's personal character, he was inca- pable of discovering, or feeling, those ran- corous sentiments, so unbecoming his cha- racter as a Christian, and his station as a prelate, expressed towards the duke of Grafton, lord North, sir William Draper, and others — more especially the king. Nor do I think that his being the sole depositary of his own secret, which, as Junius says, would be, and I fancy 'cvas, buried in everlasting obUvion when he was entombed, would have encouraged him to have used such opprobrious language.' The pretensions of the Rev. Philip Ros- enhagen, though adverted to in a preceding edition of these letters, are hardly worth noticing. He was at one time chaplain to the 8th regiment of foot ; and is said to have endeavoured to impose upon lord North with a story of his having been the author of the letters in order to induce his Lordship to settle a pension upon him. It is sufficient to observe, that Mr Rosenha- gen, who was a school-fellow of Mr H. S. Woodfall, continued on terms of acquaint- ance with him in subsequent life ; and occasionally wrote for the Public Adver- tiser ; but was repeatedly declared by Mr Woodfall, who must have been a compe- tent evidence as to the fact, not to be the author of JuNius's Letters. A private let- ter of Rosenhagen's to Mr Woodfall is still in the possession of his son, and nothing can be more different from each other than this autograph and that of Junius. It has been said in an American periodi- cal work entitled 'The Wilmington Mirror," that general Lee in confidence communi- cated to a friend the important secret that he was the author of these celebrated letters ; but, whether Lee ever made such a communication or not, nothing is more palpable than that he did not write them— since it is a notorious ia -/Ar .'Ai/A^'l'r///tf^//f4.j. 'uo: A /^\ PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 41 tical information which they displayed, that lord Chatham was the author ; and yet there were some sentiments there that indi- cated his not being the author. General Lee immediately rephed, with considerable animation, atifirming, that to his certain knowledge, lord Chatham was not the author ; neither did he know who the author was, any more than I did ; that there was not a man in the world, no, not even Woodfall, the publisher, that knew who the autlior was ; that the secret rested solely with himself, and for ever would re- main with him. ' Feeling, in some degree, surprised at this unexpected declaration, after pausing a little, I replied: "No, general Lee, if you certainly know what you have aflirmed, it can no longer remain solely with him ; for, certainly, no one could know what you have affirmed, but the author himself! " 'Recollecting himself, he replied: "I have unguardedly committed myself, and it would be but folly to deny to you that I am the author ; but I must request that you will not reveal it during my life ; for it never was, nor never will be, revealed by me to any other." He then proceeded to mention several circumstances to verify his being the author ; and, among them, that of his going over to the Continent, and ab- senting himself from England most of the time in which these Letters were first pub- Ushed in London, is negative assertion was ab- surd againit the affirmative proofs offered. These affirmative proofs have been already sufficiently noticed ; our next business then ' is to state what reply Mr Woodfall could j j have made if he had chosen, and perhaps • would have made if he had been differently ; addressed, of the absurdity of which tlie reader shall determine when he has pe- rused it : it shall be founded upon negative arguments alone. Woodfall well knew the I hand-writings of both Junius and Boyd, [ and was in possession of many copies of, both ; and knowing them, he well knew they were different. He well knew that JUxMUS was a man directly implicated in the circle of the court, and immediately privy to its most secret intrigues : and that Boyd was very differently situated, and that whatever information he collected was by circuitous channels alone. Junius he knew ' Boyd -.vas born in October, 1746, and Ju- Nius's lirst letter, under the signature of Popli- cola, appeared in the Public Ad\erliber April to be a man of affluence, considerably su- perior to his own wants, refusing remunera- tions to which he was entitled, and offering reimbursements to those who suffered on his account ; — Boyd to be labouring under great pecuniary difficulties, and ready to accept whatever was offered him ; or, in the language of Mr Almon, 'a broken gentle- man without a guinea in his pocket." JU- NIUS he knew to be a man of considerably more than his own age, \\\\o from a long and matured experience of the world, was entitled to read him lessons of moral and prudential philosophy ; Boyd to be at the same time a very young man,^ who had not even reached his majority, totally without plan, and almost without experience of any kind, who in the prospect of divulging him- self to Woodf\ill, could not possibly have \\ritten to him ' after long experience of the xi'orld, I affirm before God I never knew a rogue who was not unhappy.' * Boyd he knew to be an imitator and copyist of Ju- nius ; Junius to be no imitator or copyist of any man, and least of all of himself. Ju- nius he knew to be a decided mixt-mon- archist, who opposed the ministry upon constitutional principles ; Boyd to be a wild, random republican, who opposed them upon revolutionary views: Junius to be a wricor who could not have adopted the signature of Democrates or Democrati- cus ; Boyd a writer who could, and who, we are told, did do so, in perfect uniform- ity with his political creed. Woodfall, it is true, did not pretend to know Junius per- sonally, but from his hand-writing, his style of composition, age, politics, rank in Ufe, and pecuniary affluence, he was perfectly assured that Junius could not bk Boyd. It was possible therefore for Mr H. S. W^oodfall to have made some reply if he had chosen ; and it was possible also for him to have said, without absurdity, and in oppo- sition to the affirmative proofs of his bio- graphers, that Macaulay Boyd was not the writer of J UNI us's' Letters. 28, 1767, when Boyd had nut, as > ct, attained his 2 1 St year. - Private Letter, No. 44. FRELIMIXARY ESSAY 51 A rtiousand other proofs, equally cogent and insurmountable, might be advanced, if necessar}', against the pretensions of Mr Boyd. Among these let the reader compare the letter of Junius, subscribed Vindex, March 6, 1771, Miscellaneous Letters, No. XCI., in which he publicly lidicules Mr Laughlin Maclean, upon his defence of the ministry, in regard to the Falkland Islands. Mr Laughlin Maclean is well known to have been the best and steadiest friend that Boyd ever possessed ; and a friend who adhered to him uninterruptedly from 1764 to 1778,' in which year Maclean com- menced a voyage to India upon official business relating to the Nabob of Arcot. It was Maclean who, according to his bio- grapher, furnished Boyd with the greater part of the secret transactions of our own government, and the intelligence he made use of in relation to the oriental concerns of the Nabob Mahomed Ali Khaan ; who largely and liberally assisted him with pecuniary aid while at home, and ' faith- fully promised him he would, upon his return from India, assist in clearing him from all his pecuniary difficulties.' The proofs are unquestionable, that the above j letter was written by Ju.vius ; and that he j wrote it also in contempt and ridicule of , Laughlin Maclean, who instead of being, as Mr Campbell affirms, an opponent of, the ministry at this time, was an avowed defendant of them. Will Mr Boyd's bio- \ graphers and advocates, after this anecdote, j so far vilify his memory as to contend that j it was written by himself ? j Of all the reputed authors of these cele- | brated addresses. Dunning, lord Ashburton, ' See Mr Campbell's Life of Boyd, p. 117, i?5, 209, 210. In p. 141, he gives us the follow- ing account of Mr Boyd, in support of his asser- tion that ho was the writer of these letters. ' From this time [Nov. 27, 1771,] till the 20th of January follovv'ing, Mr Boyd's whole time was occupied in examining the law books and state trials above mentioned, and in writing with his usual secrecy for the Public Advertiser : Ju- NiL's's elaborate letter to lord Mansfield, in which he strove hard to make good his charge against him, is dated the 21st of January, 1772 : about three weeks after tlie publication of this letter Mr Boyd went to Ireland; and Ju.viis offers the largest aggregate of claim in his favour ; and, but for a few facts which seem decisive against him, might fairly be ad- mitted to have been the real Junius. His age and rank in life, his talents and learn- ing (though perhaps not c/ass/ca/\ea.Tning), his brilliant wit, and sarcastic habit, his common residence, during the period in question, his political principles, attach- ments, and antipathies conspire in marking him as the man : but unfortunately for such a conclusion. Dunning was solicitor- general at the time these letters fact ap- peared, and for more than a twelvemonth afterwards : and Junius himself has openly and solemnly affirmed, ' I am 7io lawyer by profession ; nor do I pretend to be more deeply read than every English gentleman should be in the laws of his country.' - Dunning was a man of high unblemished honour as well as of high independent principles ; it cannot therefore be supposed that he would have vilified the king, while one of the king's confidential servants and counsellors : nor would he, as a barrister, have written to Woodfall in the course of a confidential correspondence, ' / am advised that no jury will find' a bill.^ Another person who has had a claim ad- vanced in his favour upon the same subject, is the late celebrated Henry Plood, M. P. of Ireland. Now, without wandering at large for proofs that Mr Flood could not have been the writer of the Letters of Ju- nius, it is only sufficient to call the reader's attention to the two following facts, which are decisive of the subject in question : First, Mr Flood was in Ireland throughout a great part of the summer of 1768, and at ceased to write under that signature for the Pub- lic Advertiser.' The reader will perceive by a reference to Private Letters, Nos. 40 and 48, that the letter to lord Mansfield was finished some considerable time before it made its ap- pearance in the Public Advertiser ; and by com- paring the dates of the Private Letters subse- quent to that publication, up to March 5, 1772, of which there are no less than seven, he will be satisfied that it was totally impossible for the writer of the Letters of Junius to have been in Ireland at the period described by ^Ir Camp- bell. ^ Preface, p. 115. 3 Private Letter, No. 18. I^RELIMIXARY ESSAY, a time when Junius, whoever he may have been, was perpetually corresponding with the printer of the Public Advertiser, and with a rapidity which could not have been maintained, not only in Ireland, but even at a hundred, and occasionally at less than fifty, miles distance from the British metropolis. This fact may be collected, among other authorities, from the following passage in Mr Campbell's Life of Boyd, and is just as adverse to the pretensions of the one as of the other. ' In the summer of 1768 Boyd went to Ireland for a few months, on some private business. During his stay in Dublin he was constantly in the company of Mr Flood. ' Next, by turning to the Private Letter of Junius, No. 44, of the date of Nov, 27, 1771, the reader will find the following paragraph : ' \fear your friend Jerry Dy- son will lose his Irish pension.— Say received." The mark 'received' occurs accordingly in the Public Advertiser of the day ensuing. Now by turning to the Irish debates of this period, we shall find that the question concerning this pension was actually determined by the Irish parliament just tv/o days before the date of the above- mentioned Private Letter, and that Mr Flood was one of the principal opponents of the grant, a circumstance which pre- cludes the possibility of believing him to have written the letter in question. We shall extract the article from whence this information is derived, from the Public Advertiser of Dec. 18, 1771. ' Authentic copy of the conclusion of the speech which Mr Flood made in the Irish House of Commons, on Monday the 25th of November last, when the debate on the pension of Jeremiah Dyson, Esq., came on before the committee of supplies : ' But of all the burthens which it has pleased government to lay upon our devoted shoulders, that which is the subject of the present debate is the most grievous and intolerable. — Who does not know Jeremiah D3-son, Esq. ? — We know little of him indeed, otherwise than by his name in our pension list ; but there are others who know him by his actions. This is he who is endued with those happy talents, that he has served every administration, and served every one \\\\\\ equal success — a civil, pli- able, good-natured gentleman, who will do what you will, and say what you please — for payment. • Here Mr Flood was interrupted, and called to order by Mr M , who urged that more respect ought to be paid to Mr Dyson as one of his Majesty's officers, and, as such, one whom his Majesty was gra- ciously pleased to repose confidence in. However, Mr Flood went on. 'As to the royal confidence reposed in Mr Dyson, his gracious Majesty (whom God long preserve) has been graciously lavish of it, not only to Mr Dyson, but to the friends of Mr Dyson ; and I think the choice was good : The royal secrets will, I dare say, be very secure in their breasts, not only for the love they bear to his gra- cious Majesty, but for the love they bear to themselves. In the present case, however, we do not want to be informed of that part of iNIr Dyson's character — we know enough of him — everybody knows enough of him — ask the British treasury — the British council — ask any Englishman who he is, what he is — they can all tell you, for the gentleman is well known. — But what have we to do witli him ? He never served Ireland, nor the friends of Ireland. And if this distressed kingdom was never benefited by his counsel, interest, or service, I see no good cause why this kingdom should re- ward him. Let the honourable members of this House consider this, and give their voices accordingly. — For God's sake let every man consult his conscience : If Jere- miah Dyson, Esq. , shall be found to deserve this pension, let it be continued ; if not, let it be lopped off our revenue as burthen- some and unnecessary.' Let us proceed to the pretensions that have been offered on the part of lord George Sackville as the real Junius. The evidence is somewhat indecisive even to the present hour. Sir WiUiam Draper divided PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 53 his suspicions between this nobleman and Mr Burke, and upon the personal and unequivocal denial of the latter, he trans- ferred them entirely to the former : and that sir William was not the only person who suspected his Lordship even from the first, is evident from the Private Letter of Junius, which asserts that Swinney had actually called upon lord Sackville and taxed him with being Junius, to his face/ This letter is, in fact, one of the most curious of the whole collection : if written by lord George Sackville it settles the point at once ; and, if not written by him, pre- supposes an acquaintance with his Lord- ship's family, his sentiments, and his con- nexions, so intimate as to excite no small degree of astonishment. Junius was in- formed of Swinney's having called upon lord George Sackville, very shortly after his call, and he knew that before this time he had never spoken to him in his life. It is certain then, that lord George Sackville was early and generally suspected, that Junius knew him to be suspected without assert- ing, as in the case of the author of ' The Whig,' - &c., that he was suspected wrong- fully; and that this nobleman, if not Junius himself, must have been in habits of close and intimate friendship with him. The talents of lord George Sackville were well known and admitted, and his political principles led him to the same side of the question that was so warmly espoused by Junius. It is said, however, that on one occasion his Lordship privately observed to a friend of his, ' I should be proud to be capable of writing as Junius has done ; but there are many passages in his letters I should be very sorry to have written.' 3 Such a declaration, however, is too general to be in any way conclusive : even Junius himself might, in a subsequent period, have regretted that he had written some of the passages that occur in his letters. In the case of his letter to Junia, we know he did from his own avowal. It is nevertheless ^ Private Letter, Xo. 5. • ' ^ Id., No. 23. 3 See Chalmers's Appendi.x to the Supple- mental Apology, p. 7. peculiarly hostile to the opinion in favour of lord George Sackville, that Junius should roundly have accused him of want of cour- age, as he has done in Miscell. Letters, No. VII. And if we examine into his Lord- ship's style, and even into his own opinion of his own style, we shall meet with facts not much less hostile. Of his own composition he thus speaks in a letter pubhshed shortly after his return from Germany, drawn up in justification of his conduct at the battle of Minden : — ' I had rather upon this occa- sion submit myself to all the inconveniences that may arise from the want of style than borrow assistance from the pen of others, as I can have no hopes of establishing my character, but from the force of truth.' And that his Lordship has net in this passage spoken with an undue degree of self-modesty, will, we think, be evident from the following copy of a letter address- ed by himself, upon the preceding subject, to his friend colonel Fitzroy. Copy of lord G. Sackville's letter to col. Fitzroy. Dear Sir, Mijiden, Aug. 2, 1759. The orders of yesterday, you may be- lieve, affect me very sensibly. His Serene Highness has been pleased to judge, con- demn, and censure me, without hearing me, in the most cruel and unprecedented manner ; as he never asked me a single question in explanation of any thing he might disapprove : and as he must have formed his opinion upon the report of others, it was still harder he would not give me an opportunity of first speaking to him upon the subject : but you know, even in more trifling matters, that hard blows are sometimes unexpectedly given. If any- body has a right to say that I hesitated in obeying orders, it is you. I will relate what I know of that, and then appeal to you for the truth of it. When you brought me orders to advance with the British cavalry, I was near the village of Halen, I think it is called, I mean that place which the Saxons burnt. I was there advanced by M. Malhorte's TRKLIMIXARY ESSAY, order, and no further, when you came to me. Ligonier followed almost instantly ; he said, the whole cavalry was to advance. I was puzzled what to do, and begged the favour of you to carry me to the Duke, that I might ask an explanation of his orders : — But that no time might be lost, I sent Smith with orders to bring on the British cavalry, as they had a wood before they could advance, as you directed ; and I reckoned, by the time I had seen his Se- rene Highness, I should find them forming beyond the wood.— This proceeding of mine might possibly be wrong ; but I am sure the service could not suffer, as no delay was occasioned by it. — The Duke then ordered me to leave some squad- rons upon the right, which I did, and to advance the rest to support the infantry. This I declare I did, as fast as I imagined it was right in cavalry to march in line. — 1 once halted by lord Granby to compleat my forming the whole. Upon his advanc- ing the left before the riglit I again sent to him to stop : — He said, as the Prince had ordered us to advance, he thought we should move forward. — I then let him pro- ceed at the rate he liked, and kept my right up with him as regularly as I could, 'till we got to the rear of the infantry and our batteries. — We both halted together, and afterwards received no order, 'till that which was brought by col. Web and the duke of Richmond, to extend in one line to the morass. — It was accordingly executed; and then, -instead cf finding the enemy's cavalry to charge, a3 I expected, the battle ^^as declared to be gained, and we were told to dismount our men. This, I protest, is all I know of the mat- ter, and I was never so surprized, as when I heard the Prince was dissatisfied that the cavalry did not move sooner up to the infantry.— It is not my business to ask, what the disposition originally was, or to find fault w ith any thing. — All I insist upon is, that I obeyed the orders I received, as punctually as 1 was able ; and if it was to do over again, I do not think I would have executed them ten minutes sooner than I did, now I know the ground, and what was expected ; but, indeed, we were above an hour too late, if it was the Duke's intention to have made the cavalry pass before our infantry and artillery, and charge the enemy's line. — I cannot think that was his meaning, as all the orders ran to sustain our infantry : — and it appears, that both lord Granby and I understood we weie at our posts, by our halting, \\hen we got to the rear of our foot. I hope I have stated impartially the part of this transaction that conies within your knowledge. — If I have, I must beg you would declare it, so as I may make use of it in your absence ; for it is impossible to sit silent under such reproach, when I am conscious of having done the best that was in my power. — For God's sake, let me see you, before you go to England. I am, my dear sir, Your faithful humble servant, GEORGE SACKVILLE. Upon the claim then of lord George Sackville, to tlie honour of bavin?: written the Letters of Junius, the above are the chief facts which the editor is able to lay before his readers : he has laid them ac- cordingly, and shall conclude with leaving them to the exercise of their own judg- ment. PRIVATE LETTERS JUNIUS TO MR WOOD FALL. No. I. Sir, April 20, 1769. I AM preparing a paper, whicli you shall have on or before Saturday night. Advertise it for Monday.' Junius on Monday. C. If any enquiry is made about these pa- pers, I shall rely on your giving me a hint. ' Letter XL - This note was addressed to Mr Woodfall, with a desire that it should ' be opened by him- self onlj'.' 3 The letter is printed in the Miscellaneous ('oUection, No. LV., and the great question alluded to was upon the Middlesex petition against the seating of colonel Luttrell for that county. The debate took place on Monday, the 8th of May, in the House of Commons, and con- tinued from half past one o'clock in the afterno(;n, till half-past four the next morning, when, upon a division, there appeared for the petition 152, against it 221. The speakers on this occasion, in favour of the petition, were Mr Dowdeswell, lord J. Cavendish, Mr Wedderburne, Mr Gren- ville, Mr Cornwall, Mr Burke, Mr .Seymour, and sir George Saville : those against it, Mr Stanlev, sir G. Osborne, Dr Blackstone, Mr W. Ellis, >Ir Thurlow, ilr C. J. Fox, Mr Moreton, and sir F. Norton. In consequence of the rejection of the petition to the House of Commons, the following was soon afterwards presented to the King, which we insert, as we shall also, in their due places, those of London and Westminster, upon similar subjects, with a view of giving some idea of the general politics of the day, and the warmth of the respective controversies that distinguished it. No. 2. Sir, Friday, May ith, 1769. ^ It is essentially necessary that the inclosed should be published to-morrow, as the great question comes on on Monday, and lord Granby is already staggered. ^ If you should receive any answer to it, 'to the king's most excellent majesty. 'The humble petition of the Freeholders of the County of Middlesex. ' Most gracioits Sovereign, 'We, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Freeholders of the County of Mid- dlesex, beg leave with all affectionate submission and humility, to throw ourselves at your royal feet, and humbly to implore your paternal atten- tion to those grievances of which this county and the whole nation complain, and those fearful ap- prehensions with which the whole British empire is most justly alarmed. ' With great grief and sorrow, we have long beheld the endeavours of certain evil-minded persons, who attempt to infuse into your royal mind, notions and opinions of the most dangerous and pernicious tendency, and who promote and counsel such measures as cannot fail to destroy that harmony and confidence which should ever subsist between a just and virtuous Prince, and a free and loyal people. ' For this disaffected purpose they have intro- duced into every part of the administration of our happy, legal constitution, a certain unlimited and indefinite discretionary power ; to prevent which is the sole aim of all our laws, and was the sole cause of all those disturbances and re- I volutions which formerly distracted this unhappy I country ; for our ancestors, by their own fatal PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. you will oblige me much by not publishing it, till after Monday. C. experience, well knew that in a state where dis- cretion begins, law, liberty, and safety end. Under the pretence of this discretion, or, as it was formerly, and has been lately called — L.aw of state — we have seen ' English subjects, and even a member of the British Legislature, arrested by virtue of a general warrant issued by a secretary of state, contrary to the law of the land. — 'Their houses rifled and plundered, their papers seized, and used as evidence upon trial. — ' Their bodies committed to close imprison- ment. — ' Tlie Habeas Corpus eluded. — 'Trial by jury discountenanced, and the first law officer of the crown publicly insinuating that juries are not to be trusted. — ' Printers punished by the ministry in the supreme court without a trial by their equals, without any trial at all. — ' The remedy of the law for false imprisonment debarred and defeated. — 'The plaintiff and his attorney, for their ap- peal to the lasv of the land, punished by expenses and imprisonment, and made, by forced engage- ments, to desist from their legal claim. — 'A writing determined to be a libel by a court where it was not cognizable in the first instance ; contrary to law, because all appeal is thereby cut off, and inferior courts and juries influenced by such predetermination.— ' A person condemned in the said courts as the author of the supposed libel unheard, without defence or trial. — ' Unjust treatment of petitions, by selecting only such parts as might be wrested to criminate the petitioner, and refusing to hear those which might procure him redress. — ' The thanks of one branch of the Legislature proposed by a minister to be given to an acknow- ledged offender for his oflence, with the declared intention of screening him from the law.-— ' Attachments wrested from their original in- tent of removing obstructions to the proceedings of law, to punish by sentence of arbitrary fine and imprisonment, without trial or appeal, sup- posed offences committed out of court. — ' Perpetual imprisonment of an Englishman without trial, conviction, or sentence, by the same mode of attachment wherein the same per- son is at once party, accuser, judge, and jury. — ' Instead of the ancient and legal civil police, the military introduced at every opportunity, unnecessarily and unlawfully patrolling the streets to the alarm and terror of the inhabit- ants. — ' The lives of many of your Majesty's innocent subjects destroyed by military execution. — ' Such military execution solemnly adjudged to be legal. — ' Murder abetted, encouraged, and rewarded. — 'The civil magistracy rendered contemptible No. 3. Sir, Saturday, July i^ih, 1769. I H.WE received the favour of your note. From the contents of it, I by the appointment of improper and incapable persons. — ' The civil magistrates tampered with by ad- ministration, and neglecting and refusing to dis- charge their duty. — ' I\Iobs and riots hired and raised by the min- istry, in order to justify and recommend their own illegal proceedings, and to prejudice your Majesty's mind by false insinuations against the loyalty of your Majesty's subjects. — ' The freedom of election violated by corrupt and undue influence, by unpunished violence and murder. — ' The just verdicts of juries, and the opinion of the judges, over-ruled by false representations to your Majesty : and the determinations of the law set aside, by new, unprecedented, and dangerous means ; thereby leaving the guilty without re- .straint, and the injured without redress, and the lives of your Majesty's subjects at the mercy of every ruffian protected by administration. — ' Obsolete and vexatious claims of the crown set on foot for partial and election purposes. — ' Partial attacks on the liberty of the press : the most daring and pernicious libels against the constitution and against the liberty of the subject, being allowed to pass unnoticed, whilst the slightest libel against a minister is punished with the utmost rigour. — ' Wicked attempts to increase and establish a standing arm)', by endeavouring to vest in the crown an unlimited power over the militia, which, should they succeed, must, sooner or later, subvert the constitution, hy augmenting the power of administration in proportion to their delinquency. — ' Repeated endeavours to diminish the import- ance of members of parliament individually, in order to render them more dependent on ad- ministration collectively. Even threats having been employed by ministers to suppress the free- dom of debate ; and the wrath of parliament denounced against measures authorized by the law of the land. — ' Resolutions of one branch of the Legislature, set up as the law of the land, being a direct usurpation of the rights of the two other branches, and therefore a manifest infringement of the constitution. — ' Public [money shamefully squandered and unaccounted for, and all enquiry into the cau.se of arrears into the civil list prevented by the ministry. — ' Enquiry into a pay-master's public accounts stopped in the Exchequer, though the sums ac- counted for by that pay-master amount to above forty millions sterling. — ' Public loans perverted to private ministerial purposes. — ' Prostitution of public honours and rewards to iKjAij^^^'^ lU^ *^'^-t^ ^ ^nr v^U I vA- m% ^e^e:UfrU^ t^^ Aa^u/ u/n^. n'%. fir liiJL^LlLLu uLL^d- ' A* /j^, 1^^ ^pUu 'Ol'jiyft'U ^Ml. fv^AC %) Jay ■- I^U^ Lu>u^ At.^ tL ^ ir(^ I A.a^iM yet: A Ih^i-t-o^-l^mj iA^^lc^ TO ^[R 11. S. WOODFALL. 57 imagine you may have something to com- municate to me. If that be the case, I beg you will be particular ; and also that you will tell me candidly whether you know or suspect who I am. Direct a letter to Mr William Middletoni to be left at the bar of the New Exchange Coffee-house on Mon- day, as early as you think proper. I im, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant, C. No. 4. (Private) Sir, 7'i^y 'i-lth, 1769. Mr Newberry having thought pro- per to reprint my Letters,^ I wish at least he had done it correctly. You will oblige me much by giving him the following hint ^ to- morrow. The inclosed^ when you think proper. ' Mr Newberry having thought proper to men who can neither plead public virtue nor services. — ' Irreligion and immorality so eminently dis- countenanced by your Majesty's royal example, encouraged by administration, both by example and precept. — ' The same discretion has been extended by the same evil counsellors to your Majesty's do- minions in America, and has produced to our suffering fellow-subjects in that part of the world, grievances and apprehensions similar to those which we complain of at home. — ' Most gracious Sovereign, ' .Such are the grievances and apprehen- sions which have long discontented and dis- turbed the greatest and best part of your Ma- jesty's loyal subjects. Unwilling however to interrupt your royal repose, though ready to lay down our lives and fortunes for your Majesty's service, and for the constitution as by law estab- lished, we have waited patiently expecting a constitutional remedy by the means of our own representatives, but our legal and free choice having been repeatedly rejected, and the right of election now finally taken from us by the un- precedented seating of a candidate who was never chosen by the county, and who, even to become a candidate, was obliged fraudulently to vacate his seat in parliament, under the pretence of an insignificant place, invited thereto by the prio- declaration of a minister, that whoever op- posed our choice, though but with four votes, should be decl.ared member for the county, we see ourselves, by th^s last act, deprived even of { reprint Juxius's Letters, might at least have corrected the errata, as we did con- stantly. Page'i, Line 13, for naiionar read rational. — 3' — 4. — '('''-f — ivere. ~ 5> — 15. — indisputable — indis- pensahle. Letter 7, — 4, — in all mazes — in all the mazes. — 15) — 24. — righiest — bright. est. — 4S, — 2, — indiscreet — indi- rect.^ I did not e.\pect more than the life of a newspaper, but if this man will keep me alive, let me live without being offensive. Speciosa qucero pascere tigres. No. 5. Sir, July 21st, 1769, Friday Night. I c.\N have no manner of objec- tion to your reprinting the Letters, if you the franchises of Englishmen, reduced to the most abject state of slavery, and left without hopes or means of redress but from your Majesty or God. 'Deign then, mo-,t gracious Sovereign, to listen to the prayer of the most faithful of your Majesty's subjects ; and to banish from yoir royal favour, trust, and confidence, forever, those evil and pernicious counsellors, who have en- deavoured to alienate the affection of your Majesty's most sincere and dutiful subjects, and whose suggestions tend to deprive your people of their dearest and most essential rights, and who have traitorously dared to depart from the spirit and letter of those laws which have secured the crown of these realms to the House of Brimswick, in which we make our most earnest prayers to God that it may continue untarnished to the latest posterity.' Signed by 1565 Freeholders. * Mr William Middleton's Letter is sent as de- sired.' Answer to correspondents in the P. A. of July 20th, 1769. * Newberry had thought proper at this time to publish a spurious and surreptitious edition of the first fifteen Letters, as printed in the author's edition, under the title of 'The Political Con- test;' and it was these unauthorised publications that gave the first idea of publishing a genuine edition of the whole. 3 This request does not appear to have been complied with ; as the following answer to ::orrespondents was inserted in the Public Ad- vertiser of the i8th of July : — 'Reasons why the hint was not printed are sent to the last men- tioned Coffee-house in the Strand, from whence our old correspondent will be pleased to send for them.' 4 Letter XVL S8 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. think it will answer, which I believe it might, before Newberry api^eared. If you ! determine to do it, give me a hint, and I will send you more errata (indeed they are innumerable) and perhaps a Preface. I j really doubt whether I shall write any niore under this signature. ^ I am weary of attacking a set of brutes, whose writ- I ings a."*^ too dull to furnish me even with : the matc-ials of contention, and whose measures are too gross and direct to be the subject of argument, or to require illustra- tion. That Swinney - is a wretched but a dan- gerous fool. He had the impudence to go to lord G. Sackville, whom he had never spoken to, and to ask him, whether or no he was the author of Junius— take care of him. * See Dedication, p. 112. ^ A correspondent of die Printer's. 3 The Editor has already observed, in the Preliminary Essay, that Junius appears to have uniformly entertained a good opinion of, or at least a partiality for, lord Holland. The remark is not new ; it was noticed long ago by several of his opponents. Thus, in a letter subscribed by our author, Anti-Fox, and inserted in the Pub- lic Advertiser of October i6th, 1771, he thus Whenever you have any thing to com- municate to me, let the hint be thus, C at the vsiial place, and so direct to Mr John Fretley, at the same Coffee-house, where it is absolutely impossible I should be known. I did 7iot mean the Latin to be printed. I wish lord Holland may acquit himself with honour.^ If his cause be good, he sliould at once have published that account, to which he refers in his letter to the mayor.'* Pray tell me whether George Onslow means to keep his word with you, about prosecuting.^ Yes or No will be sufficient. Your Lycurgus*^ is a Mr Kent, a young man of good parts upon town. And so I wish you a good night. Yours, C. speaks of him : ' I know nothing of Junius ; but I see plainly that he has designedly spared lord Holland and his family.' See Miscell. Lett. C. •* See note A below. 5 See note B at the conclusion of note A. 6 Lycurgus was a frequent writer in the Pub- lic Advertiser during the spring and summer of 1769 ; and opposed the ministry, but with less violence than most of his contemporaries. A. He seems to refer to a charge of embezzlement of the public treasure, made in the City Petition presented to his Majesty, July 5th, 1769, of which the following is a copy : — The humble Petition of the Livery of the City of London in Common Hall assembled. ' ^lost Gracious Soi'crcigu, 'We, 5'our Majesty's dutiful and loj'al subjects, the Livery of the City of London, with all the humility which is due from free subjects to their lawful Sovereign, but with all the anxiety which the sense of the present oppressions, and the just dread of future mischiefs, produce in our minds, beg leave to lay before your Majesty some of those intolerable grievances which your people have suffered from the evil conduct of those who have been intrusted with the adminis- tration of your Majesty's government, and from the secret unremitting influence of the worst of counsellors. - • * We should be wanting in our duty to your Majesty, as well as to ourselves and our posterity, should we forbear to represent to the throne the desperate attempts which have been and are too successfully made, to destroy that constitution. to the spirit of which we owe the relation whicK subsists between your Majesty and the subjects of these realms, and to subvert those sacred laws which our ancestors have sealed with their blood. ' Your ministers, from corrupt principles, and in violation of every duty, have, by various enumerated means, invaded our invaluable and unalienable right of trial by jurj'. ' They have, with impimity, issued general warrants, and violently seized persons and private papers. ' They have rendered the laws non-effective to our security, by evading the Habeas Corpus. 'They have caused punishments, and even perpetual imprisonment, to be inflicted without trial, conviction, or sentence. ' They have brought into disrepute the civil magistracy, by the appointment of persons who are, in many respects, unqualified for that im- portant trust, and have thereby purposely fur- nished a pretence for calling in the aid of a military power. ' Ihey avow, and endeavour to establish a maxim, absohuely inconsistent with our consti- tution, that 'an occasion for effccUinlly employ- ing a military force always presents itself when the civil power is trtjlcd ivltli or iusiiUed ; ' and TO MR H. S. WOODFALL 59 by a fatal and false application of this maxim, they have wantonly and wickedly sacrificed the lives of many of your Majesty's innocent sub- jects, and have prostituted your Majesty's sacreJ name and authority, to justify, applaud, and re- commend their own illegal and bloody actions. ' They have screened more than one murderer from punishment, and in its place have unnatu- rally substituted reward. ' They have established numberless unconstitu- tional regulations and taxations in our colonies. They have caused a revenue to be raised in some of them by prerogative. 'I'hey have appointed civil law judges to try revenue causes, and to be paid from out of the condemnation money. ' After having insulted and defeated the law on different occasions, and by different contriv- ances, both at home and abroad, they have at length completed their design, by violently wresting from the people the last sacred right we had left, the right of election ; by the unprece- dented seating of a candidate notoriously set up and chosen only by themselves. They have thereby taken from your subjects all hopes of parliamentary redress, and have left us no re- source, under God, but in your Majesty. ' All this they have been able to effect by cor- ruption ; bj' a scandalous misapplication and em- bezzlement of the public treasure, and a shameful prostitution of public honours and employments; procuring deficiencies of the civil list to be made gooil without examination ; and, instead of pun- ishing, conferring honours on a pay-master, the public defaulter of unaccounted millions. ' From an unfeigned sense of the duty we owe to your Majesty, and to our country, we have ventured thus humbly to lay before the throne these great and important truths, which it has been the business of your ministers to conceal. We most earnestly beseech your Majesty to grant us redress. It is for the purpose of redress alone, and for such occasion? as the present, that those great and extensive powers are intrusted to the crown, by the wisdom of that constitution, which your Majesty's illustrious family was chosen to defend, and which, we trust in God, it will for ever continue to support.^ Lord Holland suspecting himself to be impli- cated in the last paragraph but one of the above petition, addressed the following letter to the Lord Mayor upon this subject : — TO THE RIGHT HOXOUR-\BLE THE LORD MAYOR. ' :My Lord, ' In a petition presented by youi Lord- ship it is mentioned as a grievance. Instead of punishing, conferring Jiononrs on a pay-master, the public defaulter of 7inaccoit7ited7niilions. I am told that I ani the pay-master here censured : may I beg to know of your Lordship if it is so ? . If it is, I am sure Mr Beckford must have been ; against it, because he knows and could liave shown your Lordship in writing, the utter false- hood of what is there insinuated. ' I have not the honour to know 5'our Lord- ship, so I cannot tell what you may have heard to induce you to carry to our Sovereign a com- plaint of so atrocious a nature. ' Your Lordship, by your speech made to the king at delivering the petition, has adopted the contents of it ; and I do not know of whom to enquire but of your Lordship concerning this injury done to an innocent man, who am by this means lif I am the person meant) hung out as an object of public hatred and resentment. ' You liave loo much honour and justice not to tell me whether I am the person meant, and if I am, the grounds upon which I am thus charged, that 1 may vindicate myself, which truth will enable me to do to the conviction of the bitterest enemy; and therefore I may boldly say, to your Lordship's entire satisfaction, whom I certainly have never oflended, ' I am, with the greatest respect, ' IMy Lord, ' Your Lordship's most obedient ' And most humble servant. ' HOLLAND.' ' Holland House, Kensington, ' 7"^y 9^'^') 1769.' To this letter the Lord Mayor returned the following answer : — ' The Lord Mayor presents his compliments to lord Holland, and in answer to the honour of his Lordship's letter delivered to him by Mr Selwyn, he begs leave to say that he had no concern in drawing up the petition from the Livery of London to his Majesty ; that he looks on himself only as the carrier, together with other gentlemen charged by the Livery with the delivery of it ; that he does not, nor ever did, hold himself accountable for the contents of it, and is a stranger to the nature of the supposed charge against his Lordship. 'Mansion House, July loih, 1769.' Mr Beckford, seeing his name implicated in this correspondence, wrote from the country the following letter to a friend, who was a Livery man of the city : — 'Dear Sir, Fonthill, July 15, 1769 ' I am as much surprised as you seem to \.t, at seeing my name, and papers in my possession, appealed to by a noble Lord. — You and my friends in the city think it incum- bent on me to vindicate (as they are pleased to express themselves) my honour and character, which is called in question. The only proper satisfaction in my power to give you and my other friends, is to relate plain matters of fact, to the best of my recollection. ' In the last session of Parliament, on a ques- tion of revenue ias far as my memory serves) I did declare to the House that the public revenue had been squandered away, and that the money of the nation had not been regularly audited and accounted for. 'That in the department of the Pay-office I had been informed there were upwards of foi ty miUions not properly accounted for ; that the officers of the King's Exchequer were bound in duty to see justice done to the public ; that pro- L_ 6o PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. cess had issued out of the Court of Exchequer, and that all proceedings for a certain time had been suspended by the king's sign manual. I then did declare, that it was an high offence for any minister to advise the king to stop the course of public justice, without assigning a very good reason for such his advice. I desired the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Lords of the Treasury, who sat opposite to me, to set me right if my information was not well-founded ; but not a single word was uttered in answer by any of the gentlemen in administration, ' After some days had elapsed, I met my friend Mr Woodhouse in Westminster Hall, he told me I had been misinformed as to what I had men- tioned in the House of Commons, and that, if I would give him leave, he would send me a paper from a noble Lord, which would convince me of mj' mistake. The paper alluded to is in London, I therefore cannot speak of the contents with ac- curacy and precision : but this I recollect, that the perusal of the paper did tiot convince me that all I had heard was false. It was a private paper, and I do not recollect having shown it to more than a single person. I have no doubt Mr Woodhouse has a copy of the paper by him, and I hope he will submit the contents to the judgment of the public, in vindication of an innocent man. ' I am, dear Sir, ' Your ever faithful and affectionate humble servant, 'WILLIAM BECKFORD.' It was in consequence of this letter that lord Holland was induced to publish the account above referred to by Junius, and again by Mr l.ieckford. Long as it is, it ought not to be omitted in this place. FOR THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Letter to H. S. Wood/all. ' Mr Woodf.ali., Kitigsgate, July 20, 1769. ' Lord Holland seeing in your paper a Letter from Mr Bcckford to a Liveryman, of July 15, 1769, and Mr Woodhouse being at Spa, in (Germany, sends you an authentic copy of the paper which he sent by Mr Woodhouse to Mr Beckford. He hopes the perusal of it will con- vince the reader that all is false that can impute any crime to lord Holland. * 'I'he reader will sec that some of lord Hol- land's accounts were then before the auditor ; and there are two years' accounts since lodged there. ' He will .see that lord Holland's accounts (voluminous and difficult beyond example) have not been kept back from inclination, but neces- sity ; and not longer than those of his prede- cessors. ' He will see (and is desired to observe par- ticularly) that savings, so far from remaining all in lord Holland's hands, had been given in and voted in aid of the public service to the amount of ^^\o.s\T-- And ;iC43.533 iQ'^'- l<-i- (upon some regimental and other accounts being adjusted ihTs last winter) liave been since paid and voted, ' He will read in it, that lord Holland desired i to be shown how he could proceed faster than he L did. If nobody has shown or can show how that might have been, or may be done, does he deserve either punishment or censure? And had he not a right to think himself sure that Mr Beckford must have been against the article in the petition relating to him, because Mr Beckford knew, and could have sJwwn the Lord Mayor in writing, the utter falselwod of what is t/ure insinttated. ' Lo.-d Holland prints the memorial examined by the Treasury, and the sign manual it ob- tained ; stopping process (not accounts) for six months, which neither did nor could suspend or delay the pay-master's accounts an hour, 'HOLLAND,' OBSERVATIONS ON THE ACCOUNTS OF THE PAY-MASTER GENERAL, Why were Lord Holland's accounts, as pay- master general, for the years 11757, 1758, and 1759, not delivered to the auditors before the year 1768 ? ANSWER. The pay-master general's officers being best acquainted with army accounts, are emploj'ed in making up the account of the preceding pay- masters. The accounts of the earls of Chatham, Darlington, and Kinnoul, aid iir Potter, were made up by them, and regularly, and in due course delivered to the auditors. Great as the army and its expenses were during the last war, beyond all former example, dispersed in all quarters of the world, and diffi- cult as it must have been to keep the accounts in any tolerable order, it will be found, upon ex- amination, that the accounts of lord Holland as pay-master general, are not further back than those of his predecessors, and that his Lordship's accounts are not kept back, as has been suggest- ed, from inclination, but necessity. The late Mr Winnington's accounts, for two years and a half, from IJecember, 1743, to 24th of June, 1746, were declared the islh of May, 1760. The earl of Chatham's accounts for nine years and a half, from the 25th June, 1746, to the 24th of December, 1755, are not yet de- clared. The earls of Darlington and Kinnoul for the year 1756, and the earl of Kinnoul's and Mr Potter's for six months, to the 24th of June, 1757, are now before the auditors. The accounts of lord Holland for the years 1757. 1758, and 1759; likewise the accounts of his deputies, attending the army in Germany, from the commencement to the end of the late war, are also before the auditors for their ex- amination, and his Lordship's account for the year 1760, is almost ready to be delivered to them. From the nature and extension of army ac- counts, it is most evident to those that are best acquainted with them, that it is tedious and diffi- cult to bring even regimental accounts to a final adjustment ; other parts of the accounts arc more so. Lord Holland, in the course of the years 1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, and 1764, has paid to regiments and independent companies TO MR H. S. W'OODFALL. 6i ^320,391 gs. zid., whose accounts are at this time unadjusted, for want of proper authorities, and till those authorities are obtained the auditor will not allow one shilling of said sum in his Lordship's account. To obtain those authorities, his Lordship has often repeated his solicitations. \Vhat is the balance of cash in lord Holland's hands ? ANSWER. The meaning of this question can be no other than, what savings are in lord Holland's hands? Or, in other words, how much has the expense in any case fallen short of the sum voted ? As to the savings : — so far as the Pay-Office has 'Dcen enabled to state the army accounts, they have been given in to parliament. From services that have fallen short of the sums voted, and from monies paid in by army acco:r.ptants, lord Holland directed accounts to be made up and laid before the House of Com- mons ; and accordingly (out of these savings in lord Holland's hands) parliament from time to time availed itself of the following sums, viz. £ s. d. Voted in aid of extraordinaries, ") cc, , to December 24, 1763. . . ' j ^39,966 i 4 170,906 2 8 Voted in the year 1764, in aid \ of German claims, . . ) Voted in the year 1765, in aid ) of ditto service, . . ) Voted in the year 1766, in aid ) of extraordinary services, i V^oted in the year 1767, in aid "| of extraordinaries and other - services, . . . ) Voted in the year 1768, in aid )_ of the supply . . ) 251.740 60,638 171071 15.719 ;C9io.54i His Lord".hip could by no other means ascer- tain and give in to parliament the savings on the votes for the army, but by the final adjustment of army accounts ; what further savings may be, is very uncertain, as they cannot be known j before the services are absolutely determined ] and closed. His Lordship is very sorry to say it, that in the years 1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, and 1764, there are not less than fifty-six regiments and j companies now standing open and unadjusted, [ for want of authorities ; and in his ledgers there are accounts to a much greater extent, as the pay of staff officers. Sic. &c. It may be seen here that though Mr Winning- ton died in April, 174.6, and his executor, Mr Ingram, used all possible industry to close his ! accounts, they could not be closed till 1760;] fourteen years. The carl of Chatham went out in December, 1755, yet are not his accounts closed till 1768 ; thirteen years. The earl of Kinnoul's are not closed yet, though he has been out of the office eleven years. Lord Holland has been out three years and a half. Where is the wonder his are not closed ? If those who complain will show lord Holland how he can proceed faster than he does, he will be very much obliged to them. Let it be ob- ser^'ed, that he has before the auditors already, accounts for more years than Mr Winnington or lord Kinnoul had to account for. .MEMORIAL FOR LORD HOLLAND TO HAVE LONGER TIME TO .MAKE UP HIS ACCOUNTS AS P.\Y-M.A.STER GENERAL May it please your L^jcdships, I beg to inform your Lordships that a process is in the hands of the sheriffs of Middle- sex against me to account to his Majesty for the monies imprested to me, as pay-master general of his Majesty's forces. I most humbly apprehend that the regular ordinary course of accounting in the Exchequer was calculated (when established) for transac- tions at home, which are easily and readily to be collected and made up at short periods of time. The accounts of the army when employed abroad, particularly, must unavoidably be much I in arrear from the nature of the service. l The army payments are necessarily in arrear ; 1 and articles, from accidents inevitable, are ob- liged to remain often open a long time before they can finally be closed. The accounts of the last war are voluminous and difficult beyond example. The great variety of operations, and the very great distance of the troops, made, and must make, the correspond- ence, and adjusting those accounts with the pay-masters and accountants attending them, very slow and tedious. 'I'hese therefore will re- quire longer time to make up, both from their bulk and difficulty. During the course of a war, the troops constantly changing and moving, and the service in the utmost hurry, it cannot then be done with the order and regularity absolutely necessary'. Since the war the utmost diligence has been used in them. The great intricate article of Foreign expense ^viz. the German) has been got together for the whole time Jwhich, after the former war, was several years about) ; and one year and a halfs general account is now made out, and ready to be laid before the auditors ; the rest will regularly be laid before them as fast as it is possible to make them up. Though I have been two years out of employ- ment the payments for my time are not yet completed. I therefore pray your Lordships will be pleased to obtain his Majesty's warrant, grant- ing me longer time for making up my accounts as pay-master general of his Majesty's forces. Pay-Office, Horse Guards, Which is, &c. &c. ■zitk June, 1767. HOLLAND. king's WARRANT, STAY OF PROCESS AG.\INST LORD HOLL.'VND FOR SIX MONTHS. Copy. George R. Whereas our right, trusty, and well- beloved Henry lord Holland hath, by the annexed memorial, represented, tb_at, from several uu- 62 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. avoidable causes and difficulties, he hath been prevented making up his accompts as late pay- master general of our forces ; and we having taken the said matter into our royal consideration, are graciously pleased to grant unto him a further time for making up his said accompts. Our will and pleasure therefore is, and we do hereby direct, authorize, and require you to cause all process against the said Henry lord Holland for his accompts, as late pay-master general of our forces, to be stayed foi and during the term of six months, computed from the day of the date hereof. And for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given at our Court at Saint James's the eighth day of July, 1767, in the seventh year of our reign. By his Majesty's command, GRAFTON. C. TOWN.SHEND. T. TOWNSHEND. To our right, trusty, and well-beloved Samuel lord Marsham, our Remembrancer in our Court of Exchequer. The Mr Onslow here spoken of, as well as in various other parts of this work, is the present lord Onslow. The history of his dispute with the late Mr Home Tooke is as follows : — In the Public Advertiser of July 14th, 1769, the follow- ing letter made its appearance, addressed TO THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE ONSLOW, ESQ. Sir, I have heard from very good authority that one of the Lords of the Treasury has lately gained a thousand pounds in a very common and usual manner, which is yet likely to be attended with a very uncommon ar.d unusual consequence. Mr applied to the right honourable Mr for his interest for a certain lucrative post in America. The gentleman was informed that a thousand pounds placed in the hands of Mrs would insure him the place. Mr not having the money, prevailed on colonf;l to join with him in a bond for that sum to the lady to whom he wa? directed. So far, Sir, all is in ihe common track : What follovv'S is the wonderful part of the transaction. This Lord of the Treasury kept his word, and the gentleman was appointed to the office he had paid for ! And stranger still, lord , who discovered this bargain and sale, is offended at it, and insists on the dismission of this Lord of the Treasury. Now, Sir, I must intreat you to favour one of your constituents with the name of this Lord of the Treasury, for you, no doubt, who sit at that Board yourself, must be acquainted with him. ANOTHER FREEHOLDER OF SURREY. Ash-Coi,ri, July 11. To this letter Mr Onslow m^de the following reply, which was published in the. same news- paper, July 18, ensuing. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, ^ yi(iyi6. Having just now read a letter containinc, by evident insinuation, a most audacious attack upon my character, printed by you, in your paper of Friday last, asserting a gross and in- famous he from beginning to end ; I do hereby publicly call upon you to name the person from whom you received the account you have pre- sumed to publish. If you are either unable or unwilling to do this, I shall most certainly treat you as the author, and, injustice both to myself and others who are every day thus malignantly and wickedly vilified, shall take the best advice in the law if an action will not lie for such atro- cious defamation, and if I may not hope to make an example of the author of it. The .scurrility in general which has been of late so heaped upon me in the public papers, I have hitherto treated with the contempt my friends and myself thought it deserved, and suffered it to pass with impunity ; but this last is so outrage- ous, and tends so much to wound my charac- ter and honour in the tenderest part, that I am determined, if practicable, to see if a jury will not do me and the public justice against such a libeller, and whether they will not think the robbing an innocent man of his character is a robbery of the most dangerous kind, and that the perpetrators of it will stick at nothing. For the present I must content myself with only laying before the public the two following letters, which will explain to them all the know- ledge I had of the detestable fraud, which has been taken advantage of to charge me with cor- ruption ; a crime, which, of all others, I hold the most in abhorrence. I defy the whole world to prove a single word in your libellous letter to be true, or that the whole is not a barefaced, posi- tive, and entire lie. That it is so I do assert, and I call upon anybodj', if they can, to disprove what I say. GEORGE ONSLOW. Copy of a letter to Mr Onslow, received the 27th of June. Sir, New Bond Street, Jntie i'^, 1769. I beg you will pardon my thus address- ing you, a liberty I could not think of, was any thing less than my family's bread at stake. Some weeks past my husband paid a large sum of money (which gave us inexpressible sorrow to raise) to a party, who protest they are empowered by you to insure him, in return, the collectorship of Piscataway in New Hampshire. I have been told this day one Hughes is in possession of the same, and the Treasury Books confirm the news. I beg leave most earnestly to intreat you will in- form me whether IMr Hughes is under any en- gagement to resign, or whether we are duped by those who have taken our money. Mr Burns has had the strongest recommenda- tions from persons of undoubted veracity, and I believe, on all accounts, will be found to be per- fectly capable and worthy of the employment. Once more I intreat, good Sir, you will excuse TO MR H. S. WOODFALL. 63 this trouble, which is caused by a heart almost broken with the fear and terror of a disappoint- ment. With the profoundest respect, I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant, MARY BURNS. Mr Onslow's Answer. Mada>i, Ember Court, Jutu 27, 1769. Your letter was brought down to me hither only to-day, or I should have answered it sooner. Without having the honour of being known to you or Mr Burns, it gives me much concern that anybody should be so imposed upon as you have been, and as much indignation that my name should be made so infamous a use of. I should have been under an equal degree of surprise, had I not this morning had some intima- tion of the matter from Mr Pownal and Mr Bradshaw, and made some enquiry into it of Mr Watkins at Charing Cross, with a determination to sift this shocking scene of villany to the bottom, and which I shall now be encouraged in by the hopes of getting you your money restored to you, as well as the earnest desire I have to bring the perpetrators of this roguery to the punish- Bient and shame they deserve. For this purpose, might I beg the favour of Mr Burns to meet me at my house in Curzon Street, about ten o'clock on Friday morning. — I will go with him to Mr PownalV, of which I have given him notice ; and I wish Mr Burns would bring with him Mr Watkins, or anybody else that can give light into this unhappy and wicked affair. Till this morning I never in my life heard a single word of either the office itself, nor of any of the parties concerned. You will judge then of my astonishment, and indeed horror, at hear- ing of it to-day from Mr Bradshaw. I am. Madam, Sic, GEORGE ONSLOW. Since writing of the above letters, more of this fraud has been detected, and further enquiry is making, in order to bring the actors in it to jus- tice. A woman of the name of Smith, who lives near Broad Street, is the person who ap- pears to be principally concerned in the fraud, the money being, it seems, for her use. The writer of the first address, now authoriz- ing the printer to give Mr Onslow his name (which he did, and which was that of the Rev. John Home), once more attacked the Right Honourable Gentleman as follows, in the same paper, July 28. TO THE RIGHT HONOT^RABLE GEORGE ONSLOW. CIooD Sir, "th another innocent man I should be sorry to libel you by mistaking your meaning, but the strange manner of word- ing your first sentence leaves me at a loss to know whether you intend that my letter, or — your own character, is ^ a gross and iti/ain- 07IS lie from beginning to end.' You may save yourself the expense of taking ' t/ie best advice in the law.' Depend upon it you can never 'hope to make an example of the author, ivheji the publisher is unable or nn- ivilling to give iip his name.'' And you need not wait for a jury to determine ' that robbing a man is certainly a robbery.' But you should have considered some months suice that it is the same thing whether the man be guilty or inno- cent ; and whether he be robbed of his reputa- tion or— of his seat in parliament. In the Public Advertiser of Friday, July 14, there is a letter from you as well as to you. If that is the scurrility you speak of, I agree with you that it has been treated with the con- tempt it deserves by all the world ; but how you can say that it has passed with impunity, I own I cannot conceive, unless indeed you are of opinion with those hardened criminals who think that, because there is no corporal sufferance in it, the being gibbeted in chains and exposed as a spectacle makes no part of their punishment. The letter written by you to Mr Wilkes tends more 'to wound your character and honour,' than any other, and yet you pass it over in silence. But you shall, if you please, prove to the world that those who have neither character nor honour, may still be wounded in a very ten- der part— their interest. And I believe lord Hillsborough is too noble to suffer any Lord of the Treasury to prostitute his name and com- mission to bargains like that I have exposed ; but will, if he continues to preside at the Board of Trade, resolutely insist either on such Lord's full justification or dismission.— //^/«c ilCte lack- rymce. You ' defy the whole 7uorld to prove a single word in my letter to be true ; or that the whole is not a barefaced, positive, and entire lie.' , The language of the last part of the sentence is ; such as I can make no use of, and therefore I return it back on you to whom it belongs : The i defiance in the first part, I accept, and will dis- 1 prove what you say. My letter can only be false In one particular ; ' for it contains only one affirmation, namely, that ; I heard the story I relate from very good au- ! thority. It then concludes with a question to you of— who is this Lord of the Treasury that so abhors corruption? Which question since you I have answered, I too will gratify you, and in ' return for yours do hereby direct the printer to 1 give you my name ; which, humble as it is, I I should not consent to exchange with you in any 1 other manner. Now, Sir, I do again afifirm that I heard the Lord Holland, you were ambitious to add to the story from the best authority : And that it is not list of Mr Walpo'e's Right Honourable authors, my invention your oun letter is a proot, lor I you might, like him, have exposed yourself with might have heard it either from Mrs burns, or more temper, and have called names in better , from Mr Pownal, or Mr Bradshaw, but I heard En"-lish. it from better authority. I go further, 1 do 64 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. still believe the story as I related it tc be true ; nor has any thing you have said convinced me to the contrary. I do not mean to charge you or any one ; but since you have condescended to answer my former question, be kind enough to explain what follows. Mr Pownal is secretary to the Board of Trade. Mr Bradshaw is secretary to the Treasury. Why did these two secretaries come together to you? Were they sent by their principals or not? Who first detected this very scandalous though very common traffic? Has not lord Hillsborough that honour? And is not your exaggerated 'abhorrence of corriiptiou,yoiir as- toiiiikntent, and indeed horror at this shocking scene of villany' vastly heightened by the calm, and therefore unsuspected, disapprobation of his Lordship ; who does not seem to think with j'ou that every whore should be hanged alive ; but only that they should be turned out of honest company. How came you so instantly to entertain hopes of getting the money restored to Mrs Burns ? when you declared, that, ' till that morning;; yon nei.'er in your life heard a single ivord of either the office itself, Jior of any of the parties concerned.' Jonathan Wild used to return such answers ; because he knew the theft was com- mitted by some of his own gang. You pretend to have given to the public ' all the knoivlcdge yon haz'C of this detestable fraud.' I cannot believe it, because I find nothing in your letter on which to found your hopes of restoring j the money to Mrs Burns ; and especially be- I cause in three weeks after this letter, i. e. from June 27 to July 18, you have only discovered ' that Mrs Smith appears to be principally con- cerned i}i this detestable f rand, the mow&y being, it seems, for her use.' Sir, do you not know WHOSE wife Mrs Smith is? And are you not acquainted with that gentleman? Have you caused Mrs Smith or any one else to be taken into custody? Have you taken ' the best advice in lazv, and are yon determined to see if ajniy luill 7iot do you and the public justice' for this detestable fraud ? Or is there yet left one crime which you abhor more than corruption, and for which you reserve all your indignation ? But why this anger? He that is innocent can easily j prove himself to be so ; and should be thankful to those who give him the opportunity by making a story public. Malicious and false slander never i j acts in this open manner ; but seeks the covert, ' and cautiously conceals itself from the party maligned, inordertopreventajustification. If any ! ' person have done your character an injurj' by a charge of corruption, theys.v& most guilty who so \ thoroughly believed you capable of that crime, i as to pay a large sum of money on the suppo- ; sition (an indignity which I protest I would not have offered to you, though you had negotiated | the matter and given the promise yourself;: and j yet I do not find you at all angry with them | when they tell you their opinion of you without j scruple. On the contrarj', you pity iMrs Burns in the kindest manner, which shows plainly that | your honour is not like Caesar's wife. Nay, you j seem almost to doubt whether you ' might beg the favour of Mr Burns to meet you at your house in Curzon Street;' that is, you humbly solicit Mr Burns to do you \\ig: favour of accept- ing your assistance in the recovery of his money. Archbishop Laud thought to clear himself to pos- terity from all aspersions relative to popery, by inserting in his diary his refusal of a cardinal's hat ; not perceiving the disgrace indelibly fixed on him by the oft'er. ' I\Ir Burns has had the stroiigcst reconnnendations from persons of un- doubted veracity, and I believe on all accounts will be found to be perfectly capable and worthy the employment.' The letter from Mrs Burns to you does by no means declare her to be an ideot. Colonel (whom you forbear to mention) is a man of sense, and well acquainted with the world. It is strange they should all three believe j'ou capable of this crime, which ' of all others yoic most hold in abhorrence.' Mr Pcwnal, Mr Bradshaw, and their principals, are supposed to know something of men and things, and there- fore I conclude they did not believe you con- cerned in this business : though I wonder much that, «^^ believing it, both the secretaries should wait on you so seriously about it ; but perhaps they may think, that when honour and justice are not the rules of men's actions, there is no- thing incredible that may be for their advantage. But, Sir, whatever may be their sentiments of you, I must intreat you to entertain no resent- ment to me, my opinion of your character would never suffer me to doubt your innocence. If indeed the charge of corruption had been brought against a low and ignorant debauchee, who, without the gratifications and enjoyments of a gentleman, had wasted a noble patrimony amongst the lowest prostitutes ; whose neces- sities had driven him to hawk about a reversion on the moderate terms of one thousand for two hundred ; whose desperate situation had made him renounce his principles and desert his friends, those principles and those friends to which he stood indebted for his chief support ; who for a paltry consideration had stabbed a dear old FRIEND, and violated the sacred rights of that grateful country that continued to the son the reward of his father's services : if the charge had been brought against such an one, more fit to receive the public charity than to be trusted with the DISPOSAL and .management of the public money, small proof would have been suf- ficient ; and Instead of considering it as a crime the most to be abhorred, we might have suffered corruption to pass amongst the virtues of such a man. Butyours, Sir, is -.very different character, and situation. In the clear and unincumbered possession of the paternal estate with which your ancestors have long been respectable ; with a pension of three thousand, and a place of one thousand a year ; with the certain prospect cf lord Onslow's large fortune, which your prudenci will not anticipate ; grateful to your country, faithful to your connexions, and firm to your principles, it ought to be as difficult to convict you of corruption, as a cardinal of fornication ; for which last purpose, by the canon law, no less TO MR H. S. WOODFALL. 6k than ssventy-two eye-witnesses are necessary. Thus, Sir, you see how far I am from casting any reflection on your integrity: however if notwithstanding all I have said you are still resolved to try the determination of a jury, take one piece of advice from me : do not think of prosecuting me for an insinuation : alter your charge before it comes upon record, to prevent its being done afterwards ; for though lord Mans- field did not know the difference between the words when he substituted the one for the other, we all know very well now that it is the tenor and not the pukpokt that must convict for a libel, which indeed almost every student in the law knew before ANOTHER FREEHOLDER OF SURRY. The names of lord Hillsborough and Mr Pow- nal having been introduced into the preceding letter, they thought proper to deny any other knowledge of Mr Onslow's supposed turpitude, than that proceeding from common report, and accordingly inserted the following letters in the Public Advertiser on the day after their respect- ive dates. Long as this note is, we cannot, in justice to Mr Onslow, here omit them. TO H. S. WOODFALL, Printer of the Public Advertiser. Having observed in a newspaper of the 28th of July last, that it is insinuated that I have been the detector of a supposed crime, imputed to the right honourable George Onslow, Esq. , I do think it an act of common justice to declare, in this public manner, that I am entirely ignorant of the said supposed crime, and of all circumstances relative to it, except that I have heard the story mentioned in common conversation, and con- stantly treated as a calumny propagated to injure Mr Onslow's reputation. Hanoz'erSguare, HILLSBOROUGH. August 2, 1765. It having Leca suggested in a letter ad- dressed to the right honourable George Onslow, Esq., published in a newspaper dated the 28th of July last, that I was, together with Mr Brad- shaw, sent to ^Nlr Onslow, on the subject of a scandalous transaction, in which Mr Onslow is, in the said letter, stated to be concerned; it is become necessary for me, injustice to that gen- tleman, to declare, that I never was ser.,: tc Mr Onslow, on that or any other occasion ; u-ut having heard this story, I thought it but common justice to communicate it to Mr Onslow, which I did through the channel of Mr Bradshaw, J.POWNAL. WJiitcIiall, August 2, 1769. An action for defamation against Mr Home, was brought by Mr Onslow, agreeably to his menace, and the damages were laid at ;^io,ooo. It was tried before Mr Justice Blackstone, at the Surry Assizes held at Kingston, April 6, 1770, and terminated in Mr Onslow's nonsuit, in con- sequence of the word pounds being inserted in the record, instead of the word pound. The cause was re-heard before lord chief justice Mansfield at the ensuing Summer Assizes, held at Guildford, when Mr Onslow was again non- suited. The trial is supposed to have cost Mr Onslow upwards of ;^i5oo in consequence of his having retained all the principal counsel upon the occasion. No. 6. Sir, Sufiday, Aug. 6, 1769. The spirit of your letter ^ con- vinces me that you are a much better writer than most of the people whose works you publish. Whether you have guessed well or ill must be left to our future acquaint- ance. For the matter of assistance, be assured that, if a question should arise upon any writings of mine, you shall not want it. Yet you see how things go, and I fear my assistance would not avail you much. For the other points of printing, Src, it does not depend upon us at present. My own works you shall constantly have, and in point of money, be assured you never shall suffer. ' The Eubstance cf Mr Woodfall's reply to Private Letter, No. 3, is not known. ' Letter XX. I wish the enclosed " to be announced to- morrow conspicuously for Tuesday. I am not capable of writing anything more finished. Your friend, C. Your Veridicus ^ is Mr Whitworth. I assure vou I have not confided in him. No. Sir, Wcd/icsday night, Ang. 16, 1769. I HAVE been some days in th^ country, and could not conveniently send for your letter until this night. Your cor- rection was perfectly right. The sense re- 3 Veridicus was a frequent writer in the Public Advertiser, in the year 1769, and, as already observed in the Preliminary Essay, was Richard Whitworth, Esq., M.P. for Stafford. 66 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. quired it, and I am much obliged to you. When I spoke of iiinumerabk bhinders, I meant Newberry's pamphlet ; for I must confers that upon the whole your papers are very correctly printed. Do with my letters exactly w'l-it you please. I should think that, to make a better figure than Newberry, some others of my letters may be added, and so throw out a hint, that you have reason to suspect they are by the same author. If you adopt this plan, I shall point out those ^hich I would recommend ; for you know, I do not, nor indeed have I time to, give equal care to them all. I know Mr Onslow perfectly. He is a false silly fellow. Depend upon it he w ill get nothing but shame by contending with Home.i I believe I need not assure you, that I have never written in any other paper since I began with yours. As to Junius, I must wait for fresh matter, as this is a character which must be kept up with credit. Avoid prosecutions if you can ; but, above all things, avoid the Houses of Parliament, — there is no contending with them. At pre- sent you are safe, for this House of Com- mons has lost all dignity, and dare not do any thinfy. Adieu, C. No. 8. (Private) SiK, Sept. 10, 1769. The last letter you printed was idle and in-iproper, and I assure you printed against my own opinion.- The truth is, there are people about mo, whom I would wish not to contradict, and who had rather see Junius in the papers ever so improperly than not at all. I wish it could be recalled. ^ This contest is already related in the note to Private Letter, No. 5. ^ It occurs in the Miscellaneous Letters, No. LIX. In the genuine edition it was omitted for the reason which the author has here specified. 3 This note accompanied the letter to his Grace the duke of Bedford, Letter XXIII., and was Suppose you were to say — We have some reason to suspect that the last letter signed Junius in this paper, was not loritten by the real Junius, though the obscrvatioji escaped us at the time : or, if you can hit ofi any thing yourself more plausible, you will much oblige me, but without a positive assertion. Don't let it be the same day with the enclosed. Begging your pardon for this trouble, I remain your friend and humble servant. l\'o. 9. (Private) Sir, Friday night, Sept. 15, 1769. I BEG you will to-morrow adver- tise Junius to another duke in our next.^ If Monday's paper be engaged, then let it be for Tuesday, but not advertised till Monday. You shall have it some time to- morrow night. It cannot be corrected and copied sooner. I mean to make it worth printing. Yours, C. No. 10. Thursday night, Oct. 5, 1769, I SHALL be glad to see the pac- quet you speak of.-* It cannot come from the Cavendishes, though there be no end of the family. They would not be so silly as to put their arms on the cover. As to me, be assured that it is not in the nature of things, that they, or you, or any body else should ever know me, unless I make m3'self known. All arts, or enquiries, or rewards would be equally ineffectual. As to you, it is clearly my opinion, that you have nothing to fear from the duke of Bedford. I reserve some things expressly to awe him, in case he should think of bringing you before the House of Lords. — I am sure I can threaten him privately announced agreeably to the above request in the Public Advertiser for September 18, 1769. 4 The nature of this communication is not known. 'i?>/^ ^^/L n\^'fUy 'hujjt-l^- f{yfi.«n'-n-'. (llj_ (k/uh ^ Utl-omatU^ ^ rr "y^^^i^t^ e^fufUUtf e^ A^^| A'/tf^n/e .J^Uiift ^^ ,/L^ ^^^- - ir'-C^(>^^,y^io^^^CayL^ / / Ji.^UuJ^f^ J^ 'h„-ll~ ^ a. xii J" ..L /y. ^ ^/: ^ /^i TO MR H. S. WOODFALL. 67 \vith such a storm, as would make him tremble even in his grave. You may send to-morrow to the same place without fur- ther notice ; and if you have any thing of your own to communicate, I shall be glad to hear it. C. Ko. II. Sir, A'crj. 8, 1769. I HAVE been out of town these three weeks, and, though I got your last, could not conveniently answer it. Be so good as to signify to A. B. C, either by word of mouth, or in your own hand, ' that his papers are received, and that 1 should have been ready to do him the service he desires ; but at present it would be quite useless to the parties, and might offend some persons who must not be offended.' As to Mr Mortimer,! only make him some civil excuse. I should be much obliged to you, if you would reprint (and in the front page, if not improper or inconvenient) a letter in the London Evening Post of last night, to the duke of Grafton.^ If it had not been anticipated, I should have touched upon the subject myself. However, it is not ill done, and it is very material that it should spread. The person alluded to is lord Denbigh. I should think you might ven- ture hiin with a D. As it stands few people can guess who is meant. The only thing that hinders my pushing the subject of my last letter, is really the fear of ruining that poor devil Gansel, and those other block- heads. — But as soon as a good subject offers. — Your types really wanted mending. C. Sir, iVoi'. 12, 1769. 1 RETURN you the letters you sent me yesterday, A man who can neither * Mr Mortimer was either at this time, or shortly afterwards, employed by MrWoodfall to procure intelligence for the Public Advertiser. * See Miscellaneous Letters, No. LXI. write common English, nor spell, is hardly worth attending to. It is probably a trap for me. I should be glad, however, to know what the fool means. If he writes again, open his letter, and if it contains any thing worth my knowing, send it : other- wise not. Instead of C. in the usual place, say only A Letter when you have occasion to write to me again. — I shall understand you. No. 13. Thursday, Nov. 16, 1769. As I do not chuse to answer for any body's sins but my own, I must desire you to say to-morrow, ' We can assure the Pubhc that the letter, signed A. B., relative to the duke of Rutland, is not written by the author of Juxius.' ^ I sometimes change my signature, but could have no reason to change the paper, especially for one that does not circulate half so much as yours. C. For the future, open all letters to me, and don't send them, unless of importance. — I can give you light about Veridicus.^ No. 14. Sunday, Dec. 10, 1769. I WOULD wish the paper (No. 2.) might be advertised for Tuesday .^ By way of intelligence you may inform the public that Mr De La Fontaine, for his secret services in the Alley, is appointed Barrack-master to the Savoy. I hope A. B. C. has got his papers again. No. 15. Sir, Dec. 12, 1769. You may t?ll Mr A. B. C Inat I did not receive his letter till last night, and 3 vSee Miscellaneous Letters, No. LXI., and the first note appended to it. 4 See note to Private Letter, No. 6. 5 The paper here referred to is the letter of Junius, No. XXXIV. The ensuing intelligence was published verbally in the Public Advertiser of the ne.\t day, Dec. ii. 68 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. have not had time to look into the paper annexed. I cannot at present understand what use I can make of it. It certainly shall not be an ungenerous one to him. If he or his counsel know hoio to act, I have saved him already, and really without in- tending it.— The facts are all literally true. Mr Hine's place is customer at the port of Exeter. Colonel Burgoyne received ^^4000 for it. To mend the matter, the money was raised by contribution, and the sub- scribers quartered upon Mr Hine. Among the rest, one doctor Brook, a physician at Exeter, has ;/^ioo a year out of the salary. I think you might give these particulars in your own way to the public. ^ As to your- self, I am convinced the ministry will not venture to attack you. They dare not sub- m.it to such an enquir}\ If they do, show no fear, but tell them plainly you will justify, and subpoena Mr Hine, Burgoyne, and Bradshaw of the Treasury — that will silence them at once. — As to the House of Commons there may be more danger. But even there I am fully satisfied the min- istry will exert themselves to quash such an enquiry, and on the other side, you will have friends -.—but they have been so grossly abused on all sides, that they will hardly begin with you. Tell A. B. C. his paper shall be returned. I am now meditating a capital, and I hope a final piece ; — you shall hear of it shortly.- No. 17. Sir, Dec. 26, 1769. With the enclosed alterations I should think our paper might appear.** As to embowelling, do whatever you think proper, provided you leave it intelligible to vulgar capacities ; but would not it be the shortest way at once to print it, ia an anon- ymous pamphlet? judge for yourself. I enter sincerely into the anxiety of your situation. At the same time I am strongly inclined to think that you will not be called upon.^ They cannot do it without subject- ing Hine's affair to an enquir}^ which would be worse than death to the minister. As it is, they are more seriously stabbed with this last stroke than all the rest. — At any rate, stand firm — (I mean with all the humble appearances of contrition)— if you trim or faulter, you will lose friends without gaining others. A. B. C. has done right in pub- lishing his letter. It defends him more effectually than all his nonsense. — I believe I shall give him a lift, for I really think he has been punished infinitely beyond his merits. -I doubt much whether I shall ever have the pleasure of knowing you ; but if things take the turn I expect, you shall know me by my ivorks. C. No. 16. Dec. 19, 1769. For material affection for God's sake read maternal ; it is in the sixth para- graph. 3 The rest is excellently done. ^ The facts were given to the public by Ju.vius himself, in Letter XXXIV., and are indeed touched upon more than once in his subsequent letters. = He refers to the Letter to the King, No. XXXV. 3 Letter to the King, No. XXXV. * This paper is supposed to have been totally .suppressed, the alterations introduced into it not having perhaps satisfied the printer of his safety in publishing it, as the signal of a private communication from him to the author appeared in the P. A. of the ne.\t day. No. 18. (Private) Sir, J^Jit. 12, 1770. I desired a. B. C. not to write to me until I gave him notice. He must therefore blame himself, if the detention of his papers has been inconvenient to him. Pray tell him this, and that he shall have them in a day or two. I shall also keep my promise to him,*^ but to do it imme- 5 The printer was threatened by the minister with a prosecution for publishing the letter of juxius, No, XXXIII., and the Court of King's Bench was actually moved on his behalf; but, probably for the reason mentioned above, the threat was never executed. 6 See Letters XXXIII. and XXXVI., for an e.xplanalion of the fact and papers here re- ferred to. TO MR H. S. WOODFALL. 69 diately would be useless to him, and un- advisable with respect to myself. I believe you may banish your fears. The informa- tion ^ will only be for a misdemeanour, and I am advised that no jury, especially in these times, will find it. I suspect the channel, through which you have your in- telligence. It will be carried on coldly. Ycu roust not write to me again, but be assiirsd I will never desert you. I received your letters regularly, but it was impossible to answer them sooner. You shall hear from me again shortlv. Xo. 19. ; Private) Sir, Bcginuing of Feb. "iyjo. When you consider to what ex- cessive enmities I may be exposed, you will not wonder at my caution. I really have not known how to procure your last. If it be not of any great monient I would wish you to recall it. If it be, give me a hint. If your affair should come to a trial, 2 and you should be found guilty, you will then let me know what expense falls particularly on yourself ; for I understand you are en- gaged with other proprietors. Some way or other you shall be reimbursed. But seriously and bo/ni fide, I think it is im- possible. C. ' The information was for publishing the Letter to the King, No. XXXV., for the par- ticulars of which see the author's Preface, and note appended to it, p. 117. - 'I'he trial referred to is stated more fully in another part of this pubHcation, and alludes to an information filed by the Attorney-General, in consequence of the printer's having pubHshed the leiter of Junius to the King, No. XXXV. The copy cf the information was procured in Hilary tenm, 1770, and the trial took place at Guildhall, June 13th following. The costs to the printer in defending himself, though ultim- ately successful, amounted to about £,110, a somewhat heavy fine for a person not found guilty. 3 The information here referred to, is that noticed in the note to the preceding leiter. -» The letter referred to is XXXVII. 5 Agreed upon at a general meeting of the electors of the city and liberty of Westminster, assembled in Westminster Hall, March 28, 1770, No. 2:., About Ftb. 14, 1770. I HAVE carefully perused the in- formation.=^ It is so loose and ill-drawn, that I am persuaded Mr De Grey could not have had a hand in it. Their inserting the whole, proves they had no strong passages to fix on. I still think it will not be tried. If it should, it is not possible for a jury to find you guilty. No. 21. Saturday, March, 17, 1770. To-morrow before twelve you shall have a Junius, it will be absolutely necessary that it should be published on Monday. Would it be possible to give notice of it to-night or to-morrow, by a dispersing a few hand-bills? Pray do whatever you think will answer this purpose best, for now is the crisis.'* C. No. 22. Sunday, March 18, 1770. This letter is written wide, and I suppose will not fill t\vo columns. For God's sake let it appear to-morrow. I hope you received my note of yesterday. Lord Chatham is determined to go to the Hall to support the Westminster remon- strance.^ I have no doubt that we shall conquer them at last. C. in consequence of their petition to his Majesty, requesting him to dissolve the Parliament which had expelled Mr Wilkes, having been rejected. The following is a copy of the remonstrance : — ' The humble address, remonstrance, and petition of the electors of the city and liberty of West- minster, assembled in Westminster Hall the 28th day of March, 1770. 'We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the electors of the city and liberty of Westminster, having already presented our humble, but ineffectual, application to the throne, find ourselves, by the misconduct of your INIajesty's ministers, in confederacy with many of our representatives, reduced to the necessity of again breaking in by our complaints upon your 70 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. No. 23. (Private) Friday Morn. Oct . 19, 1770. By your affected silence, ^ you encourage an idle opinion that I am the Majesty's repose, or of acquiescing under griev- ances so NEW and so kxorbitant, that none but those %vho patiently submit to them, can deserve to suffer them. ' By the same sfcrct 2i\\A iinhaj>py influence to which all our grievances have been originally owing, the redress of those grievances has been now prevented ; and the grievances themselves have been repeatedly confirmed ; with this ad- ditional circumstance of aggravation, that while the invaders of our rights remain the directors of your Majesty's coimcils, the defenders of those rights have been dismissed from your Ma- jesty's service — your Majesty having been ad- vised by your ministers to remove from his employment for his vote in Parliament, the highest officer of the law ; because his principles suited ill with theirs, and his pure distribution of justice with their corrupt administration of it in the House of Commons. ' We beg leave, therefore, again to represent to your iNlajesty, that the House of Commons have struck at the most valuable liberties and franchises of all the electors of Great Britain ; and by assuming to themselves a right of chus- ing, instead of receiving a member when chosen, by transferring to the representative what be- longed to the constituent, they have taken off from the dignity, and, we fear, impaired the authority of P?r'.:wment itself. ' We presume again therefore humbly to im- plore from your Majesty, the only remedies which are any way proportioned to the nature of the evil : that you would be graciously pleased to dismiss for ever from your councils, those min- isters who are ill-suited by their dispositions to preserve the principles of a free, or by their capacities to direct the councils of a great and mighty kingdom ; and that by speedily dissolv- ing the present Parliament, your Majesty will show, by your own example, and by their dis- solution, that the rights of your people are to be inviolable, and that you will never necessitate so many injured, and, by such treatment, exasper- ated subjects to continue to commit the care of their interests to those from whom they must withdraw their confidence ; to repose their in- valuable privileges in the hands of those who have sacrificed them ; and their trust in those who have betrayed it. ' Your subjects look up with satisfaction to the powers which the constitution has vested in your Majesty — for it is upon them that they have placed their last dependance, and they trust, that the right of dissolving Parliaments, which has, under former princes, so often answered the pur- poses of power, may under your Majesty prove an happy instrument of liberty. author of the Whig,'^ Sec, well know the contrary, the writer nor his idol, soon set this matter rifrht. though you very I neither admire I hope you will C. ' We find ourselves compelled to urge with the greater importunity, this our humble but earnest application to the throne, as every day seems to produce the confirmation of some old, or to threaten the introduction of some new injury. — We have the strongest reason to appre- hend that the usurpation begim bj' the House of Commons upon the right of electing, may be e,\- tended to the right of petitioning ; and that under the pretence of restraining the abuse of this right, it is meant to bring into disrepute, and to intimi- date us from the exercise of the right itself. ' But whatever may be the purposes of others, your Majesty hath, in your answer to the city of London, most graciously declared, i/iai yoic are nliuays ivndy to receive the jvqjiests, and to listen to the complaints of your subjects. Your Ma- jesty condescends likewise to esteem it a duty to secure to them the free enjoyment of tJiose rights luhich your family were called to dtfetid. 'We rely, therefore, upon the Royal word thus given, that our grievances will meet with full redress, and our complaints with the most favourable interpretation — that your Majesty will never consider the arraignmentof your ministers as a disrespect to your person ; a charge confined, by the very terms of it, to this House of Com- mons, as injurious to Parliament at large (the constitution of which we admire, and the abuse of which is the very thing we lamenty ; or a re- quest for the dissolution of Parliament, which 3'our subjects have a right to make, and your Majesty to grant, as irreconcileable to tiie prin- ciples of the constitution.' ' ' The printer really did not affect a silence on a CERT.\ix OCCASION, with a view of encour- aging his readers or correspondents in an idle opinion : the motives for his conduct were, the fear of being thought impertinent by declaring (without direction) what he knew ; and the pro- bability of rendering himself liable to incur the displeasure of either of those who were pleased to favour him with their correspondence.' — An- swer to Correspondents, Oct. 25, 1770. ^ This letter was printed in the Public Ad- vertiser under the signature of a Whig and an Englishman, Oct. 11, 1770, and refers chiefly to the American .Stamp Act, and the opinion of lord Chatham, whom the author panegyrized in very warm terms. The same writer had already pub- lished several other letters in the same name : and the printer, in compliance with the request of Junius, gave the following notice : — ' October 20. 'The printer thinks it his duty to declare, that the Letters which have appeared in this paper under the signature of a Whig and an English- man, were not written by the author of those signed Junius.' TO MR H. S. W'OODFALL. No. 24. Sir, Monday Evenings Nov. 12, 1770. The enclosed, 1 though begun within these few days, has been greatly laboured. It is very correctly copied, and I beg you will take care that it be literally printed as it stands. I don't think you run the least risque. We have got the rascal down, let us strangle him if it be possible. This paper should properly have appeared to-morrow, but I could not compass it, so let it be announced to-morrow, and printed Wednesday. If you should have any fears, I entreat you to send it early enough to Miller, to appear to-morrow night in the London Evening Post. In that case, you will oblige me by informing the Public to- morrov.', in your own paper, that a real Junius will appear at night in the Lon- don. — Miller, I am sure, will have no scruples. Lord Mansfield has thrown ministry into confusion, by suddenly resigning the office of Speaker of the House of Lords. No. 25. Widnesday Night, Nov. 21, 1770.- I SHALL be very glad to hear from your friend at Guildhall. — You may, if you think proper, give my compliments to him, and tell him, if it be possible, I will make use of any materials he gives me. I will never rest till I have destroyed or ex- pelled that wretch, — I wish you joy of yesterday. — The fellow truckles already. ^ C. * Letter XLI. Jlnils to the Right Hon. Lord Mansfield. -' On the outside of this note was written, 'the enclosed strikes deeper than you may imagine. C The Letter here referred to, is printed in the Miscellaneous Collection, No. LXXVIII., and is subscribed Testicnhis. 3 In allusion to the unanimous judgment of the Court of King's Bench, on the verdict for printing the Letter to the King, given Nov. 20th, 1770 ; by which lord Mansfield lost his object, .ind the printer was granted a new trial. i •♦ The paper here referred to, is Miscellaneous ' Letter, No. LXXIX., signed Doinitian, and was printed as requested. 5 The allusion is to a communication between 1 No. 26. Friday, i o'clock, Dec. 7, 1770. I WISH it were possible for you to print the enclosed to-morrow.^— Observe the Italics strictly where they are marked. Why don't I hear from Guildhall.— If he trifles with me, he shall hear of it.^ C. No. 27. Sir, January 2, 1771. I HAVE received your mysterious epistle. I dare say a letter may safely be left at the same place ; but you may change the direction to Mr John Freth'. You need not advertise it. Yours, No. 28. Jan. 16, 1771. You may assure the Public that a squadron of four ships of the line is ordered to be got ready with all possible expedition for the East Indies. It is to be commanded by Commodore Spry. Without regarding the language of ignorant or interested people, depend upon the assurance / give you, that every man in administration looks upon war as inevitable.^ No. 29. Thursday, Jan. 31, 177T. The paper is extremely well the writer and Mr Wilkes, which had been pro- mised by the latter, but had not been at this time received. 6 Inserted in the Public Advertiser, J.muary 17, nearly in the same words. The predicted war, however, did not follow, but the prepara- tion was actually made in the full belief, on the part of the cabinet themselves, that they would be compelled to go to war, by the existing temper of the people, irritated by t.he dishonour- able negotiation concerning the Spanish seizure of Falkland Islands, and that they should be ac- cused of indolence, and even cowardice, by the approaching Parliament. The session opened only four days aftenv£.-di, and the question of hostilities was so much upon a balance, that in the Lower House not fewer than 159 members divided against the minister, upon the address of thanks and approbation. 72 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. printed, and has a great effect. i— It is of the utmost importance to the pubhc cause that the doors of the House of Lords should be opened on Tuesday next. Per- haps the following may help to shame them into it. We hear that the ministry intend to move for opening the doors of both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday next, in the usual manner, being desirous that the na- tion should be exactly informed of their whole conduct in the business of Falkland Island. (Next Day.) The nation expect, that on Tuesday next at least, both Houses will be open as usual ; otherwise there will be too much reason to suspect, that the proceedings of tlie ministr>' have been such as will not bear a public discussion. We hear that the ministry intend to move, that no gentleman may be refused admittance into either House on Tuesday next. Lord North in particular thinks it touches his character, to have no part of his conduct concealed from the nation. The resolution of the ministry to move for opening both Houses on Tuesday next does them great honour. If they were to do otherwise, it would raise and justify sus- picions very disadvantageous to their oa\ n reputation, and to iho king's honour. Pray ksep it up. C. No. 30. Sir, Tuesday Noon, Feb. 5, 1771. \ "^f.T not receive your letter ' li refers to Letter XLII. For the nature CI the subject alluded to, see the Letter, and the notes subjoined to it ; as also Miscella- neous Letter, No. LXXXVIII., and the note in explanation. - In reference to a note from the Attorney- General for publishing Letter of JuNii's, No. XLII., but whish was never farther proceeded upon. 3 This note accompanied No. XC. of the Mis- cellaneous Letters. The printer had some scruples about publishing the whole of it ; and in the Public Advertiser of Feb. 20, gave the usual mark, ' A Letter,' that a private letter was in waiting upon this subject. In consequence of until this day. I shall be very glad to hear what you have to communicate. C. You need not advertise anv notice. No. 3 I . (Private) Moid ay, Feb. 11, 1771. Our correspondence is attended with difficulties. Yet I should be glad to see the paper you mention. Let it be left to-morrow without farther votlce. I am seriously of opinion that it will all end in smoke.- . C. No. 32. Monday, Feb. 18, 1771. It you are not grown too minis- terial in your politics, I shall hope to see the enclosed announced to-morrow, and published on Wednesday.*^ No. 33. SiK, Feb. 21, 1771. I If will be very difficult, if not im- practicable, for me to get your note. I pre- sume it relates to Vindex.'* I leave it to you which the subsequent note was received, dated Feb. 21. ^ The following is a copy of the letter which Mr Woodfall addressed to the author under the feigned name of Mr John Fretly, and directed it to him at the New Exchange Coffee House, in the Strand. j ' SiK, ' 'To have deserved any portion of your good opinion, affords me no small degree of satisfaction— to preserve it shall be my constant endeavour. Always willing to oblige you as much as lies in \\\y power, I, with great avidity, open your letters ; and sometimes, w ithout reading the contents, promise the publication. — Such i;; my present situation, and 1 hjpe you will not be offended at my declining to publish your letter, as I am convinced the subject of it must, if I was to insert it, render me liable to very severe reprehension, 'i'liat I am not grown too minis- terial in my politics, every day's paper will, I hope, sufficiently evince ; though I rather hope some little regard to prudence will not by you be deemed squeamishness, or tend to lessen me in your opinion, as I shall ever think myself your ' Much obliged humble Servant, ' Feb. 19, 1 77 1. ' Hexkv Sampson' Woodfai.l. TO MR H. S. WOODFALI. to alter or omit as you think proper ;— or burn it. — I think the argument about Gibraltar,! Szc, is too good to be lost. As to the satirical part, I must tell you (and with positive certainty), that our gracious is as callous as stockfish to every thing but the reproach of cinoardice. That alone is able to set the humours afloat. After a paper of that kind he won't eat meat for a W'eek.2 You may rely upon it, the ministry are sick of prosecutions. Those against Junius cost the Treasury above six thousand pounds, and after all they got nothing but disgrace. After the paper you have printed to-day (signed Brutus) ^ one would think you feared nothing. For my own part I ' P. S. I shall wait your directions what to do with the paper in question, as I did not chase to trust it under cover till I was further acquainted with your pleasure.' * For the explanation of this passage, see Miscellaneous Letter, No. XC, signed VinJex. ^ See p. 235, note '. 3 This letter was addressed to lord North, and as it is short, it is here transcribed, in proof that Ji'NiL'S was not severe in his opinion of it, nor sin^ilarly acrimonious in the phraseology origin- ally adopted by himself. TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD NORTH. My Lord, I never address your Lordship but I feel the utmost horror and indignation ; for I consider you as a man totally regardless of your own honour, and the welfare of your country. The severity of a writer cannot be supposed to give your Lordship any uneasiness ; a minister, whose schemes extend only to the exigencies of a year, but little regards his present or future reputation ; j-et it is a duty we owe to the public to trace out and expose the villain wherever we can perceive him working up the ruin of his country. The choice of your friends is an eminent Indi- cation of your abilities and the blackness of your heart. Nam guiatnq ; inipudiais, adulter, gaueo, alea, inayni, ventre, bona patria laceravit, qtti- qiie alicmini as grafide conjlavit, immediately flies into your arms, and reimburses himself with the plunder of his country. Such are the guardians of our liberties and law : such are the men to whom our constitution is entrusted : and cannot we then without any particular discernment, or any remarkable acute- ness ef observation, trace out the origin of our present discontents ? ' It would be needless to follow you through that maze of /illany, in which you have long delighted to wander ; I shall only attack those can very truly assure you that nothing would afflict me more than to have drawn you into a personal danger, because it admits of no recompence. A little expense is not to be regarded, and I hope these papers have re- imbursed you. I never will send you any thing that / think dangerous, but the risque-^ is yours, and you must determine for yourself. C. All the above is private. No. 34. Friday Xooii, April ig, 177 1. I HOPE you will approve of an- measures which occur to our more immediate consideration. In what manner can you answer to your king for the scandalous prostitution of his crown and himself? In what manner can you answer to your country for the total disregard of its welfare and dignity ? After all these formidable preparations ; after all this expensive armament, you have made shift to patch up a temporary ignominious com- promise, at the trifling expense of about three millions, and the British honour. You imagine yourself sufficiently secured In the pursuit of your infamous intentions, and in the practice of every illegal and unconstitutional measure, by the countenance of the king. Rely not too much on that protection. His Majesty must not be suffered, through a blind and ridi- culous attachment to an individual, or through a filial obedience, which then becomes criminal, to ruin and subvert his infatuated kingdoms. Your late acquisition of lord Suffolk will not do you much honour ; he is of the same stamp with the rest of your adherents. His Lordship has given the world a very strong impression of his character, and the disposition of his heart, by deserting his principal, and the cause in which he originally embarked, and by betraying that friendship, which in the more early and virtuous time of his life he had contracted. His former party need not regret the loss of him, for they are by his desertion disencumbered of a . But I will now leave you, my Lord, to that mature insensibility which is only to be acquired by a steady perseverance in infamy. Every principle of conscience you have long ago been hardy enough to discard. There has not been an action in the last two years of your life but what separately deserves imprisonment. The time may come ; and remember, my Lord, there is a very short period between a minister's imprisonment and his grave. Brutus. _ 4 This peculiarity of spelling the word risk, is the author's. 74 I'Riv.vrr: letters of juxius. nouncingthe enclosed J uxi US to-morrow,^ and publishing it on Monday. If, for any reasons that do not occur to me, you should think it unadviseable to print it as it stands, I must entreat the favour of you to transmit it to Bingley,^ and satisfy him that it is a real Junius, worth a North Briton Extra- ordinary. It will be impossible for me to have an opportunity of altering any part of it. I am, very truly, your friend, C. No. 35. Thursday, June 20, 1771. I AM strangely partial to the en- closed.' It is finished with the utmost care. If I find myself mistaken in my judgment of this paper, I positively will never write again. ^ Let it be announced to-morrow, Juxius to the duke of Grafton for Saturday. I think Wilkes has closed well. I hope he will keep his resolution not to write any Mr Home. I presume you know where he is to be found.'"' C. No. z^. July 16, 1771. To prevent any unfair use being made of the enclosed, I entreat you to keep a copy of it. Then seal and deliver it to * Letter XLIV., which was printed as re- quested. ^ The printer of the North P.riton. 3 Letter XLIX., to the duke of Grafton. 4 In allusion to the dispute between Mr Wilkes and Mr Home, conducted with great acrimony, till the former resolved, as here ad- vised, not to answer after a definite period any additional letters, in consequence of the total occupation of his time in his canvass for the office of Sheriff of London, for which he was then a candidate, and to which situation he ultimately suc:eeded. The following is the conclusion of the letter here spoken of, which was, of cours-i; addressed to Mr Home. ' Whether you proceed, Sir, to a thirteenth, or a thirtieth letter, is to me a matter of the most entire indifference. You will no longer have mc your correspondent. All the efforts of your malice and rancour cannot give me a moment's disquietude. They will only torment your own breast. I am wholly indifferent about your sentiments of me, happy in the favourable No. 37. August 13, 1771. Pray make an erratum fo"" ulti- mate in the paragraph about the duke of Grafton, it should be intimate. The rest is very correct.*^ If I^Ir Home answers this better handsomely ar.d in point, he shall be my great Apollo. No. 38. Wednesday Noon, Sept. 25, 1771. The enclosed is of such import- ance, so very material, that it 7««j/begiven to the public immediately.^ I will not advise ; — though I think you perfectly safe :— all I say is that / rely upon your care to have it printed either to-morrow in your own paper, or to-night in the Pac- quet. I have not been able to get yours from that place, but you shall hear from me soon. No. 39. About Nov. 5, 177 1. VOUR reasons are very just about printing the Preface, &c. It is your own opinion of many valuable friends, in the most honourable connexions, both public and private, and in the prospect of rendering myself eminently useful to my country. Formerly in exile, when I was urbe patriaque exio7-ris, and torn from every sacred tie of friendship, I have moistened my bread with my tears. The rest of my life I hope to enjoy my morsel at home in peace and cheerfulness, among those I love and honour, far from the malignant eye of the false friend and the insidious hypocrite. ' I am. Sir, ' Your humble ser\'ant, ' John Wilkes.' 5 Note enclosing JuNius's Letter to the Rev. Mr Home, No. LI I. 6 Letter LIV. This letter appeared on the ' 13th of August, 1771, though in the authorV ' edition it is by mistake dated the 15th. ^ The Letter referred to is No. LVIL, and v.ss printed in the Public Advertiser, Saturday, Sept. 28th, 1771. ^/^/^2yr;6^J^^ ;v© #- TUa^y. L Jl^<^trK~i LoAt? , -£^c i:Um ■/0ucA- 4e^ m-€r?-es> tuut/^t-m^ -ifHuf^ fh-Thc^ /^4aJ^ . r> TO MR H. S. WOODFALT.. affair. Do whatever you think proper. I am convinced the book will sell, and I sup- pose will make two volumes, — the type might be one size larger than Wheble's.^ But of all this you are the best judge. I think you should give money to the waiters at that place to make them more attentive. ^ The notes should be in a smaller type. Pray find out, if you can, upon what day the late duke of Bedford was flogged on the course at Litchfield by Mr Heston Homphrcy.* No. 40. Friday, Nov. 8, 1771. The above to that Scotchman should be printed conspicuously to-mor- row.'* At last I have concluded my great work, and I assure you with no small labour. I would have you begin to adver- tise immediately, and publish before the meeting of parliament. Let all my papers in defence of Junius be inserted."' I shall now supply you very fast with copy and notes. The paper and type should at least be as good as Wheble's. You must correct the press yourself, but I should be glad to * The present respectable proprietor and pub- lisher of the County Chronicle, who took a con- spicuous part in the dispute with the House of Commons respecting the publication of their de- bates, for an account of which, see p. 471, note. ^ A coftee-house at which letters, &.c., were left for Jlnils. 3 See Letter XXIII., p. 190, note. 4 See Letter LXVI. 5 The Letters signed Philo yiiniiis: those numbered LXIII. and LXIV. and the extracts from the Letters to the Supporters of the Bill of Rights. 6 Garrick had received a letter from Woodfall just before the above note of Junius was sent to the printer, in which Garrick was told, in confid- ence, that there were some doubts whether Junius would continue to write much longer. Garrick flew with the intelligence to Mr Ramus, one of the pages to the king, who immediately conveyed it to his Majesty, at that time residing at Richmond, and from the peculiar sources of information that were open to this extraordinary writer, Junius was apprized of the whole trans- action on the ensuing morning, and wrote the above postscript, and the letter that follows it, in consequence. 7 Mr Garrick had, before this period, been threatened for his supposed political bias to the court, as will appear from a charge which Mr see corrected proofs of the two first sheets. Show the Dedication and Preface to Mr Wilkes, and if he has any material objec- tion, let me know. I say w^/*^;'/!?/ because of the difficultv of getting your letters. C. (Secret^ Beware of David Garrick. ^ He was sent to pump you, and went directly to Rich- mond to tell the king I should write no more. The Dedication must stand first. No. 41. TO MR D.WID GARRICK. Nov. 10, 1 77 1. I AM very exactly informed of your impertinent inquiries, and of the informa- tion you so busily sent to Richmond, and with what triumph and exultation it was received. I knew every particular of it the ne.xt day. — Now mark me, vagabond. — Keep to your pantomimes, or be assured you shall hear of it. Meddle no more, thou busy informer ! — It is in my power to make you curse the hour in which you dared to interfere with JUNIUS,'' Home brought forward against Mr Wilkes, during the personal altercation which took place between them in the months of May and June preceding the date of this letter, and which is more particularly noticed in the note to Letter LI I., p. 279. ilr Home's accusation is as fol- lows : — 'Whilst Mr Wilkes was in the King's Bench, he sent a threatening message to Mr Garrick to forbid his playing the part of Hastings in the tragedy of Jane Shore; on account of some lines in that play which Air Wilkes thought ap- plicable to his own situation. Mr Garrick com- plained exceedingly of the cruelty of such an interdict, and wished to be permitted to proceed in his endeavours to please the public in the common course of his profession. The patriot was inexorable ; and Mr Garrick has not appear- ed in that character since. The Lord Cham- berlain's control by Act of Parliament over the pleasures of the public is exercised only over new plays.' I'o this charge Mr Wilkes replied as follows, offering several justly merited compliments to the hitherto unrivalled genius of Mr Garrick. 'TO THE REV. MR HORNE. ' Sir, Prince's Court, Thursday, Juyie 6, 1771. ' YowTfiinth Letter has relieved me not a little by taking me to the theatre, and recalling 76 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. I would send the above to Garrick di- rectjy, but that I would avoid having this hand too commonly seen. Oblige me, than, so much as to have it copied in any hand, and sent by the penny post, that is, if you disUke sending it in your own writing. — I must be more cautious than ever. I am surs I should not survive a dis- covery three days ; or, if I did, they would attaint me by bill. Change to the Somer- set Coffee-house, and let no mortal know the alteration. I am persuaded you are too honest a man to contribute in any way to to my delighted remembrance the amazing powers both of nature and art in the most won- derful genius that ever trod the English, or per- haps any stage, for his rival, Roscius, had a gieat defect, erat pcrversissimis oculis. You say ' whilst Mr Wilkes was in the King's Bench,' &c. The whole of this pompous tale is, that some warm friends of Mr Wilkes imagined that Mr Garrick acted the part of Hastings at that time in a manner very different from what he had usually done, and marked too strongly some particular passages, unfavourable to the generous principles, and to the friends, of freedom. They talked of expressing their disapprobation in the theatre, at the ne.xt representation of Jane Shore, and likewise in the public prints. Mr Wilkes therefore thought it prudent to state the case by two or three gentlemen to Mr Garrick himself, and said, he feared the part of Hastings might bring on many disagreeable consequences to the great actor himself as well as to Mr Wilkes and his connexions, if continued in the manner then stated. Mr Garrick received the friendly admo- nition in the most friendly way, but declared that the gentlemen, who had given Mr Wilkes the account oi his a.ciix\g H astiiigs, had greatly mis- taken, that he had not made the least alteration in the usual manner of acting that part on ac- count of the political disputes of the times, but been solely guided by his own feelings : that he always had acted that part, and always should play it in the same manner, not however slavishly copying himself, but with all the variety which from time to time his genius might dictate, pre- serving still the cast and spirit of the original character. Nothing more passed on this subject between Mr Garrick and me, nor has that gen- tleman ever expressed the slightest displeasure against Mr Wilkes, or his friends ; so far has he been from complaining exceedingly of the cntelty of an interdict, which never existed. ' Did It escape your memory. Sir, that one of the objections made at that time by my friends, was the peculiar emphasis Mr Garrick was said to give to the following lines of Hastings, which some thought applicable to yoitr situation : — III befall Such meddling priests, who kindle up confusion, my destruction. Act honourably by me, and at a proper time you shall know me. I think the second page, with the v.idest lines, looks best. What is your essential reason for the change ? ' I send you some more sheets. — I think tho paper is not so good as Whebles,—\i\xi I may be mis- taken — the type is good. The aspersions thrown upon my letter to the Bill of Rights - should be refuted by publication. Prevail upon Wx Wilkes to let you have e.xtracts of my second and third letters to him. It will make the book still more new. And vex the quiet world with their vain scruples: By heaven 'tis done in perfect spite to peace. " Vousay, ' I think with lialf his {Mr Garrick's) merit I should have had twice his courage." If you mean theatrical merit, I can tell you of some parts, in which you would infinitely exceed our great English actor. I mean all those parts from which — fugiunt Fndor, Vermnqne, Fides- gite. In quorutn subetint locnnt Fraiides, Do- liqne, Insidieeqtie, ^'c. ^r'c. Vou would act, and be I ago with success. Mr Garrick has that in him, which must ever prevent his acting well in that character. You have that in yon, which would make it easy and natural. Shylock too our Roscius must never attempt. The Christian priest of Brentford has no vai)i scruples to pre- vent his undertaking and being applauded in that part. He might then talk o( dying his black coat red ivith blood in an innocent way on the stage, which at Brentford inspired a savage horror. ' The pleasing hours, which Mr Garrick gave me at the King's Bench, I have deducted from the injury of a long and cruel imprisonment, and I think of him as Cicero did of the great Roman Actor, C7i])i artifex ejitsmodi sit, ut solus digm/s vidcatur esse, qui in seen a spectctnr ; turn vir ejusmodi est, ut solus dignus videatur, qui eo 11071 accedat. ' I am, &c., 'JOHN WILKES.' ' In allusion to a specimen of the intended genuine edition of the Letters. ^ In the correspondence which took place between Mr Wilkes and Junius, two of his letters related to the Bill of Rights Society, and were written in disapprobation of several of their measures. These letters were, in many respects, misrepresented to the public, and in his own opinion, purposely so by Mr Home. The ex- planatory extracts here referred to, were re-pub- lished at the close of the second volume of the genuine edition, and will be found at end of Letter LXIX. The letters are given at length in the private correspondence between Junius and Mr Wilkes, Nos. 66 and 70. TO MR H. S. WOODFALL. I would see tliem before they are printed, but keep this last to yourself.^ Nc. 42. Xov. II, 1 77 1. Print trie following as soon as you think proper, and at the head of your paper.' I sent you three sheets of copy last night. When you send to me, instead of the usual signal, say, / ''index shall be consider- ed, and keep the alteration a secret to every- body. No. 43. About Nov. 15, 1771. If you can find the date of the duke of Bedford's flogging, insert it in the note. 5 I think it was soon after the West- minster election. — The Philos are not to be placed as notes, except where I mention it particularly. J have no doubt of what you say about David Garrick — so drop the note. The truth is, that in order to curry favour, he made himself a greater rascal than he was. Depend upon what I tell you ; — the king understood that he had found out the secret by his own cunning and activity. — As it is important to deter him from meddling, I desire you will tell him that I am aware of his practices, and will certainly be revenged, if he does not desist. An appeal to the public from Junius would destroy him. Let me know whether Mr Wilkes will give you the extracts.* I cannot proceed without answers to those seven queries. Think no more of Junius Americanus.' — ' On the outside of this letter was written ' private and particular.' ^ Certain paragraphs relating to the marriage of the late duke of Cumberland, inserted in the Preliminary Essay, p. 12. 3 See note to Letter XXIII., p. 190. * Referred to in the last paragraph of No. 41. 5 Junius Americanus was a frequent writer in the Public Advertiser during the years 1769, 1770, and 1771. His letters chiefly related, as his signature readily suggests, to the disputes of the cabinet with the American colonies ; and, in the course of his strictures, he attributed to Junius Let him reprint his letters himself. He acts most dishonourably, in suffering Ju- nius to be so traduced ; but this falsehood will all revert upon Home. In the mean time, I laugh at him. With submission I think it is not your interest to declare that I have done. As to yourself, I leally think you are in no danger. You are not the object, and punishing j£»« (unless it answered the pur- pose of stopping the press) would be no gratification to the king. If undesignedly I should send you anything you may think dangerous, judge for yourself, or take any opinion you think proper. You cannot offend or afflict me but by hazarding your own safety. They talk of farther informa- tions, but they will always hold that lan- guage in terrorem. Don't always use the same signal— any absurd Latin verse will answer the purpose.^ Let me know about what time you may want more copy. Upon reflection, I think it absolutely necessar)' to send that note to D. G.,' only say practices instead of impertinent in- quiries. I think you have no measures to keep with a man who could betray a con- fidential letter, for so base a purpose as pleasing ***♦******. Tell me how long it may be before you want more copy. — I want rest most severely, and am going to find it in the country for a few days. Cumbriensis ^ has taken greatly. No. 44. Xov. 27, 1 77 1. The postscript to Titus must be omitted.* — I did never question your under- doctrines, in relation to their dependence on the legislature of Great Britain, which he had never avowed, nor even inclined to. At this time there was some idea of publishing them collectively. They were written by a Dr Charles Lee, as may be seen by a reference to the private correspond- ence between Junius and Mr Wilkes, No. 69. 6 See Preliir.iiiarj' Es.say, p. 14. 7 David Garrick. See No. 41. 8 See Miscellaneous Letter, No. CIL It was printed in the Public Advertiser, Nov. 13, 1771, upon the marriage of the late duke of Cumber- land with Mrs Horton, the sister of col. Luttrell. ' His postscript addressed to Titus was added E 78 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. standing. Far oriierwise. The Latin word simplex conveys to me an amiable charac- ter, and never denotes folly. Though we may not be deficient in point of capacity, it is very possible that neither of us may be cunning enough for Mr Garrick. But with a sound heart, be assured you are better gifted, even for worldly happiness, than if you had been cursed with the abilities of a Mansfield. After long experience of the world, I affirm before God, I never knew a rogue who was not unhappy. Your account of my letter to the Bill of Rights astonishes me. I always thought the misrepresentation had been the work of Mr Horne.^ I will not trust myself with suspecting. The remedy is in my own hands, but, for Mr Wilkes's honour, I wish it to come freely and honourably from him- self. Publish nothing of mine until I have seen it. In the mean time be assured, that nothing can be more express, than my de- claration against long parliaments. — Try Mr Wilkes once more. — Speak for me in a most friendly but firt?i tone. — That I will not submit to be any longer aspersed. — Be- tween ourselves let me recommend it to you to be much upon your guard with patriots. — I fear your friend Jerry Dyson will lose his Irish pension.^ Say received. In page 25, it should be the instead of your. 3 This is a woeful mistake ; — pray take care for the future — keep a page for errata. David Garrick has literally forced nie to break my resolution of writing no more.'* to his letter to sir Wm Draper of Feb. 2x, 1769, Letter V. It engaged to give Titus a severe castigation for having written with some degree of acrimony on the same side as the Knight of the Bath. The engagement, however, was not ! fulfilled under his signature of Junius, and hence the propriety of omitting the postscript in ques- , tion in his own edition. See further on this sub- ject, note to Letter IV., in which Titus's letter is inserted. ' He here admits that he was mistaken in the | conjecture that Ifofne had misrepresented the sentiments conveyed in his letters to the Bill of Rights Society. Vet as he published the same ' opinion in his own edition, which is reprinted in Letter LXIX., he must afterwards have had fresh , grounds for re-accrediting it, while in the present ' letter he seems more than half to suspect Wilkes himself. | ^ He feared with reason. Jeremiah Dyson, Esq., was one of the lords of the admiralty, and in Feb. 1770, resigned his seat in favour of our late lamented foreign minister Mr Fox, | upon an Irish pension of ;{^i5oo per annum for his own life, and that of his three sons. The No. 45. Dec. 5, 1771. These papers are all in their exact order. Take great care to keep them so. In a few days more I shall have sent you all the copy. You must then take care of it yourself, except that I must see proof sheets of the Dedication and Preface, and these, if at all, I must see before the end of next week. You shall have the extract to go into the second volume, it will be a short one. Sccevola, I see, is determined to make me an enemy to lord Camden. ' If it be not wilful malice, I beg you will signify to him, that when I originally mentioned lord Camden's declaration about the Corn Bill, it was without any view of discussing that doctrine, and only as an instance of a singular opinion maintained by a man of great learning and integrity. Such an in- stance was necessary to the plan of my let- ter. I think he has in effect injured the man whom he meant to defend. When you send the above-mentioned proof sheets, return my own copy with them. following is an account of the mode in which he lost it : ' In a committee of supply of the House of Commons of Ireland, Nov. 25, 1771, after a long debate the question was put, and, on a division, it was carried against the pension, by a majority of one, the numbers being for it 105, against it 106 ; on which the House immediately resolved, "That the pension granted to Jeremiah Dyson, Esq., and his three sons, is an unnecessary charge upon the establishment of Ireland, and ought not to be provided for." Ordered, " That the said pension be struck off the list of pension- ers upon the establishment of Ireland." For the late Mr Flood's speech upon this subject, see Preliminary Essay, p. 52. 3 In the opening of Letter III., it was origin- ally printed in the genuine edition, ' Your de- fence,' &c. In the present edition the correction has been duly adopted. 4 The letter alluded to is LXVII. 5 For further particulars of his dispute, see Letter LX. TO MR H. S. WOODFALL. 79 No. 46. Dec. 10, 1771. The enclosed completes all the materials that I can give you. I have done iny part. Take care you do yours. There are still two letters wanting, which / expect you will not fail to insert in their places. One is from Philo Junius to Scaevola about lord Camden, the other to a Friend of the People about pressing. ^ They must be in the course of October. — I have no view but to serve you, and consequently have only to desire that the Dedication and Preface may be correct. Look to it. If you take it upon yourself, I will not forgive your suffer- ing it to be spoiled. I weigh every word ; and every alteration, in my eyes at least, is a blemish. I should not trouble you or myself about that blockhead Scaevola, but that his absurd fiction of my being lord Camden's enemy has done harm. — Every fool can do mis- chief ; therefore signify to him what I said. ^ These two letters are numbered Philo Junius, LX. andLXII. * The allusion is to a cause which was tried at the Summer Assizes for the County of Surry, in 1771, Meares and Shepley against Ansell, for a trespass, in which his Lordship was supposed to have given a very partial charge in favour of the Defendant, who thereby obtained a verdict. The PlaintiflTs, however, on the Michaelmas Term following, moved the Court of Common Pleas for a new trial, on the ground of the mis- direction of the judge. The judge was called upon for his report, which he could not make without sending to the Plaintifts' attorney for his affidavit of the transaction. — He made his report at last, to which he subjoined that he was per- fectly satisfied with the verdict of the jury. — The Court of Common Pleas was clearly of opinion, that Lord Mansfield had acted contrary to every principle of evidence both in law and equity, in admitting Matthews and Hiscox to give parol evidence, contrary to a clear explicit agreement in writing, which they had attested — and asserted that, if such a practice was to ob- tain, it would go a great way towards subverting the Statute of Frauds and Perjuries, and would be a most dangerous inlet to perjurj', and a means of rendering men's properties very pre- carious and insecure. The Court therefore set aside the verdict, and ordered a new trial ; and it appeared to the Court to be so gross a mis- direction, that it dispensed with the usual terms of payment of costs. Although lord Mansfield, in his direction to the jury, represented the tres- Garrick has certainly betrayed himself, probably ******* *, who makes it a rule to betray everybody that confides in him. That new disgrace of Mansfield is true : - what do you mean by affirming that the Dowager is better? I tell you she suckles toads from morning till night. 3 I think I have now done r.y duty by you, so farewel. No. 47. Dec. 17, 1 77 1. M.\KE your mind easy about me. I believe you are an honest man, and I never am angry.* — Say to-morrow ' We are desired to inform Scaevola, that his private note was received with the most profound indifference and contempt." ^ I see his de- sign. The duke of Grafton has been long labouring to detach Camden. This Scas- vola is the wretchedest of all fools, and dirty knave. Upon no account, nor for any reason passes as small and insignificant, and the action as litigious, the Court of Common Pleas said the trespasses were obstinate, wilful, and mali- cious. Mr Rowlinson, the PlaintiflTs' attorney, felt so dissatisfied with the conduct of lord Mansfield upon the occasion, that in the same term a motion was made at his instigation, to have his name struck off the Rolls of the Couit of King's Bench, which, as a motion of course, was ac- quiesced in, when he was immediately admitted into the Common Pleas. 3 He refers to the following paragraph, whic"?. appeared in the Public Advertiser, Dec. 6, 1771 :— ' We have the pleasure to assure the public, from the most undoubted authority, that the repeated accounts of her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales being very ill, and her life in great danger, are entirely false, such reports being only calculated to promote the shameful spirit of gambling, by insurance on lives.' The Princess Dowager was at this time afflicted with a cancer, and died on eke 8th of January in the following year. 4 He had received a note from Mr Woodfall, vindicating himself from any improper motive in his communication to Mr Garrick, which has been already referred to. 5 The information to Scavola was duly com- municated in the Public Advertiser: and the flippancy of this writer's style, and the coquetry of his political attachments, fully merited the contempt here expressed for him. E 2 8o PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. wliatsoever are you to write to me, until I give you notice. Wlien the book is finished, let me have a set bound in vellum, gilt, and lettered Junius i. 2. as handsomely as you can — "the edges gilt. Let the sheets be well dried before binding. — I must also have two sets in blue paper covers. This is all the fee I shall ever desire of you. I think you ought not to publish before the second week in January. The London Packet is not worth our notice. I suspect Garrick, and I would have you hint so to him. No. 48. 6 January, 1772. I HAVE a thing to mention to you in great confidence. I expect your assist- ance, and rely upon your secrecy. There is a long paper ready for publica- tion, but which must not appear until the morning of the meeting of parliament, nor be announced in any shape whatsoever.^ Much depends upon its appearing unex- pectedly. If you receive it on the 8th or 9th instant, can you in a day or two have * it composed, and two proof sheets struck off and sent me ; and can you keep the press standing ready for the Public Adver- tiser of the 2ist, and can all this be done with such secrecy that none of your people shall know what is going forward, except the composer, and can you rely on his fidelity? Consider of it, and, if it be pos- silile, say YES, in your paper to-morrow. I think it will take four full columns at the least, but I undertake that it shall sell. — It is essential that I should have a proof sheet, and correct it myself. Let me know if the books are ready that I may tell you what to do with them. proofs, as you engaged to do, disappoints and distresses me extremeJ}'.^ . It is not merely to correct the press {though even that is of consequence), but for another most material purpose.'^ This will be en- tirely defeated, if you do not let me have the two proofs on Monday morning. The paper itself, is, in my opinion, of the highest style of Junius, and cannot fail to sell.— My reason for not announcing it was that the party might have no time to con- cert his measures with the ministry. But, upon reflection, I think it may answer better (in order to excite attention) to ad- vertise it the day before, Junius to lord chief justice Matisjield to-morrow. Quoting from memory, I have made a mistake about Blackstone, where I say that he confines the power to the Court, and docs not extend it to the Judges separately. Those lines must be omitted. — Tlie rest is right. — If you have any regard for me, or for the cause, let nothing hinder your send- ing the proofs on Monday. No. 49. Saturday, January 11, 1772. Your failing to send me the ' Letter to Lord Mansfield. Letter LXVIIL 'Of Letter LXVIIL referred to in the pre- ceding letter. No. 50. Jamiary 16, 1772. I RETURN you the proof, with the errata, which you will be so good as to correct carefully. I have the greatest reason to be pleased with your care and attention, and wish it were in my power to render you some essential service. — An- nounce it on Monday. No. 51. (Private) Saturday, Jan. 18, 1772. The gentleman^ who transacts the conveyancing part of our correspondence tells me there was much difficulty last night. For this reason, and because it could be no way material for me to see a paper on Saturday which is to appear on Monday, I 3 He seems to allude to a promise, or expect- ation, of legal assistance from some friendly quarter. * Of this gentlac-aa nothing is known. TO MR H. S. WOODFALL. 8i had resolved not to send for it. — Your hint of this morning, I suppose, relates to this.i — I am truly concerned to see that the pub- hcation of the book is so long delayed. — It ought to have appeared before the meeting of parliament. — By no means would I have you insert this long letter, if it made more than the difference of two days in the pub- lication. Believe me the delay is a real in- jury to the cause. The letter to M.2 may come into a new edition. Mr Wilkes seems not to know that Morris published that letter. ^ — I think you should set him right. i\o. 52. January 25, 1772. H.WING nothing better to do, I propose to entertain myself and the public with torturing that * « * « * ***** Barrington. He has just appointed a French broker his deputy, for no reason but his relation to Bradshaw.-* I hear from all quarters, that it is looked upon as a most impudent insult to the army. — Be ^ ' Miitare necessarium est.'' Answer to cor- respondents, Jan. 18th, 177.-?. ^ Letter LXVIII. 3 Mr Robert Morris was a barrister, who took a very active part in the city disputes, and on the popular side, and was secretary to the Bill of Rights' Society. For a further account of him, see note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. XCIIL, p. 475. He occasionally wrote in the P. A. The publication of the letter alluded to, Wilkes had attributed to a Mr L'a'vdron. See Private Letter, No. 82. * Mr Chanii-r, bndher-in-law to Bradshaw, the duke of Grafton's private secretary, here, and elsewhere, so slightingly mentioned by Junius, is thus undervalued solely as a mode of attacking lord Barrington. He was nut a mere broker in the Alley, preferred only for the chicanery which may be learned there. We are told by Sir John Hawkins, in his entertaining life of Johnson, that Mr Chamier was selected by the sage as one of the original nine compos- ing his club at the Turk's Head in Gerard Street. ' He was descended from a French refugee family. Having had a liberal education, his deportment and manner of transacting the busi- ness of a stock-broker, distinguished him greatly from most others of that calling. He was well skilled in the modern languages, particularly the Spanish, in the study whereof he took great delight. He had acquired such a fortune as careful not to have it known to come from me. Such an insignificant creature is not worth the generous rage of Junius. I am impatient for the book. No. SZ- Mcnday, Feb. 3, 1772. I CONFESS I do not see the tise of the table of contents. I think it will be endless and answer no purpose ; — An index of proper names and materials would in my opinion be sufficient. — You may safely defy the malice of Mr Wheble.5 Whoever buys such a book will naturally prefer the Au- thor's Edition, and I think it will always be a book for sale. I really am in no hurry about that set. Purling, I hear, is to come in for Eastlow. — A sure proof of the con- nexion between him and government.^ I would have you open any thing that may be brought to you for me (except from Mr Wilkes)— and not forward it unless it be material. That large roll contained a Pamphlet. enabled him, though young, to quit business, and become, what indeed he seemed by nature intended for, a gentleman. This club was insti- tuted in 1763. Mr DvEK, upon his return from Germany, where he had been a commissary with the army, was allowed to become the tenth member. Per- haps it may not be unimportant to show that thus Mr Chamier was well known to Mr Burke and to Mr Dyer, at the time when Junius began to write, and was an esteemed member of the club, of which they were distinguished ornaments. The reader, even in a political work, may not be displeased to see the names recorded of men, who thus met for social objects, and among whom politics never intruded. Dr Johnson, Sir John Ha.vkins, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr Topham Beauclerk, Mr Edmund Burke, Ber.net Langton, Christ. Nugent, M.D. Anthony Chamier, Oliver Goldsinith, M.B. Samuel Dyer. 5 Wheble had already reprinted an imperfect edition of the Letters of Junius, but certainly without any intention of injuring the original publisher of them. The word malice, as applied to Mr Wheble, merely meant rivalry. See Priv. Lett No. ^6. 6 John Purling, Esq., one of the directors of the East India Company, who took a very active part in their affairs, at that period. g? PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. No. 54. Monday, Feb. 10, 1772. If you have any thing to commu- nicate, you may send it to the original place for once N.E.C.— and mention any new place you think proper, West of Temple Bar. The delay of the book spoils every thing. No. ^5. Monday Night, Feb. 17, 1772. Surely you have misjudged it ver)^ much about the book. I could not have conceived it possible that you could protract the publication so long. — At this time, particularly before Mr Sawbridge's motion, 1 it would have been of singular use. You have trifled too long with the public expectation. — At a certain point of time the appetite palls. — I fear you have already lost the season. — The book, I am sure, will lose the greatest part of the effect I expected from it. — But I have done. No. s^- About Feb. 22, 1772. I DO you the justice to believe that the delay has been unavoidable. The expedient you propose of printing the Dedi- cation and Preface in the P. A. is unadvis- able. The attention of the public would then be quite lost to the book itself. I think your rivals will be disappointed. Nobody will apply to them when they can be sup- plied at the fountain head. I hope you are too forward to have any room for that letter of Domitian,^ otherwise it is merely indifferent. The Latin I thought much superior to the English. — The intended bill, in consequence of the message, will be a most dangerous innovation in the in- ternal policy of this country. 3— What an abandoned prostituted idiot is your lord mayor.'* The shameful mismanagement which brought him into office, gave me the first and an unconquerable disgust. — All I can now say is make haste with the book. — C. The appointment of this broker ■' I am told gives universal disgust. That * * ****** * * * *6 would never have taken a step apparently so ab- surd, if there were not some wicked design in it, more than we are aware of. At any rate the broker should be run down. That at least is due to his master. ^ In favour of triennial parliaments, as already noticed in a note to the Preliminary Disserta- tion. * This letter, fo"- the reason here stated, was not printed in th*- genuine edition. 3 The bill here spoken of is the Royal Mar- riage Act. ^ In allusion to the partial and impolitic con- duct of JMr Nash, at this time lord mayor, upon the common questions of city politvcs brought No. 57. Saturday, 29, Feb. 1772. I AM very glad to see that the book will be out before Sawbridge's mo- tion. There is no occasion for a mark of admiration at the end of the motto. But it is of no moment whatsoever. When you see Mr W. pray return him my thanks for the trouble he has taken. I wish he had taken more.'' — I should be glad to have a set, sewed, left at the same place to-morrow evening. Let it be well sealed up. C. No. 58. Tuesday, March 3, 1772. Your letter was twice refused last night, and the waiter as often attempted to see the person who sent for it. — I was im- patient to see the book, and think I had a right to that attention a little before the general publication.' When I desired to have two sets sewed, and one bound in before him, especially in refusing to call a com- mon hall, agreeably to a request very generally signified to him for this purpose. S Chamier. 6 Lord Barrington. ^ Mr Wilkes, at the request of Junius, peiused and revised the Dedication and Preface to the genuine edition of the letters. 8 The genuine edition of the letters was pub- lished on the third of March, 1772. TO MR H. S. WOODFALL. 83 vellum, it was not from a principle of oecon- omy. I despise such little savings, and shall still be a purchaser. — If I was to buy as many sets as I want, it would be re- marked. Pray let the hco sets be well parcelled up and left at the bar of Munday's Coffee- house, Maiden Lane, with the same direc- tion, and with orders to be delivered to a chairman who will ask for them in the course of to-morrow evening. Farewel. No. 59. Thursday, Mcrch 5, 1772. Your letters with the books are come safe to hand. The difficulty of cor- responding arises from situation and neces- sity, to which we must submit. Be assured I will not give you more trouble than is unavoidable. — If the vellum books are not yet bound, I would wait for the index. If they are, let me know by a hne in the P. A. — When they are ready, they may safely be left at the same place as last night. On your account I was alarmed at the price of the book. — But of the sale of books I am no judge, and can only pray for your success. — What you say about the profits ^ is very handsome. I like to deal with such men. As for myself, be assured that I am far above all pecuniary views, and no other person, I think, has any claim to share with you. Make the most of it therefore, and let all your views in life be directed to a solid, however moderate, independence. Without it no man can be happy, nor even honest. — If I saw any prospect of uniting the city once more, I would readily continue to labour in the vineyard. Whenever Mr Wilkes can tell me that such an union is in prospect, he shall hear of me. I '■ Woodfall made Jt'xius an offer of half the I profits of the book, or if he should decline accept- I ing them for himself, to give a sum of money equal to their amount, to any charity which he should chuse to name. ^ These errors are corrected in the present edition. 3 A line in the printer's notice to correspond- ents, ijitroduced as a signal that a letter, or Qudd si quis existimat me ant voluntatc esse mutata, aut debilitata virtute, aut animo fracto, vehementer errat. Farewel. In the Preface, p. 20, Hne 7, read unrea- sonable ; p. 26, line 18, read accuracy. - No. 60. May 4, 1772. \v pars fro tofo^ be meant for me, I must beg the favour of you to recall it. At present it would be difficult for me to receive it. — When the books are ready, a Latin verse will be sufficient. No. 61. Sunday, May 3, 1772. I AM in no manner of hurry about the books. I hope the sale has answered. — I think it will always be a saleable book. The enclosed is fact, and I wish it could be printed to-morrow. It is not worth an- nouncing. The proceedings of this wretch are unaccountable. There must be some mystery in it which I hope will soon be dis- covered to his confusion. — Ne.xt to the duke of Grafton, I verily believe that the blackest heart in the kingdom belongs to lord Har- rington.* No. 62. May ro, 1772. Pray let this be announced, Me- moirs rf Lord Barrhigton in our next.^ Keep th3 author a secret. No. 60^. 19, January 1773. I HAVE seen the signals thrown out for your old friend and correspondent. parcel, was in waiting for him at the usual place. ^ This note accompanied the letter signed Scotus, addressed to his Lordship, and was printed as requested. See Miscellaneous Letters, No. CXI. The Autograph is still in the hands of the proprietor of this edition. 5 The annunciation under this title, appeared in the notice to correspondents. Public Ad- vertiser, May II, and the Memoirs were printed in a letter bearing the signature of Nemesis, May 12. See Miscellaneous Letter, No. CXIII. 84 PRIVATE LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Be assured that I have had good reason for not complying with them. In the present state of things, if I were to write again, I must be as silly as any of tlie horned cattle, that run mad through the city, or as any of your wise aldermen. I meant the cause and the public. Both are given up. I feel for the honour of this country, when I see that there are not ten men in it, wlio will unite and stand together upon any one question. But it is all alike, vile and con- temptible. Vou have never flinched that I know of ; and I shall always rejoice to liear of your prosperity. If you have any thing to communicate (of moment to yourself) you may use the last address, and sive a hint.^ No. 64. Sir, I HAVE troubled you with the perusal of two letters, as that of the prior date accounts for the delay of not sending the books sooner ; and this acquaints you that I did not get them out of the book- binder's hands till yesterday ; nor though I desired them to be finished in the most ele- gant manner possible, are they done so well as I wished. But, Sir, if the manner of the contents and index are not agreeable to you, they shall be done over again according to any directions you shall please to favour me ! with. — With respect to City politics, I fear I the breach is too wide ever to be again ! closed, and even my friend Mr Wilkes lost ! some of his wonted coolness at the late I election on Sawbridge, Oliver, &c., scratch- [ ing against him.- I hope you will believe ' that however agreeable to me it must be to be honoured with your correspondence, I ' * This letter was thus noticed in the answer to I correspondents in the P. A. M.irr.h 8, 1773. 'The letter from an old friend and corre- spondent, dated Jan. 19, came safe to hand, and his directions are strictly followed. Quod si guis existiviat, ant, L 1771.^ Since you are so obliging as to say, you will be guided by my opinion as to the manner of laying my sentiments be- fore the Bill of Rights, I see no reason why the whole of the second letter may not be read there next Tuesday, except the post- script, which has no connexion with the rest, and the word ridiculous, which may naturally give offence ; — as I mean to per- suade and soften, not irritate or offend. Let that word be expunged. The prefatory part you may leave or not as you think proper. You are not bound to satisfy any man's curiosity upon a. private matter, and upon my silence you may, I believe, depend entirely. As to other passages I have no favour or affection, so let all go. It should be copied over in a better hand. If any objections are raised, which arc answered in my third letter, you will, I am sure, answer for me, so f.u- forth, ore teiius. JUNIUS. By all means let it be copied. — This manuscript is for private use only. No. 73. TO J. WILKF.S, ESQ. Sir, Monday.- When I wrote to you on Saturday, it did not occur to me that your own ad- vertisement had already informed the pub- lic of your receiving two letters ; your omitting the preamble to the second letter \\ould therefore be to no purpose. In my opinion you should not wish to decline the appearance of being particu- larly addressed in that letter. It is calcu- lated to give you dignity with the pubhc. ' Written on it by Mr Wilkes, ' Recciv jd Sept. 23, 1771.' ^ Ibid. 3 When Mr Wilkes was prosecuted in the year 1764, for publishing the North Briton, No. 45, lord Mansfield issued an order for J\Ir Wilkes's attorney or solicitor to attend at his house, on the morning previous to the trial, ' to show cause why the information in this cause should not be There is more in it than perhaps you are aware gf. Depend upon it, tlie perpetual union of \ Vilkes and mob does you no service. Not but that I love and esteem the mob. — It is your interest to keep up dignity and gravity besides. I would not make niyself cheap by walking the streets so much as you do. Verbum sat. Sir. No. 74. TO JUNIUS. Wednesday, Sept. 25. Yesterday I attended the meet- ing of the Society of the Bill of Rights, and laid before them the letter, which I had the honour of receiving from you on the 7th of September. The few hnes of the preamble I omitted, the word ridiculous, according to your directions, and a very few more lines towards the conclusion. All the rest was a faithful transcript, the e.xact tenor? The season of the year occasioned the meeting to be ill attended. Only eleven members were present. The following re- solution passed unanimously : ' That Mr Wilkes be desired to transmit to Junius the thanks of the Society for his letter, and to assure him, that it was received with all the respect due to his distinguished charac- ter and abilities.' Soon after my fever obliged me to return home, and I have not heard of anything further being done ; but Mr Lee told me he thought the letter capa- ble of a full answer, which he meant, on a future day, to submit to iY.z Society, and would previously communicate to me. The letter is left in the hands of Mr Reynolds, who has the care of the other papers of the Society, with directions to permit every member to peruse, and even transcribe it, on the promise of non-publication. Some particular expressions appeared rather too , amended by striking out the svord purport, in I the several places where it is mentioned in the said information 'except in the first place), and I inserting, instead thereof, the word tenor.' The , Chief Justice was accused of having suggested this alteration, and several objections were taken to it, which, in argument, were overruled by tha ' Court. JUNIUS AND ^[R WILKES. harsh and grating to the ears of some of the members. Surely, Sir, nothing in the advertisement I inserted in the Pubhc Advertiser, could lead to the idea of the two letters I men- I tioned coming from Junius. I entreat him I to peruse once more tliat guarded adver- ' tisement. I hope that Mr Bull's and my address of Saturday, was approved where I most desire it should be thought of favour- ably. I know it made our enemies wince in the most tender part. I am too ill to-day to add more. JOHxM WILKES. No. 75. TO J. WILKES, ESQ. Sir, xdih October, 1771. I CANNOT help expressing to you my thanks and approbation of your letter of this day.i I think it proper, manly, and to the purpose. In these altercations nothing can be more useful, than to pre- serve dignity and sang froid— fort iter in re, siiaviter in modo, increases both the force and the severity. Your conduct to Mr * This was a long address from Mr Wilkes to the livery of London, in his own defence, from an attack which had been made upon him by Mr Alderman Townshend. We shall extract such parts of it as are more particularly alluded to by JtNiiS in this letter. , ^ ' Mr Townshend asks, " Does he (Mr Wilkes) allow one man in the court of aldermen to be worthy of your confidence, except himself and Mr Crosby? " Let me state the question about Mr Sawbridge. Mr Wilkes has declared under his hand, in all the public papers, "No man can hononr Mr Sawbridge more than I do, for ez'cry public and private virtue, which constitutes a great zwA amiable character." Was this praise cold or penurious ? Was it not deserving a better return than it seems to have found ? Is not such a character worthy 0/ your confidence V Mr Wilkes's letter of Oct. 15. 3 ' Mr Morris told us at the Bill of Rights, that when he pressed Mr Townshend about the affair of the printers, his answer was, that he did not find he should be supported by any great mail, and otherwise it would be imprudent , therefore did not chuse to act in it. The pru- dent Mr Townshend may wait the consent of great men. I will on a national call follow instantly the line of my duty, regardless of their applause or censure. Public spirit and virtue are seldom in the company of his Lordship or his Sawbridge is every thing I could wish.- Be assured, you will find it both honourable and judicious. Had it been adopted a little sooner, you might have returned him and Crosby, and taken the whole merit of it to yourself. If I am truly informed of Mr S.'s behaviour on the hustings, I must confess it does not satisfy me. But per- severance, management, and determined good humour, will set every thing right, and, in the end, break the heart of Mr Home. Nothing can be more true than what you say 2iQOM\. great men.^ They are indeed a worthless, pitiful race. Chatham has gallantly thrown away the scabbard, and never flinched. From that moment I began to like him. I see we do not agree about the strict right of pressing.* If you are as sincere as I ain, we shall not quarrel about a differ- ence of opinion. I shall say a few words to-morrow on this subject, under the signa- ture of Philo Junius. — The letters under that name have been hastily drawn up, but the principles are tenable. I thought your letter about the military very proper and well drawn.5 JUNIUS. Grace. [The case of the printers is detailed in note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. XCII.] * ♦ * * « * Has not, by the conduct of your magistrates, a complete victory been gained over the usurped powers both of the Crown and the House of I Commons ? The two questions had been fre- quently agitated among the friends of liberty, ' even while I remained at the King's Bench. i When the city and the nation had clearly decided I in favour of the cause, the great men followed, ! as they generally do, joined the public cry, and ' thronged to the Tower to pay their tardy tribute of praise to the persecuted patriots. The busi- ness had been completed without their assist- ance. In all such cases I am persuaded we shall find, that the people will be obliged to do their awn business ; but if it succeeds, they may be sure of the concurrence and applause of the great, and their even entering the most loathsome I prisons or dungeons — on a short visit of parade.' I Mr Wilkes's letter of Oct. 15. 1 * ' As a good Englishman and citizen, I thanked my brethren Sawbridge and Oliver for having so nobly discharged their duty as aldermen in the business of press warrants, on which I expatiated as the most cruel species of general warrants.' Id. I 5 A few days previous to Messrs Wilkes and Bull entering upon their office of sheriffs of Lon- io6 PRIVATE LETTERS. No. 76. ro JUNIUS. Sir, Oct. 17, 1771, I ANi not yet recovered, and to-day have been harassed with complaints against the greatest villains out of hell, the bailiffs ; but so very polite and friendly a letter as JUNiUS's of yesterday, demands my earliest and warmest acknowledgments. I only take up the pen to say, that I think myself happy in this approbation, that a line of applause from him gives the same brisk circulation to my spirits, as a kiss from Chloe, and that I mean soon to communi- cate to him a project of importance. — I will skirmish with the great almost every day in some way or otlier. Does Junius approve the following manoeuvre, instead of going in a gingerbread chariot to yawn through a dull sermon at St Paul's. Old Bailey, Oct. z^th, 1771. ' Mr Sheriff Wilkes presents his duty to the Lord Mayor, and asks his Lordship's leave to prefer the real service of his country to-morrow in the administra- tion of justice here, to the vain parade on the anniversary of the accession of a prince, under whose inauspicious government an universal discontent prevails among the don, they addressed a short letter to the liyerj', containing a paragraph respecting the military, of which the following is a copy : — ' We have observed with the deepest concern, that a military force has, on several late occa- sions, been employed by an unprincipled ad- ministration, under the pretence of assisting the civil power in carrying the sentence of the laws into execution. The conduct of the present sheriffs, in the remarkable case of the two un- happy men who suffered in July, near Bethnal Green, was truly patriotic. We are determined to follow so meritorious an example, and as that melancholy part of our office will commence in a very few days, we take this opportunity of de- claring, that as the constitution has entrusted us with the whole power of the county, we will not, during our sheriffalty, suffer any part of the army to interfere, or even to attend, as on many former occasions, on the pretence of aiding or assisting the civil magistrate. This resolution we declare to the public, and to .-id- ministration, to prevent, during our continuance people, and who still leaves the most in- tolerable grievances of his subjects unre- dressed.' — This card to be published at length. Will Junius suggest any alteration or addition? It is a bold step. — The ses- sions will not be ended on the 25th, and it is the duty of the sheriff to attend. I will follow all your hints about Mr Sawbridge. — I am sorry to differ so much from you about press warrants. I own that I have warmly gone through that opposition upon the clear conviction that every argument alledged for the legality of the press war- rant would do equally well for ship money. I believe Junius as sincere as myself; I will therefore be so far from quarrelling with him for any diiicrence of opinion, that, when I find we disagree, I will act with double caution, and some distrust of the certainty of my being clearly in the right. 1 hope the sheriffs letter to Mr Aker- man has your approbation. Does Junius wish for any dinner or ball tickets for the lord mayor's day, for himself, or friends, or a favourite, or Junia? The day will be worth observation. Whether cretd an car- bone notandus, I do not know ; but the people., Sir, the people are the sight. How- happy should I be to see my Portia here dance a graceful minuet with Junius Bru- tus ! but Junius is inexorable and I sub- in office, the sending of any detachments from the regular forces on such a service, and the pos- sibility of all future alarming disputes. 1'he civil power of this countrj'^ wc are sure is able to support itself and a good government. The magistrate, with the assistance of those in his jurisdiction, is by experience known to be strong enough to enforce all legal commands, without the aid of a standing army. Where that is not the case, a nation must sink into an absolute military government, and everj' thing valuable to the subject be at the mercy of the soldiery and their commander. We leave to our brave countrymen of the army the glory of conquering our foreign enemies. We pledge ourselves to the public for the faithful and e.xact discharge of our duty in every emergency without their assistance. We desire to save them a service we know they detest, and we take on ourselves the painful task of those unpleasing scenes, which our office calls upon us to superintend. The Jr.ws of our country shall, in all instances during cur sheriffalty, be sole'.y enforced by the authority and vigour of the civil magistrate.' j;;nius and mr wilkes. 107 mit. I would send your tickets to Wood- fall. To-morrow I go with the lord mayor and my brother sheriff to Rochester to take up our freedcnis. We return on Sunday night. 1 entreat of JuxfUS to favour me with every idea, which occurs to him for the common cause, in every particular relative to my conduct. He shall find me no less grateful than ductile. JOHN WILKES. No. 77. TO J. WILKES, ESQ. Loitdon, 21 October, 1771. Many thanks for your obliging offer ; — but alas ! my age and figure would do but httle credit to my partner. — I acknowledge the relation between Cato and Portia, but in truth I see no connexion between Junius and a minuet. You shall have my opinion whenever you think proper to ask it, freely, honestlv. and heartily. — If I were only a party man, I should naturally concur in any enterprise, likely to create a bustle without risk or trouble to myself. But I love the cause inde- pendent of persons, and I wish well to Mr Wilkes independent of the cause. Feeling, as I really do, for others where my own safety is provided for, the danger to which I expose a simple printer, afflicts and distresses me. It lowers me to myself to draw another into a hazardous situation which I cannot partake of with him. This consideration will ac- count for my abstaining from * * * * ***** so long, and for the un- deserved moderation with which I have treated him. I know my ground thoroughly when I affirm that he alone is the mark. It is not Bute, nor even the Princess Dowager, It is ********** *« whoa every honest man should detest, and every brave man should attack. Some measures of dignity and prudence must nevertheless be preserved for our own sakes. 1 think your intended message to the lord mayor is more spirited than judicious, and that it may be attended with consequences which (compared with the single purpose of************) are not worth hazarding — non est tanti — consider it is not Junius or Jack Wilkes, but a grave sheriff \^ox grave you should be) who marks his entrance into office with a direct outrage to the ****** **********; that it is only an outrage, and leads to nothing. — Will not courtiers take advantage ? Will not Whigs be offended? And whether offended or not, will not all parties pretend to condemn you ? If measures atid not tnen has any meaning (and I own it has very little), it must hold particularly in the case of********; and if truth and reason be on one side, and all the com- mon-place topics on the other, can you doubt to which side the multitude will incUne ? Besides that it is too early to begin this kind of attack, I confess I am anxious for your safety. I know that in the ordi- nar}' course of law they cannot hurt you ; but did the idea of a Bill of Banishment never occur to you ? And don't you think a demonstration of this kind on your part might furnish government with a specious pretence for destroying you at once, by a summar)- proceeding? Consider the measure coolly and then determine. If these loose thoughts should not weigh with you as mucli as I could wish, I would then recommend a little alteration in the message. I would have it stated thus : — ' Prince's Court, 24 October, 1771. ' Mr Wilkes presents his duty to the Lord Mayor, and flatters himself he shall be honoured with his T>ordship's approbation, if he prefers the real service of his countr)' to-morrow in the administration of justice at the Old Bailey, to the vain parade of a procession to St Paul's. — With the warmest attachment to the House of Hanover, and the most determined alle- giance to the chief magistrate, he hopes it will not be thought incumbent on him to take an active part in celebrating the acces- sion of a prince, under whose inauspicious io8 PRIVATE LETTERS. reign the English constitution has been grossly and deliberately violated, the civil rights of the people no less daringly invaded, and their humble petitions for redress re- jected with contempt." — In the first part, to ask a man's leave to prefer the real service of our country to a vain parade, seems, if serious, too servile ; — if jest, unseasonable, and rather approaching to burlesque. — The rest appears to me not less strong than your own words, and better guarded in point of safety, which you neg- lect too much. — I am now a little hurried, and shall write to you shortly upon some other topics. JUNIUS. No. 78. TO JUNIUS. Prince's Court, Monday Morning, Nov. 4. Ox my return home last night I had the very great pleasure of reading the Dedication and Preface which Mr Wood- fall left for me. I am going with the city officers to invite the little great to the cus- tard on Saturday. Perditur hoc inter misero lux. I shall only add, accepi, legi, probavi. I am much honoured by the polite attention of Junius.^ No. 79. TO J. WILKES, ESQ. 6 Novejnber, 1771. I EXTKEAT you to procure for me copies of the informations against Eyre be- fore the lord ma\or. I presume they were taken in writing. If not, I beg you will \ favour me widi tlie most e.xact account of ' the substance of them, and any observa- I tions of your own that you think material. ; If I am right in my facts, I answer for my I law, and mean to attack lord Mansfield as I soon as possible. I My American namesake is plainly a man I of abilities, though I think a little unreason- ' Upon this letter was written by Mr Wilkes, 'On returning Ju.nius the Dedication and Pre- face he sent me.' able, when he insists upon more than an absolute surrender of the fact. I agree with him that it is a hardship on the Americans to be ta.\ed by the British legislature ; but it is a hardship inseparable in theory from the condition of colonists, in which they have voluntarily placed themselves. If emigration be no crime to deserve punish- ment, it is certainly no virtue to claim ex- emption ; and however it may have proved eventually beneficial, the mother country was but little obliged to the intentions of the first emigrants. But, in fact, change of place does not exempt from subjection : — the members of our factories settled under foreign governments, and whose vol- untary banishment is much more laudable with regard to the mother country, are taxed with the laws of consulage. Au resie, I see no use in fighting this question in the newspapers, nor have I time. You may assure Dr Lee, that to my heart and understanding the names of American and Englishman are synonymous, and that as to any future taxation of America, I look upon it as near to impossible as the highest improbability can go. I hope that, since he has opposed me where he thinks me wrong, he will be equally ready to assist me when he thinks me right. Besides the fallibility natural to us all, no man writes under so many disad- vantages as I do. I cannot consult the learned, I cannot directly ask the ojnnion of my acquaintance, and in the newspapers I never am assisted. Those who are conversant with books, w ell know how often they mislead us, when we have not a living monitor at hand to assist us in comparing practice with theor>'. No. 80. TO Junius. Prince's Court, Wednesday, Nov. 6. Sir, I DO not delay a moment giving you the information you wish. I enclose a copy of Eyre's commitment. Nothing else in this business has been reduced to writing. JLWIUS AND MR WILKES. 109 The examination was before the sitting justice, alderman Hallifax, at Guildhall ; and it is not usual to take it in writing on account of the multiplicity of business there. The paper was found upon him. He was asked what he had to say in his defence ; his answer was, I hope you will bail me. Mr Holder, the clerk, answered, That is impossible. There never was an instance of it, when the person was taken in the fact, or the goods found upon him. I believe Holder's law is right. Alderman Hallifax likewise granted a search warrant prior to the examination. At Eyre's lodgings many more quires of paper were found, all marked on purpose, from a suspicion of Eyre. After Eyre had been some time at Wood I differ with Junius in one point : I think by being concealed he has infinite advan- tages which I want. I am on the Indian coast, where, from the fire kindled round me, I am marked out to every hostile arrow which knows its way to me. Those who are in the dark are safe, from the want of direction of the pointless shaft. I followed JUNIUS'S advice about the card on the an- niversary of the king's accession. I drop- ped the idea. I wish to know his senti- ments about certain projects against the usurped powers of the House of Lords. The business is too vast to write, too hazardous to communicate, to an unknown person. Junius will forgive me. What can be done ?— Alas ! where is the man, Street Compter, a key was found in his I after all Wilkes has experienced, in whose room there, which appears to be a key to the closet at Guildhall, from whence the paper was stolen. The lord mayor re- fused to bail Eyre, but I do not find that any fresh examination was taken at the Mansion-house. The circumstances were well known. I was present at the examina- tion before Hallifax, but as sheriff could not interfere, only I whispered Hallifax he could not bail Eyre. Anglus in to-day's Public Advertiser told soine particulars 1 had mentioned. I did not know of that letter; it is Mr Bernard's of Berkeley Square. As to the Americans, I declare I know no difference between an inhabitant of Boston in Lincolnshire, and of Boston in New England. I honour the Americans ; but our ancestors who staid and drove out the tyrant, are justly greater in merit and fame than those who fled and deserted their countrymen. Their future conduct has been a noble atonement, and their sons have much surpassed them. I will mention to Dr Lee what you desire. You shall have every communication you wish from me. Yet I beg Junius to reflect a moment. To whom am I now writing ? I am all friendly bosom he can repose his secret thoughts, his noble but most dangerous designs ? The person most capable he can have no access to, and all others he will not trust. I stand alone, isoU as the French call it, a single column, unpropped, and perhaps nodding to its fall. JOHN WILKES. No. 81. TO J. WILKES, ESQ. 9 November, 1771. I AM much obliged to you for your information about Eyre. The facts are as I understood them, and, with the blessing of God, I will pull Mansfield to the ground. Your offer to communicate your plan against the Lords was voluntary. Do now as you think proper. I have no resent- ments but against the common enemy, and will assist you in any way that you will suffer yourself to be assisted. When you have satisfied your understanding that there may be reasons why Junius should attack doubt and uncertainty, though not mistrust the King, the Minister, the Court of King's or suspicion. I should be glad to canvass Bench, and the House of Commons, in the freely every part of a great plan. I dare ' way that I have done, and yet should de- not write it to a man I do not know, of sert or betray the man who attacks the whose connexions I am totally ignorant. ; House of Lords, I would still appeal to I F PRIVATE LETTERS. your heart. Or if you liave any scruples about that kind of evidence, ask that ami- able daughter whom you so implicitly con- fide in— /j it possible that Junius should betray me f Do not conceive that I solicit I new employment. I am overcome with the slavery of writing. Farewell. No. 82. TO JUNIUS. Prince's Court, ntar Storey's Gate, IVest/ninster, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1772. A NECESSARY attention to my health engrossed my time entirely in the few holidays I spent at Bath, and 1 am re- warded with being perfectl> recovered. The repairs of the clay cottage, to which I am tenant for life, seem to have taken place very successfully ; and the building will probably last a few more years in tolerable condition. Yesterday I met the Supporters of the Bill of Rights at the London Tavern. Much discourse passed about the publication of JUNius's letter. Dr Lee and Mr Watkin Lewes, who were both suspected, fully ex- culpated themselves. I believe the publica- tion was owing to the indiscretion of Mr Patrick Cawdron, a linen-draper in Cheap- side, who showed it to his partner on the Saturday. The partner copied it on the Sunday, and the Monday following it ap- peared in the Morning Chronicle. The Gazetteer only copied it from thence. The Society directed a disavowal of their pub- lication of it to be sent to you, and are to take the letter into consideration at the j next meeting. I forgot to mention that Mr I Cawdron keeps the papers of the Society. The winter campaign will begin with the j next week. I believe that ihe sheriffs will have the old battle renewed with the Com- mons, and I suppose the lord mayor and the courtly aldermen will commit the printer for us to release. Another scene will pro- bably open with the Lords. Junius has observed, ' the arbitrary power they have assumed of imposing fines, and committing during pleasure, will now be exercised in its fullest extent.' The progress of the busi- ness I suspect will be this — a bitter libel against Pomfret, Denbigh, or Talbot, at- tacking the peer personally, not in his legislative or judicial capacity, w ill appear. His Lordship, passion's slave, will complain lO the House. They will order the printer into custody, and set a heavy fine. The sheriffs the next morning will go to New- gate, examine the warrant of commitment, and, like the angel to Peter, take the prisoner by the hand, and conduct him out of prison ; afterwards they will probably make their appeal to the pubHc against the usurpation of their Lordships, and their entirely setting aside the power of juries in their proceedings. Are there more furious wild beasts to be found in the upper den than the three I have named ? Miller, the printer of the London Evening Post, at No. 2, Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row, is the best man I know for this business. He will print whatever is sent him. He is a fine Oliveri- an soldier. I intend a manifesto Aith my name on Monday to give spirit to the printers, and to show them who will be their protector. I foresee it will make the two Houses more cautious, but it is necessary for our friends, and the others shall be baited till they are driven into the snare. Adieu. JOHN WILKES. LETTERS JUNIUS, CAREFULLY COLLATED WITH THE AUTHOR'S CORRECTED EDITION. DEDICATION ENGLISH NATION 1 DEDICATE to You a Collection of Letters, written by one of Yourselves for the common benefit of us all. They would never have grown to this size, without Your continued encouragement and applause.! To me they originally owe nothing, but a healthy, sanguine constitution. Under Your care they have thriven. To You they are indebted for whatever strength or beauty they possess. When Kings and Ministers are forgotten, when the force and direction of personal satire is no longer understood, and when measures are only felt in their remotest consequences, this book will, I believe, be found to contain principles, worthy to be transmitted to pos- terity. When You leave the unimpaired, hereditary freehold to Your cnildren. You do but half Your duty. Both liberty and property are precarious, unless the possess- ors have sense and spirit enough to defend them. — This is not the language of vanity. If I am a vain man, my gratification lies within a narrow circle. I am the sole de- ' Sec Private Letter, No. 5, in which the aiitho:-, shortly after his appearance before the public under the signature of Jlmus, expresses an intention to discontinue writing under that name ; nor would he in all probability have persevered, but for the reason assigned above. — Edit. ^ This must be understood only in general terms. From the following passage in Private Letter, No. 8, it is obvious that there were pcr- positary of my own secret, and it shall perish with me.- If an honest, and, I may truly affirm, a laborious zeal for the public service has given me any weight in Your esteem, let me e.xhort and conjure You never to suffer an invasion of Your political constitution, how- ever minute the instance may appear, to pass by, without a determined, persevering resistance. One precedent creates another. They soon accumulate, and constitute law. What yesterday was fact, to-day is doc- trine. Examples are supposed to justify the most dangerous measures, and where they do not suit exactly, the defect is sup- plied by analogy. — Be assured that the laws, which protect us in our civil rights, grow out of the constitution, and that they must fall or flourish with it. This is not the cause of faction, or of party, or of any indi- vidual, but the common interest of every man in Britain. Although the King should continue to support his present system of government, the perioc! is not very distant. sons to whom the writer unbosomed himself ; although there is still every reason for believing that such persons formed, as he has expressed it above, only a narrow circle. — 'The last letter you prmted was idle and improper, and, / assitr". you, printed against vty own opinion. The truth IS, there are people about me, •whom I would wish not to contradict, and who had rather see Junius in the papers, ever so improperly, than not at all.'—E-zn. DEDICATION. at which You will have the means of re- dress in Your own power. It may "be nearer perhaps than any of us expect, and I would warn you to be prepared for it. The King may possibly be advised to dissolve the present parliament a year or two before it expires of course, and precipitate a new election, in hopes of taking the nation by surprise. If such a measure be in agita- tion, this very caution may defeat or pre- vent it.i I cannot doubt that You will unanimously assert the freedom of election, and vindi- cate Your exclusive right to chuse Your representatives. But other questions have been started, on which Your determination should be equally clear and unanimous. Let it be impressed upon Your minds, let it be instilled into Your children, that the liberty of the press is the palladiuvi of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman, and that the right of juries to return a general verdict, in all cases what- soever, is an essential part of our constitu- tion, not to be controuled or limited bv the ' The object to have been accomplished by obtaining a new parliament does not appear to have been of sufficient force to have precipitated such a measure ; and was, in consequence, relin- quished : on which account the parliament in question was not dissolved till .September 30th, 1774, after having existed six years, four months, and twenty-one days. Many of the letters of Junius turning upon the elective franchise, and the necessity of triennial parliaments, the reader may not be displeased to see, at one view, the respective dates of the dissolution and re-as- sembling of the several parliaments during the present reign. Met. Dissolved. Existed. V. M. D. 26 Oct. 1760 20 March 1761 o 4 25 19 May 1761 n March 1768 6 9 22 10 May 1768 30 Sept. 1774 6 4 21 29 Nov. 1774 I Sept. 1780 594 31 Oct. 1780 25 March 1784 3 4 26 18 May 17S4 II June 1790 6 o 25 10 Aug. 1790 20 Alay 1796 5 11 3 12 July 1796 31 Dec. 1800* ] UNITED KINGDOM, G.B. & I. fo " ^^ 22 Jan. 1801 29 June 1802 •) 31 Aug. 1802 24 Oct. 1806 4 2 25 15 Dec. 1806 29 April 1807 04 15 22 June 1807 29 Sept. 1812 53 7 24 Nov. i8t2 * Stat. 39-40 Gee. III. c. 67. Art. 4.— Edit. judges, nor in any shape questionable by the legislature. The power of King, Lords, and Commons is not an arbitrary power. 2 They are the trtistees, not the owners of the estate. The fee-simple is in US. They cannot alienate, they cannot waste. When we say that the legislature is supreme, we mean that it is the highest power known to the constitution : — that it is the highest in comparison with the other subordinate powers established by the laws. In this sense, the word supreme is relative, not absolute. The power of the legislature is limited, not only by the general rules of natural justice, and the welfare of the com- munity, but by the forms and principles of our particular constitution. If this doctrine be not true, we must admit, that King, Lords, and Commons have no rule to direct their resolutions, but merely their own will and pleasure. They might unite the legis- lative and executive power in the same hands, and dissolve the constitution by an act of parliament. But I am persuaded You will not leave it to the choice of seven hundred persons, notoriously corrupted by the crown, whether seven millions of their equals shall be freemen or slaves. The certainty of forfeiting their own rights, when they sacrifice those of the nation, is no check to a brutal degenerate mind. Without in- sisting upon the extravagant concession made to Harry the Eighth, there are in- ' This positive denial, of an arbitrary power being vested in the legislature, is not in fact a new doctrine. When the earl of Lindsey, in the year 1675, brought a bill into the House of Lords, To prevent the da^igers which viight arise /rout persons disaffected to g07'er}iment, by which an oath and penalty was to be imposed upon the members of both Houses, it was affirmed, in a protest signed by twenty-three lay-peers (my lords the bishops were not accustomed to protest), ' That the privilege of sitting and voting in parliament was an honour they had by birth, and a right so inherent in them, and inseparable from them, that nothing cojdd take it a^vay, but what, by the law of the land, must withal take away their lives, and coirupt their blood.' — These nobis peers (whose names are a reprcach to their posterity; have, in this instance, solemnly denied the power of parliament to alter the constitution. Under a particular proposition, the" i.j.ve as- serted a general truth, in which every man in England is concerned. 114 DEDICATION. stances, in the history of other countries, of a formal, deliberate surrender of the pub- lic liberty into the hands of the sovereign. If England does not share the same fate, it is because we have better resources, than in the virtue of either House of parliament. I said that the liberty of the press is the palladium of all Your rights, and that the right of juries to return a general verdict is part of Your constitution. To preserve the whole system, You must correct Your legis- lature. With regard to any influence of the constituent over the conduct of the re- presentative, there is little difference be- tween a seat in parliament for seven years and a seat for life. The prospect of Your resentment is too remote; and although the last session of a septennial parliament be usually employed in courting the favour of the people, consider that, at this rate, Your representatives have six years for offence, and but one for atonement. A death-bed repentance seldom reaches to restitution. If you reflect that in the changes of admin- istration, which have marked and disgraced the present reign, although your warmest patriots have, in their turn, been invested with the lawful and unlawful authority of the crown, and though other reliefs or im- provements have been held forth to the people, yet that no one man in office has ever promoted or encouraged a bill for shortening the duration of parliaments, but that (whoever was minister) the opposition to this measure, ever since the septennial act passed, has been constant and uniform on the part of government,— You cannot but conclude, without the possibility of a doubt, that long parliaments are the found- ation of the undue influence of the crown. This influence answers every purpose of arbitrary power to the crown, with an ex- pense and oppression to the people, which would be unnecessary in an arbitrary go- vernment. The best of our ministers find it the easiest and most compendious mode of conducting the King's affairs ; and all ministers have a general interest in ad- hering to a system, which of itself is suffi- cient to support them in office, without any assistance from personal virtue, popularity, labour, abilities, or experience. It promises every gratification to avarice and ambition, and secures impunity. — These are truths unquestionable.— If they make no impres- sion, it is because they are too vulgar and notorious. But the inattention or indiffer- ence of the nation has continued too long. You are roused at last to a sense of Your danger. — The remedy will soon be in Your power. If Junius lives, You shall often be reminded of it. If, when the opportunity presents itself, You neglect to do Your duty to Yourselves and to your posterity, — to God and to Your country, — I shall have one consolation left, in common with the mean- est and basest of mankind. — Civil liberty may still last the life of JUNIUS. PREFACE, Thf, encouragement given to a multitu'lfc of spurious, mangled publications of the Letters of Junius, persuades me, that a complete edition, corrected and im- proved by the author, will be favourably received. The printer will readily acquit me of any view to my cwn profit. ^ I un- dertake this troublesome task, merely to serve a man \vho has deserved well of me, and of the public ; and who, on my account, has been exposed to an expensive, tyran- nical prosecution. For these reasons, I g^ve to Mr Henry Sampson Wood fa II, and to him alone, my right, interest, and pro- perty in these letters, as fully and com- pletely, to all intents and purposes, as an author can possibly convey his property in his own works to another. This edition contains all the letters of Junius, Philo "Junius, a.ndof sir IVilliam Draper and Mr Home to Junius, with their respective dates, and according to the order in which they appeared in the Public Advertiser^ The auxiliary part of Philo Junius was indispensably necessary to defend or explain particular passages in Junius, ir answer to plausible objections ; but Lhe subordinate character is never guilty of the indecorum of praising his principal. The fraud was innocent, and I always intended to explain it.^ The notes will be found ;.ot only usef':], but nece.ssary. ^ See Private Letter, No. 59, and note ap- pended to it.— Edit. * From this order there are two or three devia- tions, but too trivial to be worth pointing out. —Edit. 3 It was, in point of fact, publicly avowed by References to facts not generally known, or allusions to the current report or opinion of the day, are in a little time unintelligible. Yet the reader will not find himself over- loaded with explanations. I was not born to be a commentator, even upon my own works. It remains to say a few words upon the liberty of the press. The daring spirit, by which these letters are supposed to be dis- tinguished, seems to require that something serious should be said in their defence. I am no lawyer by profession, nor do I pre- tend to be more deeply read than every English gentleman should be in the laws of his country. If therefore the principles I maintain are truly constitutional, I shall not think myself answered, though I should be convicted of a mistake in terms, or of misapplying the lan.guage of the law. I speak to the plain understanding of the people, and appeal to their honest, liberal construction of me. Good men, to whom alone I address my- self, appear to me to consult their piety as little as their judgment and experience, when they admit the great and essential advantages accruing to society from the freedom of the press, yet indulge them- selves in peevish or passionate exclamations against the abuses of it. Betraying an lui- reasonable expectation of benefits, pure the author, in the following notice inserted in the Public Advertiser, October 20, 1771 : ' We have the author's consent to say, that the letters published in this paper under the siarna- ture of Philo Jtmins, are written by Junius' — Edit. ii6 PREFACE. and entire, from any human institution, they in effect arraign the goodness of Pro- vidence, and confess that they are dis- satisfied with the common lot of humanity. In the present instance they really create to theii own minds, or greatly exaggerate, the evil they complain of. The laws of England provide, as effectually as any human laws can do, for the protection of the subject, in his reputation, as well as in his person and property. If tha characters of private men are insulted or injured, a double remedy is open to them, by action and indictment. If, through iudolence, false shame, or indifference, they will not appeal to the laws of their country, they fail in their duty to society, and are unjust to themselves. If, from an unwarrantable distrust of the integrity of juries, they would wish to obtain justice by any mode of proceeding, more summary than a trial by their peers, I do not scruple to affirm, that they are in effect greater enemies to themselves, than to the libeller they pro- secute. With regard to strictures upon the cha- racters of men in office and the measures of government, the case is a little different. A considerable latitude must be allowed in the discussion of public affairs, or the liberty of the press will be of no benefit to society. As the indulgence of private malice and personal slander should be checked and resisted by every legal means, so a constant examination into the characters and con- duct of ministers and magistrates should be ecjually promoted and encouraged. They, who conceive that our newspapers are no restraint upon bad men, or impedi- ment to the e.xecution of bad measures, know nothing of this country. In that state of abandoned servility and prostitu- tion, to which the undue influence of the crown has reduced the other branches of the legislature, our ministers and magis- trates have in reality little punishment to fear, and few difficulties to contend with, beyond the censure of the press, and tlie spirit of resistance which it excites amoirg the people. While this censorial power is maintained, to speak in the words of a most ingenious foreigner, both minister and magistrate is compelled, in almost every instance, to chuse between his duty and his reputation. A dilemma of this kind, per- petually before him, will not indeed work a miracle upon his heart, but it will assuredly operate, in some degree, upon his conduct. At all events, these are not times to admi: of any relaxation in the little discipline we have left. But it is alledged, that the licentiousness of the press is carried beyond all bounds of decency and truth ; — that our excellent ministers are continually exposed to the public hatred or derision ; — that, in prose- cutions for libels on government, juries are partial to the popular side ; and that, in the most flagrant cases, a verdict cannot be obtained for the King. — If the premises were admitted, I should deny the conclu- sion. It is not true that the temper of the times has, in general, an undue influence over the conduct of juries. On the con- trary, many signal instances may be pro- duced of verdicts returned for the King, when the inclinations of the people led strongly to an undistinguishing opposition to government. Witness the cases of Mr Wilkes and Mr Almon.^ In the late pro- secutions of the printers of my address to a great personage, the juries wers never fairly dealt with. — Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, conscious that the paper in question contained no treasonable or libel- lous matter, and that the severest parts of it, however painful to the King, or offen- sive to his servants, were strictly true. The case of Wilkes here alluded to is his published in the Public Advertiser, and thence prosecution for having written an obscene copied into a variety of other newspapers ; and parody on Pope's Essay on Man, which he called ' An Essay on Woman.' Almon was prosecuted merely for having sold in a magazine, entitled The London Museum, which he did not print, a transcript of Junius's Letter to the King, first the result was a verdict against him, although did not appear to the court that he was privy to the sale, or even knew that the magazine, sold at his shop, contained the Letter to the King. — Edit. PREFACE. ti7 would fain have restricted the jury to the ! finding of special facts, which, as to guilty or not guilty, were merely indifferent. This particular motive, combined with his ; ' Memorable as this charge is on various | accounts, and especially as havuig laid thefounc- • ation for a very warm and animated discussion- both in and out of parliament, it is very extraor- dinary that it is no where reported in our senatorial documents, and is indeed difficult to be obtained from any other quarter. The fact is, that although it was laid by lord Mansfield on the table of the House of Lords, when sum- moned at his request to take it into consideration, yet as he did not make any express motion upon the subject, it was not entered into the journals, and was only left with the clerk for any noble lord to take a copy of it, who was desirous of so doing. The reader, therefore, will feel gratified by being put into possession of the charge, together with lord Camden's interrogatories in regard to it, proposed to the lord chief justice in his proper place in the Upper House, and to which the latter did notchuse to make any reply. 1 To these it may be also advantageous to subjoin a summary of the speeches of the late Mr Fox and Mr Burke upon tlie same subject, when intro- duced into the House of Commons, as containing, in a condensed form, the argument of the oppo- site sides of the question. Mr Fox, it is well known, was, at this period, in favour of the ministry ; but the political error he then laboured under, he nobly redeemed a few years after- wards, and amply atoned for to the public, by the excellent and truly constitutional bill ' to remove doubts respecting the functions of juries in cases of libel,' introduced into the senate in the session of 1791, as more particularly noticed in another part of this work, and which (by his in- defatigable perseverance was at length carried through the legislature) has nullified lord Mans- field's doctrine, and set the important question completely at rest. Mr Woodfall, as a party concerned, modestly forbore to offer any statement of this celebrated trial in the PubUc Advertiser, in consequence of which the writer is obliged to avail himself of the following extract, though very imperfectly given, from a contemporary journal. An account of ilie trial at Guildhall cf the origtiuxl publisher 0/ JUNIUS'S Letter to tfie King. Yesterday morning, [June 13, 1770,] about nine o'clock, came on before lord lilansfield in the Court of King's Bench at Guildhall, the trial of Mr Woodfall, the original printer of JuNius's letter in the Public Advertiser of December 19. Only seven of the special jury attended, viz. William Bond, foreman ; Peter Cazalet, Alexander Peter Allen, Frederick Commerell, Hermen Meyer, John Thomas, and Barrington Buggin. Upon which the following five talesmen were taken out of the box, viz. William Hannard, general purpose^ to contract the power of juries, will account for the charge he de- hvered in Woodfall s trial. ^ He told the Paul Verges, William Sibley, William Willett, ' and William Davis. I The trial was opened by Mr Wallis. I Nathaniel Crowder swore he bought the paper ' of Mr Woodfall's publishing servant, whom he : named. I Mr Harris proved that the duty for the adver- : tisements and stamps were paid by Mr Woodfall. \ And j A clerk of sir John Fielding proved, by a I receipt from Mr Woodfall, his concern in and for ; the paper. The publication and direction of the paper by Mr Woodfall being thus proved, Lord Mansfield, in his charge, told the jury, "That there were only two points for their con- sideration : the first, the printing and publishing the paper in question ; the second, the sense and meaning of it : That as to the charges of its being malicious, seditious, &c., they were infer- ences in law about which no evidence need be given, any more than that part of an indictment need be proved by evidence, which charges a man with being moved by the instigation of the Devil : That therefore the printing and sense of the paper were alone what the jury had to con- sider of ; and that if the paper should really con- tain no breach of the law, that was a matter which might afterwards be moved in arrest of judgment : That he had no evidence to sum up to them, as the defendant's counsel admitted the printing and publication to be well proved : That as to the sense, they had not called in doubt the manner in which the dashes in the paper were filled up in the record, by giving any other sense to the passages; if they had, the jury would have been to consider which application was the true one, that charged in the information, or suggested by the defendant: That the jury might now compare the paper with the informa- tion : That if they did not .find the application wrong, they must find the defendant guilty ; and if they did find it wrong, they must acquit him : That this was not the time for alleviation or ag- gravation, that being for future consideration : That every subject was under the controul of the law, and had a right to expect from it protection for his person, his property, and his good name : That if any man offended the laws, he was amenable to them, and was not to be censured or punished, but in a legal course : 1'hat any per- son libelled had a right either to bring a civil or a criminal prosecution : That in the latter, which is by information or indictment, it is iai- material whether the publication be false or true : That it is no defence to say it is true, because it is a breach of the peace, and therefore criminal ; but in a civil prosecution, it is a defence to say the charges in the publication are true ; because the plaintiff there sues only for a pecuniary satis- faction to himself; and that this is the distinc- tion as to that nature of defence.— His Lordship PREFACE. jury, in so many words, that they hdA^ prhiting and publishing, and whether or nothing to determine, except the fact of ' no the blanks or innuendoes were properly said, he was afraid it was too true that few characters in the kingdom escaped libels : That many were very injuriously treated — and if so, that the best way to prevent it was by an appli- cation to the law, which is open to every man : That the liberty of the press consisted in every man having the power to publish his sentiments without first applying for a licence to any one ; but if any man published what was against law, he did it at his peril, and was answerable for it in the same manner as he who suffers his hand to commit an assault, or his tongue to utter blas- phemy.' Between eleven and twelve the jury withdrew; at four the court adjourned ; and a little after nine the jury waited on lord Mani^field at his house in Bloomsbury-square, with their verdict, which was Guilty of printing and PUBLrsHiNG ONLY. This charge ha\ing been laid upon the table of the House of Lords, December lo, 1770, bj' the lord chief justice, the following questions were put to him, in his place, by lord Camden, on the day ensuing. 1. Does the opinion mean to declare, that upon the general issue of Not Guilty, in the case of a seditious libel, the jury have no right, by law, to examine the innocence or criminality of the paper, if they think fit, and to form their ver- dict upon such examination ? 2. Does the opinion mean to declare, that in the case above-mentioned, when the jury have delivered in their verdict. Guilty, that this ver- dict has found the fact only and not the law ? 3. Is it to be understood by this opinion, that if the jury come to the bar, and say that they find the printing and publishing, but that the paper is no libel, that in that case the jury have found ths defendant guilty generally, and the verdict must be so entered up ? 4. Whether the opinion means to say, that if the judge, after giving his opinion of the inno- cence or criminality of the paper, should leave the consideration of that matter, together with the printing and publishing, to the jury, such a direction would be contrary to law ? 5. I beg leave to ask, whether dead, and living judges then absent, did declare their opinions in open court, and whether the noble lord has any note of such opinions ? 6. Whether they declared such opinions, after solid arguments, or upon any point judicially before them ? To these queries lord Mansfield made no reply, briefly observing, that he would not answer in- terrogatories. The subject was introduced into the Lower House, December 6, 1770, on a motion made by Mr Serjeant Glynn, •' That a committee should be appointed to enquire Into the administration of criminal justice, and the proceedings of the Judges In Westminster-hall, particularly In cases relating to the liberty of the press, and the con- stitutional power and duty of juries.' In the course of the discussion, the speakers on both sides alluded not only to the charge in Mr Woodfall's case, but also to Mr baron Smythe's conduct In trying a Scotch Serjeant at Guildford, which will be found more particularly detailed In the editor's note to Junius's Letter LXVIII. Amongst the chief speakers on this occasion were, as we have already observed, on the side of the ministry, Mr Fox, and on that of the people, Mr Burke. The following summary of their argument, which In truth contains the general arg\iment of the rest, is extracted from a pamphlet entitled Vox Senattis, printed previous to the contest which soon afterwards ensued, be- tween the House of Commons and the printers, respecting the publication of parliamentary de- bates, and which. In a great measure, led the way to that controversy. The speeches in this pamphlet were altogether reported by the late Mr Wm Woodfall, whose strength of memory, | nice accuracy, and rigid impartiality, were equally subjects of commendation, and held in the highest esteem, by the members of both Houses of parliament, to whatever party they might belong, during the many years that he continued to exercise his talents In that most laborious, and we trust we may a Id, most im- portant branch of public duty. Mr Fox spoke as follows : — ' We are told by the abettors i f this motion, that jealousies, murmurs, and • nscontents in- crease and multiply throughout the nation ; that the people are under terrible apprehensions that the law Is perverted, the juries are deprived of their constitutional powers, that the courts of justice are not sound and untainted ; In a word, that the judges have, like a dozen of monstrous Patagonian giants, either swallowed, or are going to swallow up both law and gospel. And how do they prove the truth of these allegations ? The manner is pleasant enough. They refer us to their own libellous remonstrances, and to those infamous lampoons and satires, which they have taken care to write and circulate. They modestly substitute themselves in the place of the nation, and call their own complaints the grievances of England. Their meaning is plain enough, and we understand perfectly how all their grievances might be redressed. For my part I am not disposed to take the voice of a miserable faction for the voice of my country. Were the people really dissatisfied, I should be glad to know how I am to ascertain the reality of that dissatisfaction ? I must freely confess, that I know no other way but that of consulting this House. Here the people are represented, and here their voice expressed. I'here is no other criterion but the majority of this assembly, by which we can judge of their sentiments. This man, in order to answer one purpose, and PREFACE. 119 filled up in the information ; — but that, crime or not, was no matter of considera- whether the defendant had committed a tion to twelve men, who yet, upon their that man, in order to answer another, will tell j'ou that a general cry has gone abroad against certain men and measures ; but will you be so credulous as to take him upon his word, when you can easily penetrate his interested views and find him the original and prime mover of all the clamour? I can easily trace the authors of the outcry raised against the judges; and I would point them out, had not they, as well as their selfish ends, been already exposed in all their deformity. Why, then, should we hesitate to put a negative upon a question which sprung from such a low source ? from dirt it came, and to dirt let it return. As to myself, I certainly will, as I can never acknowledge for the voice of the nation, what is not echoed by the majority of the House ; and I do not find that the majority of us entertain any suspicions, much less terrible ap- prehensions, of the judges ; though, if there were any just foundation for complaint, we must certainly have been better informed of it than the people. ' Indeed if the adoption of this enquiry would answer any good purpose, I should not be such a violent opposer, convinced as I am that the judges are blameless. But I am fully persuaded, that would not be the case. For, as I have shown, it would be an attempt to remove discon- tents which do not e.xist but among those who have generated, fostered, and reared them up to their present magnitude, and would not, there- fore, be satisfied, though Justice, though Astrea herself, should descend naked from heaven to exculpate our judges. And what is more, it would, on their own principles, prove fruitless and nugatory, even if we suppose the people to be really discontented. For what have they been doing for these two last years, but ringing constantly in our ears the contempt in which we are held by the people ? have they not made these walls echo with the terms of reproach, which they alledged were cast upon us by men of every degree, by high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned? were we not, and are we not still, according to their account, held in universal detestation and abhorrence ? does not the whole empire, from one end to the other, reckon us equally weak and wicked ? in a word, are we not become an abomination in the land ? such is the language of the minority. How can they, with a serious face, desire us to undertake this enquiry, in order to satisfy the people ? the people, if their former assertions are to be credited, will receive no good at our hands. They will regard what we say no more than a knot of coffee-house politicians. We are too ridiculous, as well as odious, to do any thing that will appear gracious in their eyes. What is the conclusion to be drawn ? Let us satisfy ourselves. Let us act according to the dictates of honour and con- science, and be at peace with our own minds. It is thus that we shall sooner or later rfegain the confidence of our constituents, if we have lost it ; and not by humouring, as foolish nurses humoui great lubberly boys, the wayward whims of a misled multitude. The characteristic of this House should be a firm and manly steadiness, an unshaken perseverance in the pursuit of great and noble plans of general utility, and not a wavering inconstant fluctuation of counsels, re- gulated by the shifting of the popular breeze. If we are not to judge for ourselves, but to be ' ever at the command of the vulgar, and their I capricious shouts and hisses, I cannot see what | advantage the nation can reap from a represent- I ative body, which they might not have reaped from a tumultuous assembly of themselves, col- lected at random on Salisbury Plain or Running- mede. It is very well known, that such an irregular and riotous crowd are but very ill quali- fied to judge truly of their own interest, or to pursue it, even when they form a right judg- ment. They are but very unsteady guardians of liberty and property. Do you want proofs ? consult the English history, and you will find them in every page.' Mr Burke, in answer to Mr Fox, and in sup- port of the motion, spoke as follows : — 'The subject of our present debate is, in my opinion, a matter of a very serious and import- ant nature ; and it is not therefore to be dis- missed without mature deliberation. The hon- ourable gentleman who introduced it, boldly arraigns the general conduct of our courts of justice ; and the gentleman who seconded him, as boldly arraigns the conduct of a particular judge. Either charge should be alone sufficient to e.xcite our closest attention. What eftect ought then both in conjunction to produce ? they ought to impel us, if not to enquiry, at least to a minute and elaborate discussion. For what has the mover of the question arraigned? he has arraigned the general principles of jurisprudence now adopted by our judges, and has, in histvay, proved them not only unconstitutional, but illegal. He has laid before you two heads of accusation, two points, in which he conceives the judges have not done their duty. These two points are a rule 0/ law, and a rule 0/ evidence, authorized, as he asserts, neither by precedent nor by the spirit of liberty. First he tells you that judges act illegally and unconstitutionally, in directing juries not to take cognizance of the malice or innocence of a culprit's intention in cases of Hbels ; and secondly he tells you, that in cases of libels, they act illegally and uncon- stitutionally in acquainting the jury that the law infers guilt from the prima facie evidence ; a position by which masters become, even in criminal cases, responsible for the conduct of their servants. 'These are the doctrines which he arraigns, and which are now in issue before you. He asserts that they are not sanctioned by prece- dent. But here his reading seems not to have PREFACE. oaths, u or ere to pronounce their peer ^«/7/y guilty. When we hear such non- 7wt guilty been sufficiently extensive. There are prece- dents, and those too, I fear, of too much weight and authority. You have heard lord chief justice Raymond's words quoted, and nothing can be more explicit than they are, in favour of these doctrines. What ! you will say, can these be the doctrines of lord Raymond, and yet be un- known to the learned serjeant ? Why it is im- possible. A case so much in point could never escape his industry and learning : and to render the thing certain, he gives the assertion a flat contradiction. But I say that it is not only pos- sible and probable, but certain ; and let me tell you, that the way to overturn the credit of grave and universally esteemed historians, is not to give them a flat contradiction. The most positive asseverations of a modern go for nothing, when they are unsupported by the contradictory testi- mony of some ancient contemporary author. Was this heresy then adopted as an article of faith, by Raymond ? Yes, Sir, it was ; the fact is too clear, too well known, to bear dispute. Nor was it an innovation introduced by that great judge. No; he received it as a legacy from still greater judges, and among the rest, from the very bulwark of the revolution, lord Holt. ' But what though this opinion has been sanc- tioned by a series of precedents ; what though it has been embraced by men as deep skilled in law and casuistry as remarkable fur inflexible pa- triotism ; have not th.e greatest lawyers, the profoundest casuists, and the staunchest patriots erred ? Why then should the judges be thought exempted from the common lot of humanity ? Why should they be deemed infallible more than other mortals ? believe me, the wisdom of the whole nation can see farther than the sages of Westminster-hall. In a constitutional point like this, the collective knowledge and penetration of the people at large, are more to be depended on j than the boasted discernment of all the bar. The reason is clear. Their eyes are not dazzled j by the prospect of an opposite interest. The | crown has no lure sufficiently tempting to maka them forget themselves and the general good. I 'Why then should not we, on this occasion, listen to their voice, as it is heard sufficiently ! loud and distinct ? Because, forsooth, they have no voice ! because their sentiments are only to be gathered from the determinations of the ma- jority of this House ! because after a general election is closed, they have no legal existence, and have therefore no other mouth but that of ' their representatives ! Strange doctrine ! What then is become of petitioning? Are they not legally entitled to that right ? You cannot deny it, without denying the authority of the Bill of Rights. How then can you pretend that they have no legal voice, but that of their represent- ^ atives ? they have both a real and a legal voice, and they have uttered that voice. Consult the History of the reign of George the Third. In sense delivered from the bench, and find it supported by a laboured train of sophistry, that performance, which will be an everlasting monument of the folly, incapacity, and pernicious politics of our late and present ministers, you will find it demonstrated, that the majority of Englishmen have petitioned the king, and have consequently expressed their own sentiments by their own mouth, without the intervention of their deputies. IBy what rule then does the majority of this House square its conduct, when it acts in direct opposition to the majority of the people? by that rule of arithmetic, wliich, by its almighty fiat, overturned the laws of nature, decreed 296 to be greater than 1146, gave us colonel Luttrell for John Wilkes, a cuckoo in a magpy's nest to suck Its eggs. ' That there should be found gentlemen who would annihilate the people, and acknowledge no other voice but that of tiiis House, is to me not at all surprising ! because the conduct of the most violent sticklers for this doctrine, has not deserved much applause or favour from them. But that they .should have renounced reason and common sense so far, as to maintain that the majority of this assembly is the only organ by which their sentiments can to expressed, is to me truly surprising : for where, in the name of wonder, should the House acquire the necessarj- knowledge or Intelligence ? is it by turning over these musty volumes, or by rummaging these gaudy boxes which lie on j'our table ? No ; they contain none of these mysteries. How then are they to be explored ? Is there any virtue or inspiration in these benches or cushions, by which they are communicated ? or does the echo of these walls whisper the secret in your ears? No; but the echo of every other wall, the murmur of every stream, the shouts, ay, and the hoots and hisses, of every street in the nation, ring it in your ears, and deafen you with their din. Deafen you, did I say? alas ! you were deaf before, or rather dead, else you would have heard ; for their voice is loud enough to waken almost the dead. For shame, gentlemen, let us hear no more such weak reasonings and sophist- ical refinements. Far from producing conviction, they cannot even extort a smile, except perad- venture at the author, who resembles a hunter that would catch an elephant in tolls made of cobweb. The people have a voice of their own, and it must, nay It will, be sooner or later heard ; and I, as in duty bound, will always exert every nerve, and every power, of which I ana master, to hasten the completion of so desirable an event. My reverence for the judges, against whom the popular cry is now so loud, will not deter me ; because I know all judges are but men. L'ot only former judges, but juries have erred. Why not the present ? Yes, Sir. juries have erred, and they may err again. When they do, 1 shall be as ready to enquire into their conduct, as I am now into that of the judges. Gentlemen may talk of their great respect for juries, and their readiness to acquiesce in their determinations ; PREFACE. which a plain understanding is unable to follow, and which an unlearned jury, how- ever it may shock their reason, cannot be supposed qualified to refute, can it be won- dered that they should return a verdict, perplexed, absurd, or imperfect? — Lord Mansfield has not yet explained to the world, why he accepted of a verdict, which the court afterwards set aside as illegal, and which, as it took no notice of the in/tUitidoes, did not even correspond with his own charge. If he had known his duty but I am not disposed to be so complaisant, I will make no man, nor any set of men, a compli- ment of the constitution. It is too valuable an inheritance to be so lightly relinquished. When the actions of juries are praiseworthy, let them be applauded ; when they are criminal, let them be punished. Popularity should not be bought at so high a price. For my own part, let the malicious and the ungenerous say what they will, I am a blind follower of no man, nor a bond slave to any party. I have always acted accord- ing to the best information of my judgment, and the clear dictates of my conscience. On this occasion I solemnly protest before God, that I entertain no personal enmity against any man, nor have I any interested schemes to promote. My sole object in supporting the proposed en- quiry, is the public welfare and the acquittal of the judges, for I am satisfied that an acquittal will be the consequence. In acting thus, I think myself their best friend ; because no other plan will clear their character. Till this step is taken, in vain do they pretend to superior sanctity ; in he should have sent the jury back. — I speak advisedly, and am well assured that no lawyer of character, in Westminster-hall, will contradict me. To show the falsehood of lord Mansfield's doctrine, it is not neces- sary to enter into the merits of the paper which produced the trial. If every line of it were treason, his charge to the jury would still be false, absurd, illegal, and un- constitutional. If I stated the merits of my letter to the King, I should imitate LORD Mansfield, and"^ travel out of the order to wash away your sins, let Moses and the prophets ascend Mount Sinai, and bring us down the second table of the law in thunder and light- nings ; for in thunder and lightnings the consti- tution was first, and must now be established. Let the judges mount up to the source of pre- cedents and decisions, and trace the law clear and unpolluted along the stream of time, and the silent lapse of years. Let them march in procession to this House, ushered in by a long train of precedents and opinions, and lay them all in a bundle in the middle of the room. Then, and not till then, will they stand justified. Then, and not till then, will you stand justified. In vain do ynu trust to the virtue of that furred gown, or to the magic of that bauble, as Crom- well truly called it. They confer neither real power, nor, what is often its parent, a fair cha- racter. These desirable possessions are acquired by an upright conduct, and the confidence of the people.' — Edit. ^ The following quotation from a speech delivered by lord Chatham, on the eleventh of vain do some gentlemen tread their halls as holy ] December, 1770, is taken with exactness. The ground, or reverence their courts as the temples 1 reader will find it curious in itself, and very fit to of the divinity. To the people they appear the | be inserted here. 'My Lords, the verdict, given temples of idols, and false oracles, or rather as | in Woodfall's trial, was guilty of printing and the dwellings of truth and justice converted into dens of thieves and robbers. For what greater robbers can there be, than those who rob men of their laws and liberties? No man has a greater veneration than I have for the doctors of the law ; and it is for that reason that I would thus render their characters pure and unsullied as the driven snow. But will any of you pretend that this is at present the case? are publishing ONLY ; upon which too motions were made in court ; — one, in arrest of judgment, by the defendant's counsel, grounded upon the am- biguity of the verdict ; — the other, by the counsel for the crown, for a rule upon the defendant, to show cause, why the verdict should not be entered up according to the legal import of the words. On both motions, a rule was granted, and soon after the matter was argued before the not their temples profaned? has not pollution ' Court of King's Bench. The noble judge, when entered them, and penetrated into the holy of i he deflivered the opinion of the court upon the holies ? are not the priests suspected of being no | verdict, went regularly through the whole of the better than those of Bel and the Dragon, or proceedings at Nisi Prius, as well the evidence rather of being worse than those of Baal ? and j that had been given, as his own charge to the has not therefore the fire of the people's wrath jury. This proceeding would have been very almost consumed them? The lightning has proper, had a motion been made of either side for pierced the sanctuary, and rent the vail of their temple from the top even to the bottom. No- thing is whole, nothing is sound. The ten tables of the law are shattered and splintered. The ark of the covenant is lost, and passed into the hands of the uncircumcised. Both they and ye are become an abomination unto the Lord. In new trial, because either a verdict given con- trary to evidence, or an improper charge by the judge at Nisi Prius, is held to be a sufficient ground for granting a new trial. But when a motion is made in arrest of judgment, or for establishing the verdict, by entering it up accord- ing to the legal import of the words, it must be PREFACE. RKCORD. W/ien law and reason speak plainly, we do not want authority to direct on the ground of something appearing on the face of the record; and the court, in considering whether the verdict shall be established or not, are so confined to the record, that they cannot take notice of any thing that does not appear on the face of it ; in the legal phrase, they cannot travel out of the record. The noble judge did travel out of the record, and I affirm that his dis- course was irregular, extrajudicial, and 7(n/>rc- cedcntcd. His apparent motive, for doing what he knew to be w-rong, was, that he might have an opportunity of telling the public extrajudicially, that the other three judges concurred in the doctrine laid down in his charge.' — Author. 'I'he opinion of the court here referred to, was as follows ; and we give it as an extraordinary dictum, not readily to be met with in the pre- sent day. It was delivered by the lord chief justice, Nov. 20, 1770. ' This matter comes on before the court upon two rules which have been obtained ; the one by the defendant's counsel, to stay the entering up the interlocutory judgment in this cause ; the other by the attorney-general, to enter up the judgment according to the legal import of the % erdict. In considering these rules, we are naturally led to begin with the last, because the j last may decide the former ; and in doing this, it will be previously necessary to state a report of the trial. ' The defendant was tried for the I printing and publishing, in a paper called the Public Advertiser, a libel signed Junius ; and in the information the tenor of the libel was set forth, with innuendoes, to complete the blanks, and with the usual epithets, (i.) The first wit- ness, Crowder, proved the buying of the paper, which was produced, and twelve others, at the defendant's printing-house, of his servant. (2.) Harris proved payments at the stamp-office, by the defendant, for the Public Advertiser, and that the duty for the stamp upon this paper was paid by the defendant's servant. (3.J Lee, sir John Fielding's clerk, proved several payments to the defendant for advertisements in the Public Advertiser, and produced his receipt." The proof upon the trial was clear, and not controverted by the defendant's counsel, who called no witnesses. 'I'hey rested their defence in objecting to some of th2 innuendoes, but principally applied to the jury to convince them that the paper was inno- cent, and that some of the epithets in the in- formation did not apply to the intention of the defendant. No fact, in case the paper be inno- cent, can make the publication a subject of guilt ; and if the jury find it so, the defendant may have advantage of its innocence by arrest of judgment in this court ; but that is not any question here. Nor is this a case, like some of those, where a publication of a paper may be justified from par- ticular circumstances. I directed the jurj', that if they believed the innuendoes, as to persons and things, to have been properly filled up in the information, and *o be the true meaning of the our understandings. Yet, for the honour of the profession, I am content to oppose paper, and if they gave credit to the witnesses, they must find the defendant guilty ; for, if they believed them, there is no doubt but there was sufficient evidence of the defendant's printing and publishing. If the jury were obliged to deter- mine, whether the paper was in law a libel or no, or to judge whether it was criminal, or to what degree, or if they were to require proofs of a criminal intention, then this direction was wrong. I told them, as I have always done before, that whether a libel or not, was a mere question of law, arising out of the record ; and that all the epithets inserted in the information, were also formal inferences of law. A general verdict of the jury, finds only what the law implies from the ! fact. There is no necessary proof of malice to I be made ; for that is scarce possible to be pro- duced. The law implies, from the fact of publi- cation, a criminal intent. The jury stayed out a long while — many hours — and at last delivered in their verdict at my house (the objection to its being out of the city being cured by consent). To the usual question of the officer, the foreman answered in these words. Guilty of printing and publishing only. The officer has entered up the words literally, without so much as adding the usual words of reference to connect the sense. An affidavit of one of the jury has been attempt- ed to be laid before the court by the defend- ant"" counsel ; but we are all of opinion that it cannot be received. — Such affidavit can only be admitted in motion for a new trial, where there is a doubt upon the words in which the verdict was delivered, or upon the judge's notes of the evidence ; but an affidavit of a juryman cannot be admitted to explain or assert, what he thought, or intended, at the time of giving in the verdict. The motion of the attornej'-general divides it- self into two parts ; (1.) the first, to fill up the finding of the jury, with the usual words of reference, so as to connect the verdict with the information. The omission cf these words, we are of opinion, is a technical mistake of the clerk, and may be now supplied. (2.) The second head of argument, is to omit the word only in the entry of the verdict. This we are all of opinion cannot be done ; the word only must stand in the verdict. No reason can be urged for omitting the word only, but what goes to prove that it adds nothing to the sense of the verdict. If this word was omitted, the verdict would then be, guilty of printing and publishing, which is a general verdict of guilty ; for there is no other charge in the information, but printing and pub- lishing, and that alone the jury had to enquire. In the case of the King and Williams, for the North Briton, the jury found the defendant guilty of printing and publishing. The officer entered up the verdict guilty generally : the defendant received tlie sentence of this court, and no objection was taken by his counsel. Where there are more charges in an information than one, the finding the defendant guilty of printing PREFACE. 123 one lawyer to another, especially when it 1 happens that the king's attorney-general j has virtually disclaimed the doctrine by \ which the chief justice meant to insure '. success to the prosecution. The opinion 1 of the plaintiff's counsel (however it may be otherwise insignificant) is weighty in the scale of the defendant. — My Lord Chief \ Justice De Grey, who filed the information IX officio, is directly with me. If he had concurred in lord Mansfield's doctrine, the trial must have been a very short one. The facts were either admitted by Woodfall's counsel, or easily proved to the satisfaction of the jury. But Mr De Grey, far from thinking he should acquit himself of his duty by barely proving the facts, entered largely, and I confess not without ability, into the demerits of the paper, which he called a seditious libel. He dwelt but lightly upon those points, which (according to lord Mansfield) were the only matter of consideration to the jury. The criminal intent, the Ubellous matter, the pernicious tendency of the paper itself, were the topics on which he principally insisted, and of which, for more than an hour, he tortured his faculties to convince the jury. If he agreed in opinion with lord Mansfield, his discourse was impertinent, ridiculous, and unseasonable. But, understanding the law as I do, what he said was at least consist- ent and to the purpose. and publishing only, would be an acquittal of the other charges ; but here the jury had nothing else to find. They found him guilty of printing and publishing only, which was all of which they were to find him guilty, being the only crime with which he was charged. We are all of opinion, that my direction to the jury is right, and according to law ; the positions contained in it never were doubted ; it never has been, nor is it now, complained of in this court. There clearly can be no judgment of acquittal, because the fact found by the jury is the only question they had to try. I'he single doubt that remains, is as to the meaning of the word otily. It would be im- proper now to make a question of the law, as I lay it down. In all the reports which I have made upon trials for libels, where my direction has been uniformly the same, the bar may re- member the dead, and the living who are now absent, all to have concurred in agreeing that it was law thus to direct the jury in matter of libel. Taking then the law to be thus,.the only question If any honest man should still be inchned to leave the construction of libels to the court, I would intreat him to consider what a dreadful complication of hardships he imposes upon his fellow-subject. — In the first place, the prosecution commences by itiformation of an officer of the crown, not by the regular constitutional mode of in- dictment before a grand jury. — As the fact is usually admitted, or in general can easily be proved, the office of the petty jury is nugatory. — The court then judges of the nature and extent of the offence, and deter- mines ad arbitrium, the quantum of the punishment, from a small fine to a heavy one, to repeated whipping, to pillory, and unlimited imprisonment. Cutting off ears and noses jnight still be inflicted by a reso- lute judge ; but I will be candid enough to suppose that penalties, so apparently shock- ing to humanity, would not be hazarded in these times. — In all other criminal prosecu- tions, the jury decides upon the fact and the crime in one word, and the court pro- nounces a certain sentence, which is the sentence of the law, not of the judge. II lord Mansfield's doctrine be received, the jury must either find a verdict of acquittal, contrary to evidence (v.hich, I can con- ceive, might be done by very conscientious men, rather than trust a fellow-creature to is whether any meaning, which will affect the verdict, can be put upon the word only, as it stands upon this record. If the jury meant to say, they did not find the paper a libel, or the intent of the defendant to be criminal in publish- ing it, or that they did not find the truth and application of the epithets in the information, all this would have vitiated the verdict ; for it would have been entering into matters not before them. But if they meant to say, that they did not find the meaning put upon the innuendoes, we should [ enter up judgment of acquittal ; but this would I be contradictor^^ to the former part of their I verdict. It is impossible to say w ith certainty, what they meant. Possibly they meant differ- ently, and some of them might intend not to find the whole sense put upon the innuendoes. This would be the most favourable supposition for the defendant, to which the judges will always lean. But if a doubt arises on the import of the verdict, the court should grant a venire facias de novo, which it is in their power to do, when a verdict of acquittal has not been found for the defend- ant.' — Edit. 124 PREFACE. lord Mansfield s mercy), or they must leave to the court two offices, never but in this instance united, of finding guilty, and awarding punibhment. But, says this honest lord chief justice, ' If the paper be not criminal, the defend- ant ' (though found guilty by his peers) ' is in no danger, for he may move the court in arrest of judgment.' — True, my good Lord, but who is to determine upon the motion ? — Is not the court still to decide, whether judgment shall be entered up or not ; and is not the defendant this way as effectually deprived of judgment by his peers, as if he were tried in a court of civil law, or in the j chambers of the inquisition ? It is you, my j Lord, who then try the crime, not the jury. [ As to the probable effect of a motion in I arrest of judgment, I shall only observe, that no reasonable man would be so eager to possess himself of the invidious power of inflicting punishment, if he were not pre- determined to make use of it. Again : — We are told that judge and jury have a distinct office ; — that the jury is to find the fact, and the judge to dehver the law. De jure respondent judices, de facto jurati. The dictum is true, though not in the sense given to it by lord Matisfield. The jury are undoubtedly to determine the fact, that is, whether the defendant did or did not commit the crime charged against him. The judge pronounces the sentence annexed by law to that fact so found ; and if, in the course of the trial, any question of law arises, both the counsel and the jury must, of necessity, appeal to the judge, and leave it to his decision. An exception, or plea in bar, may be allowed by the court ; but, when issue is joined, and the jury have received their charge, it is not possible, in the nature of things, for them to separate the law from the fact, unless they think i proper to return a special verdict. It has also been alledged that, although ' a common jury are sufficient to determine a j plain matter of fact, they are not qualified to comprehend the meaning, or to judge of the tendency, of a seditious libel. In answer ' to this objection (which, if well founded, \ would prove nothing as to the strict right of returning a general verdict), I might safely deny the truth of the assertion. Englishmen of that rank from which juries are usually taken, are not so illiterate as (to serve a particular purpose) they are now represented. Or, admitting the fact, let a special jury "be summoned in all cases of diffi- culty and importance, and the objection is removed. But the truth is, that if a paper, supposed to be a libel upon government, be so obscurely worded, that twelve common men cannot possibly see the seditious mean- ing and tendency of it, it is in effect no libel. It cannot inflame the minds of the people, nor alienate their affections from government ; for they no more understand what it means, than if it were pubHshed in a language unknown to them. Upon the whole matter, it appears to my understanding clear beyond a doubt, that if, in any future prosecution for a seditious libel, the jury should bring in a verdict of acquittal not warranted by the evidence, it will be owing to the false and absurd doc- trines laid down by lord Mansfield. Dis- gusted at the odious artifices made use of by the judge to mislead and perplex them, guarded against his sophistry, and con- vinced of the falsehood of his assertions, they may perhaps determine to thwart his detestable purpose, and defeat him at any rate. To him, at least, they will do sub- stantial justice. — Whereas, if the whole charge, laid in the information, be fairly and honestly submitted to the jury, there is no reason whatsoever to presume that twelve men, upon their oaths, will not de- cide impartially between the king and the defendant. The numerous instances, in our state trials, of verdicts recovered for the king, sufficiently refute the false and scan- dalous imputations thrown by the abettors of lord Mansfield upon the integrity of juries. — But even admitting the supposition that, in times of universal discontent, arising from the notorious maladministra- tion of pubhc affairs, a seditious writer should escape punisliment, it makes nothing against my general argument. If juries are PREFACE. 125 fallible, to what other tribunal shall we appeal? — If juries cannot safely be trusted, shall we unite the offices of judge and jury, so wisely divided by the constitution, and trust implicitly to lord Matisfieldf — Are the judges of the Court of King's Bench more likely to be unbiassed and impartial, than twelve yeomen, burgesses, or gentle- men taken indifferently from the county at large? — Or, in short, shall there be no decision, until we have instituted a tribunal, from which no possible abuse or incon- venience whatsoever can arise? — If I am not grossly mistaken, these questions carry a decisive answer along with them.i Having cleared the freedom of the press from a restraint, equally unnecessary and illegal, I return to the use which has been made of it in the present publication. National reflections, I confess, are not to be justified in theory, nor upon any general principles. To know how well they are deserved, and how justly they have been applied, we must have the evidence of facts before us. We must be conversant with the Scots in private life, and observe their prin- ciples of acting to us, and to each other ; — the characteristic prudence, the selfish nationality, the indefatigable smile, the persevering assiduity, the everlasting pro- fession of a discreet and moderate resent- ment. — If the instance were not too import- ant for an experiment, it might not be amiss to confide a httle in their integrity. — , Without any abstract reasoning upon causes and effects, we shall soon be con- vinced by experience, that the Scots, trans- ' planted from their own country, are always a distinct and separate body from the people who receive them. In other settle- ments, they only love themselves ; — in Ettg- land, they cordially love themselves, and as ' The questions are so decisive, and the general train of reasoning here advanced so clear and convincing, that the point has been ever since settled upon the authority of common sense, in the feelings and understanding of every man, whether professional or unprofessional. And all j that remained to be done, was an interference of the legislature to prevent a revival of the ques- tion by any future, judge, upon any future case whatsoever ; a business patriotically undertaken cordially hate their neighbours. For the remainder of their good qualities, I must appeal to the reader's observation, unless he will accept of viy lord Barringtcn s authority. In a letter to the late lord Mel- cornbe, published by Mr Lee, he expresses himself with a truth and accuracy not very common in his lordship's lucubrations. — ' And Cockburn, like most of his country- men, is as abject to those above him, as he is insolent to those below him.' 2 — I am far from meaning to impeach the articles of the Union. If the true spirit of those articles were religiously adhered to, we should not see such a multitude of Scotch com- moners in the Lower House as represent- atives of Enghsh boroughs, while not a single Scotch borough is ever represented by an Englishman. We should not see English peerages given to Scotch ladies, or to the elder sons of Scotch peers, and the number of sixteen doubled and trebled by a scandalous evasion of the Act of Union. — If it should ever be thought advisable to dissolve an act, the violation or observance of which is invariably directed by the ad- vantage and interest of the Scots, I shall say very sincerely with Sir Edward Coke, ' When poor England stood alone, and had not the access of another kingdom, and yet had more and as potent enemies as it now hath, yet the king of England prevailed.' 3 Some opinion may now be expected from me, upon a point of equal delicacy to the writer, and hazard to the printer. When the character of the chief magis- trate is in question, more must be under- stood than may safely be expressed. If it be really a part of our constitution, and not a mere dictutn of the law, that the King can do no wrong, it is not the only instance, in the wisest of human institutions, where theory is at variance with practice. — by a statesman, whose name will ever be con- nected with genuine patriotism, the late Mr Fox, who in 1791 mtroduced a bill into parliament for this purpose, and in 1792 succeeded in carrj'ing it through both Houses. See farther on this subject, note to Letter XLI., p. 247.— Edit. ^ See the same passage quoted in Miscel- laneous Letter, No. CXI.— Edit. 3 Parliamentary History, 7. V. p. 400. [26 PREFACE. That the sovereign of this country is not ' amenable to any form of trial, known to the laws, is unquestionable. But exemption , from punishment is a singular privilege J annexed to the royal character, and no way ■ excludes the possibility of deserving it. i How long, and to what extent, a king of England may be protected by the forms, when he violates the spirit of the constitu- tion, deserves to be considered. A mistake in this matter proved fatal to Charles and his son. — For my own part, far from think- ing that the king can do no wrong, far from suffering myself to be deterred or im- posed upon by the language of forms, in opposition to the substantial evidence of truth, if it were my misfortune to live under the inauspicious reign of a prince, whose whole life was employed in one base, con- temptible struggle with the free spirit of his people, or in the detestable endeavour to corrupt their moral principles, I would not scruple to declare to him, — ' Sir, You alone are the author of the greatest wrong to Your subjects and to Yourself. Instead of reigning in the hearts of Your people, instead of commanding their lives and for- tunes through the medium of their affec- tions, has not the strength of the crown, whether influence or prerogative, been uni- formly exerted, for eleven years together, to support a narrow, pitiful system of government, which defeats itself, and an- swers no one purpose of real power, profit, or personal satisfaction to You ? — With the greatest unappropriated revenue of any prince in Europe, have we not seen You reduced to such vile and sordid distresses, as would have conducted any other man to a prison ? — With a great military, and the greatest naval power in the known world, have not foreign nations repeatedly insulted You with impunity ? — Is it not notorious tluit the vast revenues, extorted from the labour and industry of Your subjects, and given You to do honour to Yourself and to the nation, ar2 dissipated in corrupting their representatives?— Aie You a Prince of the House of Hanover, and do You exclude all the leadmg Whig families from Your councils? — Do You profess to gcvuin ac- cording to law, and is it consistent with that profession, to impart Your confidence and affection to those men only, who, though now perhaps detached from the desperate cause of the Pretender, are marked in this country by an hereditary attachment to high and arbitrary principles of government ? — Are You so infatuated as to take the sense of Your people from the representation of ministers, or from the shouts of a mob, notoriously hired to sur- round Your coach, or stationed at a theatre ? — And if You are, in reality, that public Man, that King, that Magistrate, which these questions suppose You to be, is it any answer to Your people, to say that, among Your domestics You are good-hu- moured ;— that to oiie lady You are faithful ; — that to Your children You are indulgent ? — Sir, the man who addresses You in these terms is Your best friend. He would will- ingly hazard his life in defence of Your title to the crown ; and, 'A power be Vour object, would still show You, how possible it is for a King of England, by the noblest means, to be the most absolute prince in Europe. You have no enemies. Sir, but those who persuade You to aim at power without right, and who think it flattery to tell You, that the character of King dissolves the natural relation between guilt and pun- ishment.' I cannot conceive that there is a heart so callous, or an understanding so depraved, as to attend to a discourse of this nature, and not to feel the force of it. But where is the man, among those who have access to the closet, resolute and honest enough to deliver it. The liberty of the press is our only resource. It will command an audience w^hen every honest man in the kingdom is excluded. This glorious privi- lege may be a security to the king, as well as a resource to his people. Had there been no star-chamber, there would have been no rebellion against Charles the First. The constant censure and admonition of the press would have corrected his conduct, prevented a civil war, and saved him from PREFACE. 127 an ignomii:ious death.— I am no friend to the doctrine of precedents exclusive of right, though lawyers often tell us, that whatever has been once done, may lawfully be done again. I shall conclude this preface with a quot- ation, apphcable to the subject, from a foreigii writer,' whose essay on the English constitution I beg leave to recommend to the public, as performance deep, solid, and ingenious. ' In short, whoever considers what it is, that constitutes the moving principle of what we call great affairs, and the invinci- ble sensibility of man to the opinion of his fellow-creatures, will not hesitate to affirm that, if it were possible for the liberty of ' Monsieur de Lohne. the press to exist in a despotic government, and (what is not less difficult) for it to exist without changing the constitution, this liberty of the press would alone form a counterpoise to the power of the prince. If, for example, in an empire of the East, a sanctuary could be found, which, rendered respectable by the ancient religion of the people, might insure safety to those who should bring thither their observations of any kind ; and that, from thence, printed papers should issue, which, under a certain seal, might be equally respected ; and which, in their daily appearance, should examine and freely discuss the conduct of the cadis, the bashaws, the vizir, the divan, and the sultan himself, that would introduce immediately some degree of liberty." LETTERS JUNIUS LETTER I. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 21 January, 1769. The submission of a free people to the executive authority of government is no more than a comphance with laws, which they themselves have enacted. While the national honour is firmly maintained abroad, and while justice is impartially ad- ministered at home, the obedience of the subject will be voluntary, cheerful, and I might almost say, unlimited. A generous nation is grateful even for the preservation of its rights, and willingly extends the re- spect due to the office of a good prince into an affection for his person. Loyalty, in the heart and understanding of an Englishman, is a rational attachment to the guardian of the laws. Prejudices and passion have sometimes carried it to a criminal length ; and, whatever foreigc^rs may imagine, we know that Englishmen have erred as much in a mistaken zeal for particular persons and families, as they ever did in defence of what they thought most dear and interest- ing to themselves. ^ The arrangement of the ministry, at the period in question, was as follows : — duke of Grafton, first lord of the treasury ; lord North, chancellor of the exchequer ; lord Camden, lord chancellor ; lord viscount Townshcnd, lord-lieu- tenant of Ireland ; earl Rorhford, minister for the foreign department ; viscount Weymouth (afterwards marquis of Bath), for the home de- partment ; earl of Hillsborough (since marquis It naturally fills us with n;sentment, to see such a temper insulted, or abused. In reading the history of a free people, whose rights have been invaded, we are interested in their cause. Our own feelings tell us how long they ought to have submitted, and at what moment it would have been treachery to themselves not to have resisted. How much warmer will be our resentment, if experience should bring the fatal example home to ourselves ! The situation of this country is alarming enough to rouse the attention of every man, who pretends to a concern for the pubhc welfare. Appearances justify suspicion ; and, when the safety of a nation is at stake, suspicion is a just ground of enquiry. Let us enter into it with candour and decency. Respect is due to the station of ministers ; and, if a resolution must at last be taken, there is none so likely to be supported with firmness, as that which has been adopted with moderation. The ruin or prosperity of a state depends so much upon the administration of its government, that, to be acquainted with the merit of a ministry, we need only ob- serve the condition of the people. ^ If we of Downshire), American minister ; earl Gower, lord president of the council ; earl Lrislol, lord privy seal ; sir Edw. Hawke, first lord of the admiraltj' ; viscount Barrington, secretary at war; marquis of Granby, master-gen. of the ordnance ; lord Howe, treasurer of the navy ; Mr De Grey and j\Ir Dunning (subseiiuently lords Walsingham and Ashburton], attorney and solicitor-general. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 129 see them obedient to the laws, prosperous in their industry, united at home, and re- spected abroad, we may reasonably presume that their affairs are conducted by men of experience, abilities, and virtue. If on the contrary, we see an universal spirit of dis- trust and dissatisfaction, a rapid decay of trade, dissensions in all parts of the empire, and a total loss of respect in the eyes of foreign powers, we may pronounce, without hesitation, that the government of that country is weak, distracted, and corrupt. The multitude, in all countries, are patient to a certain point. Ill-usage may rouse their indignation, and hurry them into excesses, but the original fault is in government. Perhaps there never was an instance of a change, in the circumstances and temper of a whole nation, so sudden and extraor- dinary as that which the misconduct u ministers has, within these very few years, produced in Great Britain. When our gracious Sovereign ascended the throne, we were a flourishing and a contented people. If the personal virtues of a king could have insured the happiness of his subjects, the scene could not have altered so entirely as it has done. The idea of uniting all parties, of trying all characters, and of distributing the offices of state by rotation, was gracious and benevolent to an extreme, though it has not yet produced the many salutary effects which were in- tended by it. To say nothing of the wisdom of such a plan, it undoubtedly arose from an unbounded goodness of heart, in which folly had no share. It was not a capricious partiality to new faces :— it was not a natural turn for low intrigue ; nor was it the treacherous amusement of double and triple negotiations. No, Sir, it arose from a continued anxiety, in the purest of all possible hearts, for the general welfare. Unfortunately for us, the event has not been answerable to the design. After a ' The duke of Grafton took the office of secre- tary' of state, with an engagement to support the marquis of Rockingham's administration. He resigned however in a little time, under pre- tence that he could not act without lord Chat- ham, nor bear to see Mr Wilkes abandoned ; but rapid succession of changes, we are reduced to that state, which hardly any change can mend. Yet there is no extremity of dis- tress, which of itself ought to reduce a great nation to despair. It is not the disorder, but the physician ; — it is not a casual con- currence of calamitous circumstances, it is the pernicious hand of government, which alone can make a whole people desperate. Without much political sagacity, or any extraordinary depth of observation, we need only mark how the principal departments of the state are bestowed, and look no farther for the true cause of every mischief that befalls us. The finances of a nation, sinking under its debts and expenses, are committed to a young nobleman already ruined by play.i Introduced to act under the auspices of lord Chatham, and left at tlie head of affairs by that nobleman's retreat, he be- came minister by accident ; but deserting the principles and professions which gave him a moment's popularity, we see him, from every honourable engagement to the public, an apostate by design. As for busi- ness, the world yet knows nothing of his talents or resolution ; unless a wayward, wavering inconsistency be a mark of genius, and caprice a demonstration of spirit. It may be said perhaps, that it is his Grace's province, as surely it is his passion, rather to distribute than to save the public money, and that while lord North is chancellor of the Exchequer, the first lord of the Trea- sury may be as thoughtless and as extrava- gant as he pleases. I hope, however, he will not rely too much on the fertility of lord North's genius for finance. His Lord- ship is yet to give us the first proof of his abilities : It may be candid to suppose that he has hitherto voluntarily concealed his talents ; intending perhaps to astonish the world, when we least expect it, with a knowledge of trade, a choice of expedients, and a depth of resources equal to the ne- that under lord Chatham he would act in a/iy office. This was the signal of lord Rocking- ham's dismission. When lord Chatham came in, the duke got possession of the treasury. Reader, mark the consequence ! I30 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. cessities, and far beyond the hopes, of his country. He must now exert the whole power of his capacity, if he would wish us to forget, that, since he has been in office, no plan has been formed, no system ad- hered to, nor any one important measure adopted for the relief of public credit. If his plan for the service of the current year be not irrevocably fixed on, let me warn him to think seriously of consequences be- fore he ventures to increase the public debt.i Outraged and oppressed as we are, this nation will not bear, after a six years' peace, to see new millions borrowed, without an eventual diminution of debt, or reduction of interest. The attempt might rouse a spirit of resentment, which might reach beyond the sacrifice of a minister. As to the debt upon the civil list, the people of England expect that it will not be paid without a strict enquiry how it was incurred. If it must be paid by parliament, let me advise the chancellor of the Exchequer to think of some better expedient than a lottery. To support an expensive war, or in circum- stances of absolute necessity, a lottery may perhaps be allowable ; but, besides that it is at all times the very worst way of raising money upon the people, I think it ill be- comes the royal dignity to have the debts of a king provided for, like the repairs of a country bridge, or a decayed hospital. The management of the king's affairs in the House of Commons cannot be more dis- graced than it has been. A leading minister repeatedly called down for absolute ignor- ance ; — ridiculous motions ridiculously withdrawn ;— deliberate plans disconcert- ed, 2 and a week's preparation of graceful oratory lost in a moment, give us some, though not an adequate, idea of lord North's parliamentary abilities and influence. Yet before he had the misfortune to be chan- ' The public debt at the conclusion of the peace in 1763. amounted to ^148,377,618.— Edit. ^ This happened frequently to poor lord North. 3 Yet Junius has been called the partisan of lord Chatham ! * Upon the death of queen Anne a third secre- taryship, antecedently unknown to the consti- tution, was created, professing to be for the superintendence of Scotland, which terminated cellor of the Exchequer, he was neither an object of derision to his enemies, nor of melancholy pity to his friends. A series of inconsistent measures had alienated the colonies from their duty as subjects, and from their natural affection to their common country. When Mr Grenville was placed at the head of the Treasury, he felt the impossibility of Great Britain's supporting such an establishment as her former successes had made indis- pensable, and at the same time of giving any sensible relief to foreign trade, and to the weight of the public debt. He thought it equitable that those parts of the empire, which had benefited most by the expenses of the war, should contribute something to the expenses of the peace, and he had no doubt of the constitutional right vested in parliament to raise that contribution. But, unfortunately for this country, Mr Gren- ville was at any rate to be distressed, be- cause he was minister, and Mr Pitt^ and lord Camden were to be the patrons of America, because they were in opposition. Their declarations gave spirit and argu- ment to the colonies, and while perhaps they meant no more than the ruin of a minister, they in effect divided one half of the empire from the other. Under one administration the Stamp Act is made ; under the second it is repealed ; under the third, in spite of all experience, a new mode of taxing the colonies is' in- vented, and a question revived, which ought to have been buried in oblivion. In these circumstances a new office is estab- lished for the business of the plantations, and the earl of Hillsborough called forth, at a most critical season, to govern Ame- rica.'* The choice at least announced to us I a man of superior capacity and knowledge. Whether he be so or not, let his despatches, I as far as they have appeared, let his mea- upon the cessation of the rebellion. In 1768, for the purpose of finding a post for the earl of Hillsborough, the office of third secretary was revived ; and Scotland having no peculiar de- mand for his talents, he was denominated secre- tary for America. For the rest see our author's preceding letters, suhscrihed A tticris und Luct'ta, in the Miscellaneous Collection. — Edit. LETFERS OF JUNIUS. 131 sures as far as they have operated, de- termine for him. In the former we have seen strong assertions without proof, de- clamation without argument, and violent censures without dignity or moderation ; but neither correctness in the composition, nor judgment in the design. As for his measures, let it be remembered, that he was called upon to conciUate and unite ; and that, when he entered into office, the most refractory of the colonies were still disposed to proceed by the constitutional methods of petition and remonstrance. Since that period they have been driven into excesses little short of rebellion. Pe- titions have been hindered from reaching the throne ; and the continuance of one of the principal assemblies rested upon an arbitrary condition, ^ which, considering the temper they were in, it was impossible they should comply with, and which would have availed nothing as to the general question, if it had been complied with. So violent, and I believe I may call it so unconstitu- tional, an exertion of the prerogative, to say nothing of the weak, injudicious terms in which it was conveyed, gives us as hum- ble an opinion of his Lordship's capacity, as it does of his temper and moderation. While we are at peace with other nations, our military force may perhaps be spared to support the earl of Hillsborough's mea- sures in America. Whenever that force shall be necessarily withdrawn or diminish- ed, the dismission of such a minister will neither console us for his impnidence, nor remove the settled resentment of a people, who, complaining of an act of the legisla- ture, are outraged by an unwarrantable stretch of prerogative, and, supporting their claims by argument, are insulted with declamation. Drawing lots would be a prudent and reasonable method of appointing the officers of state, compared to a late disposition of the secretary's office. Lord Rochford was ' That they should retract one of their reso- lutions, and erase the entry of it. ^ It was pretended that the earl of Rochford, while ambassador in France, had quarrelled with acquainted with the affairs and temper of the southern courts : lord Weymouth was equally quahfied for either department.^ By what unaccountable caprice has it hap- pened, that the latter, who pretends to no experience whatsoever, is removed to the most important of the two departments, and the former by preference placed in an office, where his experience can be of no use to him? lord Weymouth had distin- guished himself in his first employment by a spirited, if not judicious conduct. He had animated the civil magistrate beyond the tone of civil authority, and had directed the operations of the army to more than military execution. Recovered from the errors of his youth, from the distraction of play, and the bewitching smiles of Bur- gundy, behold him exerting the whole strength of his clear, unclouded faculties, in the ser\ice of the crown. It was not the heat of midnight excesses, nor ignorance of the laws, nor the furious spirit of the house of Bedford : No, Sir, when this re- spectable minister interposed his authority between the magistrate and the people, and signed the mandate, on which, for aught he knew, the lives of thousands de- pended, he did it from the deliberate motion of his heart, supported by the best of his judgment. It has lately been a fashion to pay a compliment to the bravery and generosity of the commander-in-chief, 3 at the expense of his understanding. They who love him least make no question of his courage, while his friends dwell chiefly on the facility of his disposition. Admitting him to be as brave as a total absence of all feeling and reflection can make him, let us see what sort of merit he derives from the remainder of his character. If it be generosity to accumulate in his own person and family a number of lucrative employments ; to pro- vide, at the public expense, for every crea- ture that bears the name of Manners , r^nd, the duke of Choiseuil, and that therefore he was appointed to the northern department, out of compliment to the French minister. 3 The late lord Granby. 132 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. neglecting the merit and services of tlie I rest of the army, to heap promotions upon his favourites and dependants, the present commander-in-chief is the most generous man alive. Nature has been sparing of her gifts to this noble lord ; but where birth and fortune are united, we expect the noble pride and independence of a man of spirit, { not the servile, humiliating compliances of a courtier. As to the goodness of his heart, [ if a proof of it be taken from the facility of j never refusing, what conclusion shall we i draw from the independency of never per- forming ? And if the discipline of the army | be in any degree preserved, what thanks are due to a man, whose cares, notoriously confined to filling up vacancies, have de- graded the office of commander-in-chief into a broker of commissions ! With respect to the navy, I shall only say, that this country is so highly indebted to sir Edward Havvke, that no expense should be spired to secure to him an honourable and affluent retreat. The pure and" impartial administration of justice is perhaps the firmest bond to secure a cheerful submission of the people, and to engage their affections to government. It is not sufficient that questions of private right and wrong are justly decided, nor that judges are superior to the vileness of pe- cuniary corruption. Jefferies himself, when the court had no interest, was an upright judge. A court of justice may be subject to another sort of bias, more important and per- nicious, as it reaches beyond the interest of individuals, and affects the whole comfT^unity. A judge under the influence of government, may be honest enough in the decision of private causes, yet a traitor to the public. When a victim is marked out by the ministry, this judge will offer himself to perform the sacrifice. He will not scruple to prostitute his dignity, and betray the sanctity of his office, whenever an arbitrary point is to be carried for government, or the resentments of a court are to be gratified. These principles and proceedings, odious and contemptible as *bey are, in effect are no less injudicious, ri wise and generous people are roused by every appearance of oppressive, unconstitutional measures, whether those measures are supported openly by the power of government, or masked under the forms of a court of just- ice. Prudence and self-preservation will oblige the most moderate dispositions to make common cause, even with a man whose conduct they censure, if they see him persecuted in a way which the real spirit of the laws will not justify. ^ The facts, on which these remarks are founded, are too notorious to require an application. This, Sir, is the detail. In one view behold a nation overwhelmed with debt ; her revenues w^asted ; her trade declining ; the affections of her colonies alienated ; the duty of the magistrate transferred to the soldiery ; a gallant army, which never fought unwillingly but against their fellow- subjects, mouldering away for want of the direction of a man of common abilities and spirit ; and, in the last instance, the ad- ministration of justice become odious and suspected to the whole body of the people. This deplorable scene admits but of one addition — that we are governed by counsels, from which a reasonable man can expect no remedy but poison, no relief but death. If, by the immediate interposition of Providence, it w-ere possible for us to escape a crisis so full of terror and despair, posterity will not believe the history of the present times. They will either conclude that our distresses were imaginary, or that we had the good fortune to be governed by men of acknowledged integrity and wis- dom : they will not beheve it possible that their ancestors could have survived, or recovered from so desperate a condition, while a duke of Grafton was prime minister, a lord North chancellor of the Exchequer, a Weymouth and a Hillsborough secre- taries of state, a Granby commander-in- chief, and a Mansfield chief criminal judge of the kingdom. JUNIUS. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 133 LETTER IL 10 THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 26 January, 1769. The kingdom swarms with such numbers of felonious robbers of private character and virtue, that no honest or good man is safe ; especially as these cowardly, base assassins stab in the dark, without having the courage to sign their real names to their malevolent and wicked productions. A writer, who signs himself Junius, in the Public Advertiser of the 21st instant, opens the deplorable situation of this country m a very affecting manner ; with a pompous parade of his candour and decency, he tells us, that we see dissensions in all parts of the empire, an universal spirit of distrust and dissatisfaction, and a total loss of respect towards us in the eyes of foreign powers. But this writer, wi*h all his boasted candour, has not t yld us the real cause of the evils he so pathetically enumer- ates. I shall take the liberty to explain the cause for him. Junius, and such writers as himself, occasion all the mischiefs com- plained of, by falsely and maliciously traducing the best characters in the king- dom. For when our deluded people at home, and foreigners abroad, read the poisonous and inflammatory hbels that are daily published with impunity, to vilify those who are any way distinguished by their good qualities and eminent virtues ; when they find no notice taken of, or reply given to, these slanderous tongues and pens, their conclusion is, that both the ministers and the nation have been fairly described, and they act accordingly. I think it therefore the duty of every good citizen to stand forth, and endeavour to undeceive the public, when the vilest arts are made use of to defame and blacken the brightest characters among us. An eminent author affirms it to be almost as criminal to hear a worthy man traduced, without attempting his justification, as to be the author of the calumny against him. For my own part, I think it a sort of mis- prision of treason against society. No man therefore who knows lord Granby, can possibly hear so good and great a character most vilely abused, without a warm and just indignation against this Junius, this high-priest of envy, malice, and all un- charitableness, who has endeavoured to sacrifice our beloved commander-in-chief at the altars of his horrid deities. Nor is the injury done to his Lordship alone, ,but to the whole nation, which may too soon feel the contempt, and consequently the attacks, of our late enemies, if they can be induced to believe that the person on whom the safety of these kingdoms so much depends, is unequal to his high station, and destitute of those qualities which form a good general. One would have thought that his Lordship's services in the cause of his country, from the battle of CuUoden to his most glorious conclusion of the late war, might have entitled him to common respect and decency at least ; but this uncandid, indecent writer, has gone so far as to turn one of the most amiable men of the age, into a stupid, unfeeling, and senseless being ; possessed indeed of a per- sonal courage, but void of those essential qualities which distinguish the commander from the common soldier. A very long, uninterrupted, impartial, and I will add, a most disinterested friend- ship with lord Granby, gives me the right to affirm, that all JUNiUs's assertions are false and scandalous. Lord Granby's courage, though of the brightest and most ardent kind, is among the lowest of his numerous good quahties ; he was formed to excel in war by nature's liberality to his mind as well as person. Educated and instructed by his most noble father, and a most spirited as well as excellent scholar, the present bishop of Bangor.i he was trained to the nicest sense of honour, and to the truest and noblest sort of pride, that of never doing or suffering a mean action, A sincere love and attachment to his king and country, ' Dr John Ewer.— Edit. 134 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. and to their glory, first impelled him to the field, where he never gained aught but honour. He impaired, through his bounty, his own fortuns ; for his bounty, which this writer would in vain depreciate, is founded upon the noblest of the human affections, it flows from a heart melting to goodness from the most refined humanity. Can a man, who is described as unfeeling, and void of reflection, be constantly employed in seeking proper objects on whom to ex- ercise those glorious virtues of compassion and generosity ? The distressed officer, the soldier, the widow, the orphan, and a long hst besides, know that vanity has no share in his frequent donations ; he gives, be- cause he feels their distresses. Nor has he ever been rapacious with one hand to be bountiful with the other ; yet this uncandid Junius would insinuate, that the dignity of the commander-in-chief is depraved into the base office of a commission broker ; that is, lord Granby bargains for the sale of commissions ; for it must have this mean- ing, if it has any at all. But where is the man living who can justly charge his Lord- ship with such mean practices ? Why does not Junius produce him? Junius knows that he has no other means of wounding this hero, than from some missile weapon, shot from an obscure corner : He seeks, as all such defamatory wTiters do, spargere voces In zndgum atnbiguas to raise suspicion in the minds of the people. But I hope that my countrymen will be no longer imposed upon by artful and de- signing men, or by wretches, who, bank- rupts in business, in fame, and in fortune, mean nothing more than to involve this countr}' in the same common ruin with themselves. Hence it is, that they are con- standy aiming their dark, and- too often fatal, weapons against those who stand forth as the bulwark of our national safety. Lord Granby was too conspicuous a mark not to be their object. He is next attacked for being unfaithful to his promises and en- gagements : Where are JUNiuss proofs? Although 1 could give some instances, wliere a breach of promise would be a virtue, especially in the case of those who would pervert the open, unsuspecting mo- ments of convivial mirth, into sly, insidious applications for preferment, or party sys- tems, and would endeavour to surprise a good man, who cannot bear to see anyone leave him dissatisfied, into unguarded promises. Lord Granby's attention to his own family and relations is called selfish. Had he not attended to them, when fair and just opportunities presented themselves, I should have thought him unfeeling and void of reflection indeed. How are any man's friends or relations to be provided for, but from the influence and protection of the patron ? It is unfair to suppose that lord Granby's friends have not as much merit as the friends of any other great man : If he is generous at the public expense, as Junius invidiously calls it, the public is at no more expense for his Lordship's friends, than it would be if any other set of men possessed those offices. The charge is ridiculous ! The last charge against lord Granby is of a most serious and alarming nature indeed. Junius asserts, that the army is mouldering away for want of the direction of a man of common abilities and spirit. The present condition of the army gives the directest lie to his assertions. It was never upon a more respectable footing with regard to discipline, and all the essentials that can form good soldiers. Lord Ligonier de- livered a firm and noble palladium of our safeties into lord Granby's hands, who has kept it in the same good order in which he received it. The strictest care has been taken to fill up the vacant commissions, with such gentlemen as have the glory of their ancestors to support, as well as their own, and are doubly bound to the cause of their king and country, from motives of private property, as well as public spirit. The adjutant-general, 1 who has the imme- diate care of the troops after lord Granby, is an officer who would do great honour to * Harvey.— Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 135 any sen-ice in Europe, for his correct arrangements, good sense and discernment upon all occasions, and for a punctuality and precision which give the most entire satisfaction to all who are obliged to con- sult him. The reviewing generals, who inspect the army twice a year, have been selected with the greatest care, and have answered the important tnist reposed in them in the most laudable manner. Their reports of the condition of the army are much more to be credited than those of Junius, whom I do advise to atone for his shameful aspersions, by asking pardon of lord Granby, and the whole kingdom, whom he has offended by his abominable scandals. In short, to turn JuNius's own batter)' against him, I must assert, in his own words, ' that he has given strong assertions without proof, declamation with- out argument, and violent censures without dignity or moderation." WILLIAM DRAPER.i LETTER III. TO SIR WILLI.\M DR.\PER, KNIGHT OF THE B.\TH. Sir, 7 Febrtiary, 1769. The defence of lord Granby does * As a correspondent of Junius in this and several other letters, the following short notice of sir William Draper cannot be unacceptable to the reader. We take it by Mr Chalmers's per- mission from his Appendix to the Supplemental Apology for the Believers in the supposititious Shakespeare papers, p. 80. ' Sir William, as a scholar, had been bred at Eton, and King's college, Cambridge ; but he chose the sword for his profession. In India, he ranked with those famous warriors, Clive and Laurence. In 1761, he acted at Bellisle, as a Brigadier. In 1763, he commanded the troops who conquered Alanilla, which place was saved from plunder, by the promise of a ransom, that was never paid. His first appearance, as an able writer, was in his clear refutation of the objections of the Spanish court. His services were rewarded with the command of the six- teenth regiment of foot, which he resigned to colonel Gisbome, for his half-pay of ;^2oo Irish : This common transaction furnished Junius with many a sarcasm. Sir William had scarcely closed his contest with that formidable opponent, when he had the misfortune to lose his wife, who died on the ist of September, 1769. As he was honour to the goodness of your heart. You feel, as you ought to do, for the reputation of your friend, and you express yourself in the warmest language of the passions. In any other cause, I doubt not, you would have cautiously weighed the consequences of committing your name to the licentious discourses and malignant opinions of the world. But here, I presume, you thought it would be a breach of friendship to lose one moment in consulting your understand- ing ; as if an appeal to the public were no more than a military coup de main, where a brave man has no rules to follow, but the dictates of his courage. Touched with your generosity, I freely forgive the excesses into which it has led you ; and, far from resenting those terms of reproach, which, considering that you are an advocate for decorum, you have heaped upon me rather too liberally, I place them to the account of an honest unreflecting indignation, in which your cooler judgment and natural politeness had no concern. I approve of the spirit with which you have given your name to the public ; and, if it were a proof of any thing but spirit, I should have thought myself bound to follow your exam- ple. I should have hoped that even my name might carry some authority with it, 2 foiled, he was, no doubt, mortified. And he set out, in October of that year, to make the tour of the Northern Colonies, which had now become objects of notice, and scenes of travel. He arrived at Charlestown, South Carolina, in Jan- uary, 1770 ; and travelling northward, he arrived, during the summer of that year, in Maryland ; where he was received with that hospitality 1 which she always paid to strangers, and with the attentions, that were due to the merit of such a I visitor. I ' From Maryland, sir William passed on to New York, where he married Miss De Lancy, a lady of great connexions there, and agreeable endowments, who died in 1778 ; leaving him a daughter. In 1779, he was appointed lieutenant- governor of Minorca ; a trust, which, how tvcr discharged, ended unhappily. He died at hatti, \ on the 8th of January, 1787.' — Edit. : * This expression will receive some farther j light from a feature of himself incidentally in- ! troduced by the author in a letter omitted in his ! own edition, but inserted in the present work, j Miscellaneous Letter, No. LIV., as also from I other views of his sentiments and conduct as I casually evinced in the Private Letters. — Edit. L36 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. if I had not seen how very little weight or consideration a printed paper receives even from the respectable signature of sir William Draper. You begin with a general assertion, that writers, such as I am, are the real cause of all the public evils we complain of. And do you really think, sir William, that the licentious pen of a political writer is able to produce such important effects? A little calm reflection might have shown you, that national calamities do not arise from the description, but from the real character and conduct "of ministers. To have supported your assertion, you should have proved that the present ministry are unquestionably the best a?td brightest characters of the king- dom : and that, if the affections of the colonies have been alienated, if Corsica ^ has been shamefully abandoned, if com- merce languishes, if public credit is threat- ened with a new debt, and your own Ma- nilla ransom most dishonourably given up,- it has all been owing to the malice of po- litical writers, who will not suffer the best and brightest of characters (meaning still the present ministry) to take a single right step for the honour or interest of the nation. But it seems you were a little tender of coming to particulars. Your conscience * Corsica, in modern times, was first sub- jugated by the Genoese, who made use of so much insolence and oppression, as to induce the natives to throw off the yoke, and endeavour to recover theirindependence. The contest was long and severe, and the Corsicans were reduced to beggary in the generous struggle. Nieuhoff and Paoli chiefly figured as leaders of the Corsicans, the first of whom was actually elected king, but could not maintain his throne against the in- vaders. The Corsicans applied to many foreign courts for assistance, and among the rest to Great Britain ; and lord Shelburne (afterwards marquis of Lansdown) was one of the warmest supporters of their cause, and most desirous, when in administration, to engage in it. But his colleagues opposed him, and the cause of Corsica was abandoned, though the citizens of London contributed largely to its support. Yet the Genoese could not totally subdue it ; and in con- sequence they sold it to France to be subdued by the French arms : and the tyranny which was at first e.\ercised over it by the Genoese, it was now doomed to suffer from the French. Reader, mark the result !— Corsica is at this moment reaping an ample revenge : for through the me- inslnuated to you, that it would be prudent to leave the characters of Grafton, North, Hillsborough, Weymouth, and Mansfield, to shift for themselves ; and truly, sir William, the part you /lavc undertaken is at least as much as you are equal to. Without disputing lord Granby's courage, we are yet to learn in what articles of mili- tary knowledge nature has been so very liberal to his mind. If you have served with him, you ought to have pointed out some instances of able disposition and well-concerted enterprise, which might fairly be attributed to his capacity as a general. It is you, sir William, who make your friend appear aukward and ridiculous, by giving him a laced suit of tawdry qualifi- cations, which nature never intended him to wear. You say, he has acquired nothing but honour in the field. Is the Ordnance no- thing ? Are the Blues nothing ? Is the command of the army, with all the patron- age annexed to it, nothing ? Where he got these nothings I know not ; but you at least ought to have told us where he de- served them. As to his bounty, compassion, due, it \>ould have been but little to the purpose, though you had proved all that you have dium of Bonaparte she is now loading both France and Genoa with as severe a tyranny as herself ever submitted to from either. — Edit. ^ In the preceding war with Spain, sir William (then col. Draper) had commanded an e.vpedition against the Spanish settlements in the Philippine Isles. It succeeded completely ; and the capital of Manilla was taken by assault. Yet the gen- erous conquerors, instead of plundering the city, consented to accept for the value of the .-poil, bills drawn upon the Spanish government ade- quate to its supposed amount. These bills the Spanish government undertook to pay, but dis- honourably forfeited its word on their becoming due. Sir William Draper, on his return from India, repeatedly pressed the English minister to interpose upon tire subject, on behalf of him- self and his fellow-soldiers. The English minister however did not interpose : Draper was person- ally rewarded by an election into the order of the Bath, in conjunction with certain pecuniary emoluments referred to in this correspondence ; while his colleague, admiral Cornish, together with the soldiers and sailors under their com- mands, were suffered to live and die altogether withont redress.— Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 137 asserted. I meddle with nothing but his character as commander-in-chief ; and though I acquit him of the baseness of selling commissions, I still assert that his military cares have never extended beyond the disposal of vacancies ; and I am justi- fied by the complaints of the whole army, when I say that, in this distribution, he consults nothing but parliamentary inte- rests, or the gratification of his immediate dependants. As to his servile submission to the reigning ministry, let me ask, whe- ther he did not desert the cause of the whole army, when he suffered sir Jeftery Amherst to be sacrificed,^ and what share he had in recalling that officer to the serv- ice? Did he not betray the just interests of the army, in permitting lord Percy to have a regiment ? And does he not at this moment give up all character and dignity as a gentleman, in receding from his own repeated declarations in favour of Mr Wilkes? In the two next articles I think we are agreed. You candidly admit, that he often makes such promises as it is a virtue in him to violate, and that no man is more assiduous to provide for his relations at the public expense. I did not urge the last as an absolute vice in his disposition, but to prove that a careless disinterested spirit is no part of his character ; and as to the , other, I desire it may be remembered, that / never descended to the indecency of en- { quiring into his convivial hours. It is you, sir William Draper, who have taken pains , to represent your friend in the character of a drunken landlord, who deals out his ' promises as liberally as his liquor, and will 1 suifer no man to leave his table either sor- j rowful or sober. None but an intimate ! friend, who must frequently have seen him I in these unhappy, disgraceful moments, ! could have described him so well. The last charge, of the neglect of the | army, is indeed the most material of all. I 1 am sorry to tell you, sir William, that, in this article, your first fact is false ; and as there is nothing more painful to me than to give a direct contradiction to a gentleman of your appearance, I could wish that, in your future publications, you would pay a greater attention to the truth of your pre- mises, before you suffer your genius to hurry you to a conclusion. Lord Ligonier did 7iot deliver the army (which you, in classical language, are pleased to call a palladium) into lord Granby's hands. It was taken from him much against his in- clination, some two or three years before lord Granby was commander-in-chief. As to the state of the army, I should be glad to know where you have received your in- telligence. Was it in the rooms at Bath, or at your retreat at CHfton ? The reports of reviewing generals comprehend only a few regiments in England, which, as they are immediately under the royal inspection, are perhaps in some tolerable order. But do you know any thing of the troops in the West Indies, the Mediterranean, and North America, to say nothing of a whole army absolutely ruined in Ireland? Inquire a little into facts, sir William, before you pubhsh your next panegyric upon lord Granby, and believe me, you will find there is a fault at head-quarters, which even the acknowledged care and abilities of the adjutant-general cannot correct.^ Permit me now, sir William, to address myself personally to you, by way of thanks for the honour of your correspondence. You are by no means undeserving of notice; and it may be of consequence even to lord Granby to have it determined, whether or no the man who has praised him so lavishly, be himself deserving of praise. When you returned to Europe, you zealously under- took the cause of that gallant army, by whose bravery at Manilla your own fortune had been established. You complained, you threatened, you even appealed to the public in print. By what accident did it happen, that in the midst of all this bustle, and all these clamours for justice to your injured troops, the name of the Manilla ^ See upon this subject our author's Miscel- laneous Letters subscribed Lucius, and particu- larly that of Atticus, Letter LI. — Edit. * Adjutant general Harvey. — Edit. 138 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ransom was suddenly buried in a profound, and, since that time, an uninterrupted silence? Did the ministry suggest any motives to you strong enough to tempt a man of honour to desert and betray the cause of his fellow-soldiers ? Was it that blushing ribband, which is now the per- petual ornament of your person ? Or was it that regiment, which you afterwards (a thing unprecedented among soldiers) sold to colonel Gisborne? Or was it that govern- ment, the full pay of which you are con- tented to hold, with the half-pay of an Irish colonel? And do you now, after a retreat not ver>' like that of Scipio, presume to intrude yourself, unthought-of, uncalled- for, upon the patience of the public ? Are your flatteries of the commander-in-chief directed to another regiment, which you may again dispose of on the same honour- able terms ? We know your prudence, sir William, and I should be sorry to stop your preferment. JUNIUS. LETTER IV TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 17 February, 1769. I RECEIVED JUNius's favour last night ; he is determined to keep his advan- tage by the help of his mask ; it is an excel- lent protection, it has saved many a man from an untimely end. But whenever he will be honest enough to lay it aside, avow himself, and produce the face which has so long lurked behind it, the world will be able to judge of his motives for writing such infamous invectives. His real name will discover his freedom and independency, or his servility to a faction. Disappointed ambition, resentment for defeated hopes, and desire of revenge, assume but too often the appearance of public spirit ; but be his designs wicked or charitable, Juxius should learn that it is possible to condemn mea- sures, without a barbarous and criminal outrage against men. Junius delights to mangle carcases with a hatchet ; his lan- guage and instrument have a great con- nection with Clare-market, and, to do him justice, he handles his weapon most ad- mirably. One would imagine he had been taught to throw it by the savages of America. It is therefore high time for me to step in once more to shield my friend from this merciless weapon, although I may be wounded in the attempt. But I must first ask Junius, by what forced analogy and construction the moments of convivial mirth are made to signify indecency, a vio- lation of engagements, a drunken landlord, and a desire that every one in company should be drunk likewise ? ^ He must have ^ Whether such a conclusion were forced or natural from sir William's description of his friend, Junius, it seems, was not the only person who deduced it, if we may judge from a dispute the Knight of the Bath was involved in upon this very subject, with two other invisible cor- respondents, of whom the one signed himself Neocles, and the other the Ghost, and who wrote in the same newspaper i.The Public Ad- vertiser). To the first correspondent, sir William replies as follows. Sir, Cli/ton, Feb. 13, 1769. I must beg the favour of Neocles not to believe that I have described mv friend to be frequently in a state of ebriety. Had I done so, I might indeed be justly accused of being insuf- ficient to support his cause. * * * • ♦ If Neocles is an officer, or a man of business, he must know that a commander-in-chief, or a minister of state, from a multiplicity of applica- tions, cannot trust their memories with the whole of them : minutes and memorandums are neces- j sary : when business is over, these are left with their secretaries, or in their bureaus. Should therefore any insidious man, either at dinner, or after dinner, importune a great person to give him some preferment, which, from the want of these minutes, he might not then recollect to be en- gaged, and thus obtain a promise of it ; yet, if it should appear from the inspection of these memorandums afterwards, that such preferment was pre-engaged, I must again repeat, that in such a case it would be a virtue to breali the un- guarded promise made at dinner, or in convivial mirth, and to adhere to the first engagement. These things have happened, do happen, and may happen again, to the most temperate men living. I am Neocles' most humble servant, W. D. The fact is, that lord Granby, and his fri.r.d sir William, appear to have been bcith jolly cjih- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. '39 culled all the flowers of St Giles's and Bil- lingsgate to have produced such a piece of panlons. Mr Campbell says of the latter — that his favourite wine was Burgundy — the bewitch- ing smiles of which had an irresistible influence on his heart. — Life of Boyd, p. i86. Junius seems to have appealed to a known fact, as well as to an unguarded expression of the pen. Sir William's answer to the Ghost occurs in the same Newspaper, Mar. 2, 1769. * Sir, Clifton, Feb. 24. ' Sir W. D. presents his compliments to the G/wst, and hopes, that when he shall please to revisit us, the cock may not crozv too suddenly, and warn him hence, before he has sufficiently considered what sir \V. says with regard to anony- mous writers. They are not condemned by him merely for being anonymous, but as they are defamatory and wicked ; as they act as incendi- aries, as they privily shoot at those who are tinte of heart, and as they basely stab in the dark. When they are thus guilty, they ate worthy of the severest censures. A very fine writer, Mr Addison, has not stuck to rank them with mur- derers and assassins. It were to be wished, that all such writers would read the paper upon this subject. No. 451, Vol. VI. Sir W. hopes like- wise, that the Ghost will not believe that flattery, or gladiatorial vanity, or any desire of the golden cup, or its contents, called him forth. ' He stood forth upon a principle that no honest man should be ashamed of, upon the principle of Horace, who noblj* and truly said, -Awicum Qui non defendit, alio culpante — Hie nigerest ; more especially when that friend is most unjustly atUcked. He thinks that a real signature is better than a fictitious one, as the knowledge of the man is the surest guide to form a judgment of his motives for writing. He has indeed the vanity to think that no man living writes from more disinterested motives than himself, having studiously quitted what is called the great world ajid all its pursuits. But he is not so totally lost to the sense of worldly knowledge, as not to foresee that the many distractions of this poor afflicted country must end in its ruin, if some salutary means are not speedily taken to prevent it. This kingdom abounds with great men, capable of advising and of acting in the most efficacious manner for the public good ; but unanimity must be the basis. If they can be prevailed upon to forgive, to forget, to finite, sincerely, there is no occasion to despair of the commonwealth. Sir W. cannot subscribe to the Ghost's opinion, that the vox populi is the vox Dei. It would be too irreverent, it would vainly attempt to convert the immutable Deity into a most changeable and capricious bei-ng ; nor would he take even the Ghost's word, or that of the greatest lawy-er in the kingdom, should he affirm it. The voice of the people was heard loudly and strongly in favour of our great minister, Mr Pitt. In this one instance it was just ; but was oratory. Here the hatchet descends with tenfold vengeance ; but, alas ! it hurts no it formerly less strong, less loud, in the favour of Titus Gates, the most abandoned of men? "The voice of the people, and the voice of truth, are not always together : the latter must descend from above, the former but too often arises from below. In plain English, it generally comes out of the barrel and the cellar, as some honest bottle- men know full well.' In the following letter, inserted in the Public Advertiser about the same time, lord Granby appears to have found a fuller, if not an abler, advocate than even his friend sir William. It has various claims for an introduction in the present place ; but chieflj', because Junius him- self, in a postscript to Letter V. ^inserted in the copy that appeared in the Public Advertiser, but omitted in his own edition notices it with a view of answering it ; although from a second resolution, not to reply under this signature to anonymous addresses, he never fulfilled his in- tention. The postscript is as follows : 1 1 had determined to leave the commander-in- chief in the quiet enjoyment of his friend and his bottle ; but Titus deserves aii answer, and shall have a complete one.' TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, Long and impatiently have I waited to see justice done to a mrich-injured character. From the goodness of the cause, my expecta- tions were great, but I have been cruelly disap- pointed. To enter the lists against such an able antagonist upon equal terms, would be the height of presumption ; but truth, plainly and simply told, I doubt not, will show itself superior to falsehood, though dressed in the most beautiful language of the elegant Junius. Unprejudiced by party, unbiassed by faction, it grieves me exceedingly, that a spirit of licen- tiousness should be able so far to influence some of the greatest geniuses of this nation. Is it pos- sible |to see without concern some of the most respectable names, and the most unexceptionable characters, so undeservedly attacked, and detrac- tion conveyed in the most persuasive language, from the masterly pen of an accomplished writer ? When every man of superior talents ought to exert himself to the utmost to support the dignity of government, how unfortunate is it that the greatest abilities are made subservient to a factious spirit, totally subversive of all the principles of social happiness ! But the times are become so unpardonably licentious, that the greater the name, the higher the rank, the more dignified the character, and the more exalted the station, the more they become the objects of envy, while the envenomed darts of illiberal abuse are pointed by the sons of sedition from every quarter, with unparalleled malice and un- relenting fury. Subordination and subjection is the province 140 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. one but its master ! For Junius must not think to put words into my mouth, that seem too foul even for his own. of some ; superiority and command undoubtedly belongs to the station of others. Obedience to the laws, respect for the magistrate, and duty to superiors, are essentially necessary in every well- governed state. Every attempt then to make the laws, or the magistrate, be less respecled, and every endeavour to break the chain of subor- dination, so necessary in civil society, tends to the destruction of government, and to the intro- tion of anarchy and confusion. That factious, turbulent, licentious minds should make this their constant employment, is not to be wondered at ; but for people of sense, judgment, and abilities, to make it their study, is amazing indeed ! — What end can it answer ? What purpose can it serve ? If our superiors should do any thing contrary to the laws, or pre- judicial to the interests of this country ; if they should use any means to encroach upon our liberties, to deprive us of our privileges, or to subvert that happy form of government which we now enjoy; surely there are other means of redress left, besides calunmiating magis- trates, judges, generals, and ministers. Though party prejudice, and the influence of passion, may carry even men of sense to extraordinary lengths sometimes, yet I am convinced that a cool dispassionate moment's reflection, will point out more constitutional remedies for all our mis- fortunes, than a factious appeal to a giddy, un- thinking, uninformed mob : and very little demonstration will be necessary to make it evident, that the unbounded abuse of dignities, tends to make the bulk of the people trample on all law, despise subordination, and destroy that government from which they claim protection. Junius is possessed of superior abilities; he has a flow of fine language at his command, his composition is masterly, his style elegant, and the arrangement of his words is beautiful and har- monious. What excellent purposes might these talents serve, were they employed for the service of his country ! What a pity they should be prostituted to depreciate government, and made subservient to such unphilosophic passions ! un- worthy of the mar — unworthy of the pen of the accomplished Jumus ! — Not one of ;the king's servants escapes him ; but (for what cause heaven knows) his most pointed shafts have been directed against the commander-in-chief, who is, perhaps, the most unexceptionable character in the present administration. I was in hopes sir W. Draper would have continued a defence so worthy of his abilities ; but I imagine he is so busy at present about building his temple to Concord, and per- haps so taken up with his new friend, Mr Wilkes, that he has forgot the correspondence he gave rise to, where lord Granby is attacked in a most unpardonable manner ; where he has been in- sulted as a soldier, despised as a general, his generosity laughed at, and even his private hours of social relaxation have been most un- My friend's political engagements I know not, so cannot pretend to explain them, or assert their consistency. I know not generously held up as an object of ridicule to the I public eye. — For shame, Junius ! — this was not ! well done. — Whatever censure may be due to a [ man's public character, it is unmanly— it is cnie! — it is unjust, to bring the secrets of social amusement, and the unguarded hour of convi- vial enjoyment, to be held out as an object of censure to the unfriendly world ! — Have you ' a spark of generosity left, Junius ! and can you I read this without a blush ? My lord Granby's character, as a man, as a soldier, and even as a general, will stand the I test. The honesty of his heart, the integrity of [ his intentions, his intrepidity as a soldier, and his conduct as an officer, are unimpeached. It is true, his talents as commander-in-chief have never been tried in the field ; but if we may be allowed to judge from the whole of his conduct during the late war in Germany, where the execution of many important enterprises were entrusted to him by one of the greatest generals, and one of the best judges of military merit, in Europe, we may form great expectations, with the highest probability of not being disappointed. — He knows how to obey ; he knows that a good soldier never disputes the commands of his superior. He always discharged his duty to the satisfaction of duke Ferdinand, whose approba- tion, thanks, and acknowledgments he repeatedly obtained. Wherever he was employed, he gained honour to himself — he was beloved and esteemed by the army under his command — he was hon- oured and respected by the enemy — dear to the victors ! generous to the vanquished ! You know, Junius, that he feared not to lead on the cavalry at Minden. He gained glory and honour at Warburg. It was the corps under his com- mand who fought and gained the battle of Phil- linghausen. He was principally concerned, and acted as became the soldier and general, at Wil- helmstahl. And towards the end of the war, when the army was so situated, that if a rising ground on the left had been taken possession of by the French, it might have been attended with the worst consequences ; and when the generals des- tined to lead a corps to occupy it, declared the ser- vice impracticable, my lord Granby arose from a sick-bed, in the middle of the night assumed the command of the corps, marched, with a fever upon him, in an inclement season, took posses- sion of the post, and secured the army. — This did the soldier ! Is it necessary to ask where my Lord deserved every thing he has got after this ? 'J hese are but few instances, among many others, where his Lordship acquired unfading laurels. But after all, what are the posts — what are the employ- ments of trust and profit which he has centered in himself and family, since he became com- mander-in-chief? He is at the head of the army without pay ; one of the name of Manners has been promoted from half-pay to a troop, and r LETTERS OF JUNIU; T41 whether Junius be considerable enough to belong to any party ; if he should be so, can he affirm that he has always adhered to one set of men and measures ? Is he sure that he has never sided with those whom he was first hired to abuse ? Has he never abused those he was hired to praise ? To say the truth, most men's politics sit much too loosely about them. But as my friend's military character was the chief object that engaged mc in this controversy, to that I shall return. Junius asks what instances my friend has given of his military skill and capacity as a general ? When and where he gained his honour ? When he deserved his emolu- ments? The united voice of the army which served under him, the glorious teati- mony of prince Ferdinand, and of van- quished enemies, all Germany will tell him. Junius repeats the complaints of the army against pariiamentary influence. I love the another he has appointed his aide-de-camp : and those of his friends who have been distinguished by royal favour, are so eminent in their profes- sion, that hitherto the tongue of malice has not dared to move against them. His own employ- ments are marks of royal favour and confidence, the consequence of long and faithful services. — These were not acquired by factious conduct, or licentious scribbling: no, Sir, he, like every man of honour, would disdain to be distinguished by such inglorious mcins. Well do you know, Ju.vrLS, that it would have been in vain for my lord Granby to have opposed the nomination of my lord Percy ; and you know as well, that this is not the first time ministerial influence has been loo powerful for a military commander. It is equally ungenerous and unjust therefore, to say that he has betrayed the inter- ests of the army. It is well known, that the general condition of the army is better, much better, at present than it has been for many years, even in America, and the garrisons abroad : your information therefore is ill founded in this point; but the truth is, Junius is no friend to lord Granby, and is willing to believe, and ready to propagate, every infamous report to his disad- vantage. My lord Granby's generosity, Sir, knows no bounds ; but it is directed to much nobler objects than you would endeavour to insinuate. Often have I seen his generous hand stretched out to supply the wants of the needy soldier ; nor did the meanest follower of the camp go hungry from his door. His house was open equally to British and foreigners : his table was hospitality itself, and his generous, open countenance gave a h".trty wck'jine to all his guests. Hence har- army too well, not to wish that such influ- ence were less. Let Junius point out the time when it has not prevailed. It was of the least force in the time of that great man, the late duke of Cumberland, who, as a prince of the blood, was able as well as willing to stem a torrent which would have overborne any private subject. In time of war this influence is small. In peace, when discontent and faction have the surest means to operate, especially in this country, and when, from a scarcity of public spirit, the wheels of government are rarely moved but by the power and force of obligations, its weight is always too great. Yet, if this influence at present has done no greater harm than the placing earl Percy at the head of a regiment, I do not think that either tlie rights or best interests of the army I are sacrificed and betrayed, or the nation undone. Let me ask Junius, if he knows mony reigned through the whole army, disputes had no existence, and officers of different nations emulated the social virtues of the British chief. By such means he gained the hearts of all the army ; they followed him with confidence, and fought under him from attachment. No danger was too much — no attempt too daring, under his command Whatever Ju.mus may think (though he may, for aught I know, be perfectly iittac- quainted ivith thcin hiiitself) the gaining the affections of the soldiers will always be esteemed no mean qualification in a general. My lord Granby has his foibles and weaknesses, no doubt of it ; so has every man. Is there one on earth perfect? But to expose these foibles and weaknesses with all the power of persuasive I language, while ^you conceal, slightly pass over, I or endeavour to ridicule those shinin^j parts of I his character, those eminent virtue! »v'hich you I cannot imitate, it is ungenerous, and verj' unlike \ the gentleman. I You will forgive me, I hope, Mr Printer, for I troubling you with an epistle of such an amazing ! length ; but I hope you will think with mc that the subject required it. I acknowledge myself I very unequal to speak of my Lord as he deserves ; ' but I have attempted this much, from an opinion, that when such an unexceptionable character is attacked, the defence becomes a public coticern. It matters not, whether the malicious dart be pointed from the closet courage of a disgraced soldier, the oratorical powers of a disappointed dependant politician, or from the mad ravings of a lunatic adventurer ; the sensible, unprejudiced part of mankind will see their infamous motives, j and they will alike despise the illiberal produc- tion and the ungenerous autlwr. I TITUS.-Edit. 142 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. any one nobleman in the army, who has had a regiment by seniority ? I feel myself happy in seeing young noblemen of illus- trious name and great property come among us. They are an additional se- curity to the kingdom from foreign or domestic slavery. Junius needs not be told, that should the time ever come, when this nation is to be defended only by those, who have nothing more to lose than their arms and their pay, its danger will be great indeed. A happy mixture of men of quality with soldiers of fortune is always to be wished for. But the main point is still to be contended for, I mean the discipline and condition of the army, and I still must maintain, though contradicted by Junius, that it was never upon a more respectable footing, as to all the essentials that can form good soldiers, than it is at present. repaired by a long peace, or by some sen- sible bill of naturalization. I must now take the liberty to talk to Junius on my own account. He is pleased to tell me that he addresses himself to me personally. I shall be glad to see him. It is his impersonality that I complain of, and his invisible attacks ; for his dagger in the air is only to be regarded, because one can- not see the hand which holds it ; but had he not wounded other people more deei-)ly than myself, I should not have obtruded myself at all on the patience of the public. Mark how a plain talc shall put him down, and transfuse the blush of my rib- band into his own cheeks. Junius tells me, that, at my return, I zealously under- took the cause of the gallant army, by whose bravery at Manilla my own fortunes were established ; that I complained, that I even appealed to the public. I did so ; Junius is forced to allow that our army at home may be in some tolerable order ; yet i I glory in having done so, as I had an un- how kindly does he invite our late enemies | doubted right to vindicate my own charac- to the invasion of Ireland, by assuring them ter, attacked by a Spanish memorial, and that the army in that kingdom is totally to assert the rights of my brave companions, ruined ! (The colonels of that army are ' I glory likewise that I have never taken up much obliged to him.) I have too great ] my pen, but to vindicate the injured. Ju- an opinion of the military talents of the , nius asks by what accident did it happen, lord-lieutenant, and of their diligence and that in the midst of all this bustle, and all capacity, to believe it. If from some ; these clamours for justice to the injured strange, unaccountable fatality, the people troops, the Manilla ransom was suddenly of that kingdom cannot be induced to con- | buried in a profound, and, since that time, suit their own security, by such an effectual' an uninterrupted silence? I will explain augmentation, as may enable the troops | the cause to the public. The several min- there to act with poN\er and energy, is the \ isters who have been employed since that commander-in-chief here to blame ? Or ' time have been very desirous to do us jus- is he to blame, because the troops in the tice from two most laudable motives, a Mediterranean, in the West Indies, in ' strong inclination to assist injured bravery, America, labour under great diflficulties from and to acquire a well, deserved popularity to the scarcity of men, which is but too visible themselves. Their effo'-ts have been in vain, all over these kingdoms ! Many of our \ Some were ingenuous enough to own, that forces are in climates unfavourable to British constitutions : their loss is in proportion. Britain must recruit all these regiments from her own emaciated bosom, cv, more precariously, by Catholics from Ireland. We are likewise subject to the fatal drains to the East Indies, to Senegal, and the alarming emigrations of our people to other countries : Such depopulation can only be they could not think of involving this dis- tressed nation into another war for our pri- vate concerns. In short, our rights for the present are sacrificed to national conveni- ence ; and I must confess, that although I may lose five-and-twenty thousand pounds by their acquiescence to this breach of faith in the Spaniards, I think they are in the right to temporize, considering the critical LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 143 situation of this country, convulsed in every part by poison infused by anonymous, wicked, and incendiary writers. Lord Shelburne will do me the justice to own, that, in September last, I waited upon him with a joint memorial from the admiral sir S. Cornish and myself, in behalf of our in- jured companions. His Lordship was as frank upon the occasion as other secretaries bad been before him. He did not deceive us by giving any immediate hopes of relief. Junius would basely insinuate, that my silence may have been purchased by niy government, by my blushing ribband, by my regiment, by the sale of that regiment, and by my half-pay as an Irish colonel. His Majesty was pleased to give me my government,! for my services at Madras. I had my first regiment in 1757. Upon my return from Manilla, his Majesty, by lord Egremont, informed me, that I should have the first vacant red ribband, as a re- ward for my services in an enterprise, which I had planned as well as executed. The duke of Bedford and Mr Grenville confirm- ed those assurances many months before the Spaniards had protested the ransom bills. To accommodate lord Clive, then going upon a most important service to Bengal, I waved my claim to the vacancy which then happened. As there was no other vacancy until the duke of Grafton and lord Rockingham were joint ministers, I was then honoured with the order, and it is surely no siuall honour to mc, that in such a succession of ministers, they were all pleased to think that I had deserved it ; in my favour they were all united. Upon the reduction of the 79th regiment, which had served so gloriously in the East Indies, his Majesty, unsolicited by me, gave me the 16th of foot as an equivalent. My mo- ' Yarmouth. — Edit. * The letter, as it appeared in the Public Ad- vertiser, stated, by mistake, ' twelve hundred founds Irish annuity I ' and the error has been itherto propagated through every edition of JuNics's Letters, without a siiigle exception. In a note addressed to the printer, however, and published in the same newspaper, Feb. 22, 1769, the mistake is announced, and corrected as fol- lows. tives for retiring afterwards are foreign to the purpose ; let it suffice, that his Majesty was pleased to approve of them ; they are such as no man can think indecent, who knows the shocks that repeated vicissitudes of heat and cold, of dangerous and sickly chmatcs, will give to the best constitutions in a pretty long course of service. I re- signed my regiment to colonel Gisborne, a very good officer, for his half-pay, and _^2oo Irish annuity ;- so that, according to Junius. 1 have been biibed to say nothing more of the Manilla ransom, and sacrifice those brave men by the strange a\arice of accepting three hundred and eighty pounds per annum, and giving up eight hundred ! If this be bribery, it is not the briber}- of these times. As to my flattery, those who know me will judge of it. By the asperity of JUNius's style, I cannot indeed call him a flatterer, unless it be as a cynic or a mas- tift'; if he wags his tail, he will still growl, and long to bite. The public will now judge ol the credit that ought to be given to JUNius's writings, from the falsities that he has insinuated with respect to mvself. WILLIAM DRAPER. LETTER V TO SIR WILLIAM DRAPER, K:eech. Masks, hatchets, racks, and vipers dance through your letters in all the mazes of metaphorical confusion. These are the gloomy com- panions of a disturbed imagination ; the melancholy madness of poetry, without the ' This man, being committed by the Court of King's Bench for a contempt, voluntarily made oath, that he would never answer interrogatories, unless he should be put to the torture. — Al'thor. Bkigley was by trade a printer ; and in the character here referred to, a witness for the crown, in a cause between government and Wilkes. It is difficult to say for what purpose this man was subpoenaed on either side ; for his obstinacy was so e.xtreme. that he could not be induced to answer the interrogatories addressed to him on the part either of the plaintiff or defendant. It was on this account he was com- mitted to the King's Bench prison, where he inspiration. I will not contend with you in point of composition. You are a scholar, sir William, and, if I am truly informed, you write Latin with almost as much purity as English. Suffer me then, for I am a plain unlettered man, to continue that style of interrogation, which suits my capacity, and to which, considering the readiness of your answers, you ought to have no objec- tion. Even Mr Bingleyi promises to answer, if put to the torture. Do you then really think that, if I were to ask a most virtuous 7)ian whether he ever committed theft, or murder, it v\ould dis- turb his peace of mind ? Such a question might perhaps discompose the gravity of his muscles, but I believe it would little affect the tranquillity of his conscience. E.xamine your own breast, sir William, and you will discover, that reproaches and en- quiries have no power to afflict either the man of unblemished integrity, or the abandoned profligate. It is the middle compound character which alone is vul- nerable ; the man who, without firmness enough to avoid a dishonourable action, has feeling enough to be ashamed of it. I thank you for your hint of the deca- logue, and shall take an opportunity of applying it to some of your most virtuous friends in both Houses of parliament. You seem to have dropped the affair of your regiment ; so let it rest. When you are appointed to another, I dare say you will not sell it either for a gross sum, or for an annuity upon lives. I am truly glad (for really, sir William, I am not your enemy, nor did I begin this contest with you -) that you have been able continued as refractory as in the King's Bench Court— he was at length discharged, on the motion of the attorney-general, without any sub- mission on his own part, from the mere idea that he had suffered severely enough for his con- tumacy. — See a further account of this transac- tion, Letter XLI., p. 247, note. — Edit. ^ 'I'he politics of sir William Draper were cer- tainly not violent, and he appears to have been rather a private friend of the marquis's than a partisan on either side of the question. The fol- fowing letter, published by him in the Public Advertiser, in the very midst of his dispute with Ji:n'U'S, is highly creditable to his liberality, and 143 ij"ni:p.s or j-jnius. to cle.ir yourself of a ciiiue, thougli at the expense of the highest indiscretion. Yoii siifficieiuly proves the truth of the assertion of Jinks, that he coiikl not be, at least upon political principles, sir William's enemy. TO THE PRINTER. Sir, Clifton, Fcln-iinry 6t/i, 1769. If the voice of a well-meaning individual could be heard amidst the clamour, fury, and madness of the times, would it appear too rash and presumptuous to propose to the public, that an act of indemnity and oblivion may be made for all past transactions and offences, as well with respect to Mr Wilkes as to our colonies? Kuch salutary expedients have been embraced by the wisest of nations : such expedients have been made use of by our own, when the public con- fusion had arrived to some very dangerous and alarming crisis; and I believe it needs not the gift of prophecy to foretell that some such crisis is now approaching. Perhaps it will be more wise and praiseworthy to make such an act im- mediately, in order to prevent the possibility Inot to say the probability) of an insurrection at home and in our dependencies abroad, than it will be to be obliged to have recourse to one after the mischief has been done, and the king- dom has groaned under all the miseries that avarice, ambition, hypocrisy, and madness, could inflict upon it. An act of grace, indemnity, and oblivion, was passed at the restoration of king Charles the Second ; but I will venture to say that had such' an act been seasonably passed in the reigii of his unhappy father, the civil war had been prevented, and no restoration had been necessary. Is it too late to recall all the mes- sengers and edicts of wrath ? Cannot the money that is now wasted in endless and mutual prose- cutions, and in stopping the mouth of one person, and opening that of another, be better employed in erecting a temple to Concord ? Let Mr Wilkes lay the first stone, and such a stone as I hope the builders will not refuse. May this parliament, to use lord Clarendon's expression, be called ' The healing parliament ! ' j\lay our foul wounds be cleansed and then closed ! The English have been as famous for good-nature as for valour : let it not be said that such qualities are degener- ated into savage ferocity. If any of my friends in either House of legislature shall condescend to listen to and improve these hints, I shall think that I have not lived in vain. WILLIAM DRAPER. Sir William, in return, if he ever had any per- sonal enmity against Jl'NIUs, appears to have relinquished it completely a short time after the contest, if we may judge from the following anecdote given by Mr Campbell in his Life of tionable and Ion Hugh Boyd, p. 247. ' Some months after the Letters of Ji:nil's were published collectively, Hoyd met sir William Draper at the tennis court, where their acquaint- ance was origiii.illy formed in the year 1769, and where ^being bo'.h great tennis players; they that a right to incapacitate is lodged only in the legislature collectively. I see that I was in an error, and I am not ashamed to make this public declaration of it, and give my vote for the amendment.' The belief of Jfxius, 'that it was signified to way of pension. I will not dwe ll upon the ] used often to meet ; the conversation turning upon Junius, sir William observed, 'That though Junius had treated him with extreme severity, he now looked upon him as a very honest fellow ; that he freely forgave him for the bitterness of his censures, and that there was no man with whom he would more gladly drink a bottle of old Burgundy.' — Edit. It has been said, and I believe truly, that it was signified to sir William Draper, as the request of lord Granby, that he should desist from writing in his Lordship's defence. Sir William Draper certainly drew Junius forward to say more of lord Granby's character than he origin- ally intended. He was reduced to the dilemma of either being totally silenced, or of supporting his first letter. Whether sir William had a right to reduce him to this dilemma, or to call upon him for his name, after a vobintary attack on his side, are questions submitted to the candour of the public. — The death of lord Granby was la- mented by Junius. He undoubtedly owed some compensations to the public, and seemed deter- mined to acquit himself of them. In private life, he was unquestionably that good man, who, for the interest of his country, ought to have been a great one. Boniiin viruiii facile dixeris ; — ;;/<7^- f//tm libfuter. I speak of him now without par- tiality ; — I never spoke of him with resentment. His mistakes, in public conduct, did not arise either from want of sentiment, or want of judg- ment, but in general from the difficulty of say- ing NO to the bad people who surrounded him. As for the rest, the friends of lord Ciranby should remember, that he himself thought proper to condemn, retract; and disavow, by a most solemn declaration in the House of Commons, that very sj-stem of political conduct, which Ju- nius had held forth to the disapprobation of the public. — .AfTHOK. This took place January the 30th, 1770, in a committee on the state of the nation, in which the aflfair of the Middlesex election was particu- larly discussed ; and on which occasion the mar- quis of Granby delivered himself as follows: — ' I am sorry I am obliged to declare myself against the motion ; but I cannot see what right this House can have to receive any person into it as a member except by the full choice of his constituents. It was for want of considering the nice distinction between expulsion and incapaci- tation that I gave my vote for the sitting of a member who was not returned in the last session of this parliament. That vote I shall always lament as the greatest misfortune of my life. I now see the Middlesex election in another light : I now see that though this House has an unques- stablished right to expel, yet LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 147 singularicy of uniting in your own person two sons of provision, which in their own nature, and in all mihtary and parliament- ary views, are incompatible ; but I call upon you to justify that declaration, wherein you charge your sovereign with having done an act in your favour, notoriously against law. The half-pay, both in Ireland and England, is appropriated by parliament ; and if it be given to persons who, like you, are legally incapable of holding it, it is a breach of law. It would have been more decent in you to sir \V. D. as the request of lord G. that he should desist from writing in his Lordship's defence,' is farther confirmed by the following notice appended to a letter on the subject of this controversy, signed Aurelius, inserted in the Public Advertiser, March 11, 1769. 'We must now beg leave to drop this dispute, as the printer has received a hint that its continuance will be disagreeable.' Sir W. Draper, as far as lord Granby was implicated, dropped the subject ; though he sub- have called this dishonourable transaction I by its true name ; a job to accommodate two persons, by particular interest and management at the Castle. What sense [ must government have had of your services, ; when the rewards they have given you are \ only a disgrace to you ! And now, sir William, I shall take my ; leave of you for ever. Motives very diflfer- ent from any apprehension of your resent- ! ment, make it impossible you should ever ; know me. In trutli, vou have some reason Spaniards have also foygot to pay the ransoni. If he could quicken their memory, instead of mine, the officers would be more obliged to hiin. Their bravery has given me a competency, a golden mediocrity, but not much affluence or luxury, w hich is a stranger to my house as well .-IS to my thoughts ; and I here most solemnly declare notwithstanding \\i^/alse assertions of a Junius, who has told the world that I had sold the pajtners of my victory, and then gravely asked me if I were not guilty of perjurv that my sequently wrote the following letter in defence I income is now less than when I first went to of his own conduct, in which he again call upon Junius to avow himself. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, Cli/tou, April rn^th, 1769. A Gentleman who signed himself A)i Half-pay Subaltern, has called upon me to stand forth in the behalf of the much-distressed officers now upon half-pay. He was pleased to say, that I have an effectual method of being really ser- viceable to the officers of my reduced regiment. I should have been happy in receiving, by a Manilla. It is true, that its being so is by my own choice : I am voluntarily upon an equivalent for half-pay ; and although I would most will- ingly stand forth in the service of my king and country, should the necessity of the times demand my poor assistance, yet I would not again accept of any regiment whatsoever, or interfere with the pretensions of those officers, whose good fortune has been less than their merits: and 1 here most solemnly declare, that I never received either from the East India Com- pany, or from the Spaniards, directly or indi- rectly, any present or gratification, or any private letter, that gentleman's idea of relief for 1 circumstance of emolument whatsoever, to the them ; could have wished he had made use of a more agreeable mode of application than a pub- lic newspaper ; as unluckily these ill-seasoned provocatives are more apt to disgust than quicken the desire of doing good, especially when they are accompanied by invidious reflections, both amount of five shillings, during the whole course of the expedition, or afterwards, my legal prize- i money excepted. The Spaniards know that I refused the sum of fifty thousand pounds offered | me by the archbishop, to mitigate the terms of the ransom, and to reduce it to half a million. rash and ill founded : at present I am quite at a 1 instead of a -whole one : so that had I been dis- loss to find out by what means a person out of posed to have basely sold the partners of my vic- parliament, who has long retired from the great tory, avarice herse.f could not have wished for a •world, and who of course has but very little I richer opportunity. influence or interest, can be of much use to those | 1 he many base insinuations, that have been of gallant and distressed gentlemen : to many of, late thrown out to my disadvantage in the pub- whom I have the greatest obligations ; o( which i lie papers, oblige me to have recourse to the I have, upon all occasions, made the n.ost public , same channel for my vindication ; and flatter and grateful acknowledgments ; nor was there I myself that the public will be candid enough not the smallest necessity to 7vake me in this loud ' to impute it to arrogance, vanity, or the imperti- manner to a remembrance of their important I nence of egotism ; and hope that as much credit services, although the writer has been pleased to will be given to the assertions of a man, who is charge me \<^'n\\/brget/i:lness : a most heavy im- \ ready to seal his testimony with his blood, as to potation I as it implies ingratitude towards those , a writer, who when repeatedly called upon to by whom I have been so essentially assisted, and avow himself, and personally maintain his ac- to whom I am so much indebted fjr my good cusation, still skulks in the dark, or in the mean fortune ; which however is not so great as the subterfuge of a mask, gentleman imagines ; he himself forgets that the I W. D. LETTERS OF JL'NIL'.^ to hold yourself indebted to me. From the lessons I have given you, you may collect a profitable instruction for your future life. They will either teach you so to regulate your conduct, as to be able to set the most malicious enquiries at defiance ; or, if that be a lost hope, they will teach you prudence enough not to attract the public attention to a character, which will only jwss without censure, when it passes without observ- ation. JUNIUS. LETTER VI H. TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. My Lord, i8 .l/<7;r//, 1769. Before j'ou were placed at the head of affairs, it had been a maxim of the English government, not unwillingly ad- mitted by the people, that every ungracious or severe e.xertion of the prerogative should be placed to the account of the minister ; but that whenever an act of grace or bene- volence was to be performed, the A\hole merit of it should be attributed to the sovereign himself. 1 It was a wise doctrine, my Lord, and equally advantageous to the king and to his subjects ; for while it preserved that suspicious attention, with which the people ought always to examine the con- duct of ministers, it tended at the same time rather to increase than to diminish their attachment to the person of their sovereign. If there be not a fatality at- tending every measure you are concerned in, by what treachery or by what excess of folly has it happened, that those un- gracious acts, which have distinguished your administration, and which I doubt not w?^-? entirely your own, should carry with ' Les rois ne se sont reserve? que les graces, lis renvoient les condamnations vers leurs officiers. — Mo)itesqjiii'ii. ' The contest for the Middlesex election, in which Wilkes, though an outlaw, was four times returned through the favour of the populace, was conducted on both sides with the utmost violence and outrage. The court as well as the popular party had its committees and its hired mobs. Edward M'QuiiW was one of the persons employed in the latter capacity, and how reso- them a strong appearance of personal in- terest, and even of personal enmity, in a quarter, where no such interest or enmity can be supposed to exist, without the highest injustice and the highest dishonour? On the other hand, by what judicious management have you contrived it, that the only act of mercy, to which you ever advised your sovereign, far from adding to the lustre of a character, truly gracious and benevolent, should be received with uni- versal disapprobation and disgust ? I shall consider it as a ministerial measure, because it is an odious one ; and as your measure, my Lord Duke, because you are the minister. As long as the trial of this chairman was depending,^ it was natural enough that government should give him every jiossible encouragement and support. The honour- able service for which he was hired, and the spirit with which he performed it, made common cause between your Grace and him. The minister, who by secret corrup- tion invades the freedom of elections, and the ruffian, who by open violence destroys that freedom, are embarked in the same bottom. They have the same interests, and mutually feel for each other. To do justice to your Grace's humanity, you felt for Mac- Quirk as you ought to do, and if you had been contented to assist him. indirectly, without a notorious denial of justice, or openly insulting the sense of the nation, you might have satisfied every duty of po- litical friendship, without committing the honour of your sovereign, or hazarding the reputation of his government. But when this unhappy man had been solemnly tiied, convicted, and condemned ; — when it ap- peared that he had been frequently cm- ployed in the same services, and that no lutely he fulfilled his office in heading one of the court mobs may be collected from his having been chiefly concerned in a fray, in which a man of the name of Clarke, belonging to the opposite nK)b, was killed. AI'Quirk was committed to prison, and on his trial the jury found him guilty of murder, and he was of course condemned to be executed. By the advice of the minister, how- ever, liis Majesty interposed with his royal grace, and M 'Quirk was pardoned. — Edit. LETTERS OK JUNIUS. 1-^9 ' excuse for him could be drawn either from ' the innocence of his former hfe, or the j simplicity of his character, was it not ha- j zarding too much to interpose the strength j of the prerogative between this felon and the justice of his country ? ^ You ought to have known that an example of this sort was never so necessary as at present ; and certainly you must have known that the lot could not have fallen upon a more guilty object. \\'hat system of government is I this ? You are perpetually complaining of the riotous disposition cf the lower class of : people, yet when the kws hr.ve given you the means of making an example, in every sense unexceptionable, and by far the most likely to awe the multitude, you pardon the offence, and are not ashamed to give the sanction of government to the riots you complain of, and even to future murders. You are partial perhaps to the militar)' mode of execution, and had rather see a score of these wretches butchered by the guards, - Whitfhall, March ii, 1769. His Majesty has been gr.icioiisly pleased to extend his royal mercy to Edward M 'Quirk, found guilty of the murder of George Clarke, as appears by his royal '.varrant to the tenor following. GEORGE R. Whereas a doubt had arisen in Our Royal breast concerning the evidence of the death of George Clarke, from the representations of Wil- liam hJromfield, Esq. surgeon, and Solomon Star- ling, apothecary ; both of whom, as has been represented to Us, attended the deceased before his death, and expressed their opinions, that he did not die of the blow he received at Brentford : and whereas it appears to Us, that neither of the said persons were produced as witnesses upon the trial, though the said Solomon Starling had been examined before the coroner, and the only person called to prove that the death of the said George Clarke was occasioned by the said blow, was John Foot, surgeon, who never saw the deceased till after his death ; We thought fit thereupon to refer the said representations, to- gether with the report of the Recorder of Our city of London, of the evidence given by Richard and William Beale, and the said John Foot, on the trial of Edward Quirk, otherwise called Ed- ward Kirk, otherwise called Edward ^LQuirk, for the murder of the said Clarke, to the master, wardens, and the rest of the court of e.xamin- crs of the Surgeons' company, commanding them likewise to take such further examina- tion of the said persons so representing, and of the said John Foot, as they might think neccs- sarj'jtogeiher with the premises above-mentioned. than one of them suffer death by regular course of law.- How does it happen, my Lord, that, in your hands, even the mercy of the prerogative is cruelty and oppresbion to the subject ? The measure it seems was so extraordin- ary, that you thought it necessary to give some reasons for it to the public. Let them be fairly examined. 1. You say that Messrs Bronifield and Starling were not examined at MacQtiirk's trial. I will tell your Grace why they were not. They must have been examined upon oath ; and it was foreseen, that their evidence would either not benefit, or might be prejudicial to the prisoner. Otherwise, is it conceivable that his counsel should neglect to call in such material evidence ? 2. You say that Mr Foot did not see the deceased until after his death. A surgeon, my Lord, must know very little of his pro- fession, if, upon examining a wound, or a contusion, he cannot determine whether to form and report to Us their opinion, 'Whether it did or did not appear to them, that the said George Clarke died in consequence of the blow he received in the riot at Brentford on the 8th of December last.' And the said court of examiners of the Surgeons' company having thereupon re- ported to Us their opinion, 'That it did not I appear to them that he did ; ' Wc have thought I proper to extend Our royal mercy to him the j said Edward Quirk, otherwise Edward Kirk, I otherwise called Edward M 'Quirk, and to grant 1 him Our free pardon for the murder of the said , George Clarke, of which he has been found guilty : Our will and pleasure therefore is, Ihat I he the said Edward Quirk, otherwise called Ed- ward Kirk, otherwise called Edward M 'Quirk, ; be inserted, for the said murder, in our first and next general pardon that shall come out for the poor convicts of Newgate, without any condition whatsoever ; and that in fhe mean time you take bail for his appearance, in order to plead I Our said pardon. And for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given at Our court at St James's the loth day of March, 1769, in the ninth year of our reign. By his Majesty's command, ROCHFORD. To Our trusty and well beloved James Eyre, Esq., Recorder of Our city of London, the Sheriffs of Our said city and county of Middlesex, and all others whom it may concern. ^ See this subject farther touched upon in Mis- cellaneous Letter No. XXIV., — Edit. G* LETTERS OF JUNIUS. it was mortal or not. — While the party is alive, a surgeon will be cautious of pro- nouncing? wliereas, by the death of the patient, he is enabled to consider both cause and effect in one view, and to speak with a certainty confirmed by experience. Yet we are to thank your Grace for the establishment of a new tribunal. Your inqitisitio post mortevi is unknown to the laws of England, and does honour to your invention. 1 The only material objection to I it is, that if Mr Foot's evidence was in- I sufficient, because he did not examine the I wound till after the death of the party, j much less can a negative opinion, given by I gentlemen who never saw the body of Mr I (.'larke, either before or after his decease, j authorize you to supersede the verdict of a I jury, and the sentence of the lav/. Now, my Lord, let me ask you, Has it never occurred to your Grace, while you were withdrawing this desperate wretch from that justice which the laws had , awarded, and which the whole people of England demanded, against him, that there is another man, who is the favourite of his country, v.hose pardon would have been * This sentence, in a note to one of the editions of the Letters of Jlnils, is said to have no correct meaning. 'Junius,' sajs the com- mentator, ' thought that he had hit upon a forcible and quaintly allusive expression, hastily used it, and blundered into nonsense in the use.' The reader however shall now determme whether it is the author or the commentator who has bhtiidered into nonsense. The expression is, in fact, perfectly correct, though liable to be misunderstood without some attention. Every coroner's inquest, indeed, except in the cases of ship-wreck and treasure- trove, is, when exercised judicially, an inqnisitio post tiiortein ; but it can only legnily take place super vision corporis, ' on the sight of the corpse or dead body ; ' on the spot where the death was produced; and by a jury summoned from the neighbourhood. In the instance before us none of these constitutional requisites were attended to: and Ju.nius might hence remark with the strictest accuracy, as well as the keenest irony, Vour inquisitio post mortem is unknown to the laws of England. — Edit. ^ John Wilkes, formerly, and before the duke of Grafton had abandoned the party of lord Chatham, and had formed a party for himself, was one of his Grace's most confidential friends. He was at this time confined in the King's Bench prison, having surrendered himself to the juris- accepted with gratitude, whose pardon would have healed all our divisions? 2 Have you quite forgotten that this man was once your Grace's friend ? Or is it to mur- derers only that you will extend the mercy of the crown ? These are questions you will not answer. Nor is it necessary. The character of your private life, and the uniform tenor of your pubhc conduct, is an answer to them all. JUNIUS. LETTER LX. TO HIS GR.\CE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. My Lord, 10 Ap?-il, 1769. I HAVE so good an opinion of your Grace's discernment, that when the author of the vindication of your conduct assures us, that he writes from his own mere motion, without the least authority from your Grace,' I should be ready enough to believe him, but for one fatal mark, which seems to be fixed upon every mea- sure, in which either your personal or your political character is concerned. — Your first diction of the court of this name, by which the sentence of outlawry had been pronounced against him. The immediate cause of the minis- terial persecution of Wilkes, was the zeal with which he had opposed the existing cabinet, and especially the odium and disgrace in which the ministry had involved themselves by issuing a general warrant to seize all the papers and persons of whomsoever they suspected to be con- cerned in writing the forty-fifth number of the famous political and periodical paper called the North Kriton, a joint publication of John Wilkes, Charles Churciiill, and lord Temple. The question of general warrants was hereby neces- sarily brought before the public. I'he popular resentment was roused against the abettors of such a measure to the highest point of irasci- bility ; and Wilkes, upon the next general elec- tion that ensued, was chosen member of par- liament for the county of Middlesex, notwith- standing his outlawry, as a proof of the utter contempt in which the ministry were at this time held by the nation, rather than out of any personal regard for Wilkes himself, whose own misconduct must otherwise have been the ruin of him.— Edit. 3 He alludes to a pamphlet containing a long and laboured vindication of the duke of Grafton, attributed to the pen of Mr Edward Weston, writer of the Gazette. — Edit. LETTERS OF J U NIL'S. attempt to support sir William Proctor ended in the election of Mr Wilkes ; the second ensured success to Mr Glynn. The extraordinary step you took to make sir James Low ther lord paramount of Cumber- land, has ruined his interest in that county j for ever.i The House List of Directors i was cursed with the concurrence of govern- ment ;- and even the miserable Dingley could not escape the misfortune of your Grace's protection.^ With this uniform experience before us, we are authorized to suspect, that when a pretended vindication of your principles and conduct in reality contains the bitterest reflections upon both, it could not have been written without your immediate direction and assistance. The author, indeed, calls God to witness for him, with all the sincerity, and in the very terms of an Irish evidence, to the best of his kiiozo- I leJge and belief. My Lord, you should not encourage these api^eals to Heaven. The pious Prince, from whom you are supposed to descend, made such frequent use of them in his public declarations, that at last the people also found it necessiiry to appeal to Heaven in their turn. Your administration has driven us into circumstances of equal distress ; beware at least how you re- mind us of the remedy. You have already nmch to answer for. You have provoked this unhappy gentleman to play the fool once more in public life, in spite of his years and infirmities, and to show us, that, as you yourself are a singu- lar instance of youth without spirit, the man who defends you is a no less remarka- ble example of age without the benefit of experience. To follow such a writer minutely would, like his own periods, be a labour without end. The subject too has been already discussed, and is sufficiently understood. I cannot help observing, how- ever, that, when the pardon of MacQuirk was the principal charge against you, it would have been but a decent compliment to your Grace's understanding, to have de- fended you upon your own principles. What credit does a man deserve, who tells us plainly, that the facts set forth in the king's proclamation were not the true motives on which the pardon was granted, and that he wishes that those chirurgical reports, which first gave occasion to certain doubts in the royal breast, had not been laid before his Majesty. You see, my Lord, that even your friends cannot defend your actions, w ithout changing your princi- ples, nor justify a deliberate measure of government, without contradicting the main assertion on which it was founded. The conviction of MacQuirk had re- duced you to a dilemma, in which it was hardly possible for you to reconcile your political interest with your duty. You were obliged either to abandon an active useful partisan, or to protect a felon from public justice. With your usual spirit, you pre- ferred your interest to every other consider- ation ; and with your usual judgment, you founded your determ.ination upon the only motives, which should not have been given to the public. I have frequently censured Mr Wilkes's conduct, yet your advocate reproaches me with having devoted myself to the service of sedition. Your Grace can best inform us, for which of Mr Wilkes's good qualities you first honoured him with your friendship, or how long it was before you discovered those bad ones in him, at which, it seems, your delicacy was offended. Remember, my Lord, that you continued your con- nexion with Mr Wilkes long after he had been convicted o: those crimes, which you * See note upon the Nullum Tempus bill, Letter LVIf., in which the contest between sir James Lowther and the duke of Portland is detailed at large. — Edit. * At this period the whole four and twenty directors were annually chosen, and ten gentle- men, whose names were not inserted in the house list, were elected, notwithstanding the influence of government wase.xertedin its support. — Edit. 3 This unfortunate person had been persuaded by the duke of Grafton to set up for Middlesex, his Grace being determined to seat him in the House of Commons, if he had but a single vote. It happened unluckily, that he could not prevail upon any one freeholder to put him in nomina- tion, and it was with difficulty he escaped out of the hands of the populace. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. have since taken pains to represent in the blackest colours of blasphemy and treason. How unlucky is it, that the first instance you have given us of a scrupulous regard to decorum is united with th-i bre:.ich of a moral obligation ! For my own part, my Lord, I am proud to affirm, that, if I had been weak enough to form such a friend- ship, I would never have been base enough to betray it. But, let Mr Wilkes's charac- ter be what it may, this at least is certain, that, circu!nstanced as he is with regard to the public, even his vices plead for him. The people of England have too much discernment to suffer your Grace to take advantage of the failings of a private cha- racter, to establish a precedent by which the public liberty is affected, and which you may hereafter, with equal ease and satisfaction, employ to the ruin of the best men in the kingdom. Content yourself, my Lord, with the many advantages, which the unsullied purity of your own character has given you over your unhappy deserted ' Under the presumption that the pamphlet alluded to in the preceding letter, entitled a ' Vindication of the Duke of Grafton,' was written by Mr Weston, and which was avowedly defended by the author, whoever he was, in the Public Advertiser," under the signature of a ' Volunteer in the Government's Service,' the following short letter, addressed to that gentle- man, obviously from the pen of Junius, appeared in the same paper. TO THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD WESTON. Sir, Afril -20, 1769. Your age, though oppressed with bodily and mental infirmities, which, for the world's edification, you have published to it, demands some respect, or the cause you have embarked in would entitle you to none. The last glim- merings of your expiring taper, however, do your hero no honour ; and I fear the principle that has kindled it obtains you no credit. You are a privy counsellor in Ireland, writer of the Gazette, comptroller of the salt-office, a clerk of the sig- net, and a pensioner on the Irish establishment: such is the I'ohmteer I And you may remember, when you were under secretary of state, the division of .^500 among ten people left to your discretion, of which you 7iiodestly claimed ^^400 for yourself. So honest, so upright, and so dis- interested is the )itan I Let Ju.MUS be the dirty rascal you call him, 1 know, you know, and the world knows, what you are. — Crito. This letter produced a short reply from the friend. Avail yourself of all the unforgiv- ing piety of the court you live in, and bless God that you 'are not as other men are ; extortioners, luijust, adulterers, or even as this publican." In a heart void of feeling, the laws of honour and good faith may be violated with impunity, and there you may safely indulge your genius. But the laws of England shall not be violated, even by your holy zeal to oppress a sinner ; and though you have succeeded in making him the tool, you shall not make him the victim of your ambition. JUNIUS. LETTER X. TO MR EDW.VRD WKSTON. Sir, 21 April, 1769. I SAID you were an old man with- out the benefit of experience. It seems you are also a volunteer with a stipend of twenty commissions ; ^ and at a period Volunteer, in which he denies that Mr Weston is the author of the pamphlet, or of the letters under that signature, and one from Poetikastos, who attacks Junmus in the following words : ' You conclude your despicable vindication of an honour which you do not possess, by assert- ing " that you arc a master in the art of repre- senting the treachery of the minister, and the abused simplicity of a " Villain I of whom ? \o\\ who write under the name of Junius, are a base scoundrel. You lie ; and you may find out who gives you the lie' These letters occasioned the under-writteh answer : — TO THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD WESTON. April 2-], 1769. The old fox has been unkennelled, but is ashamed of his stinking tail. Either several people of intelligence and consideration have been grossly deceived, or our doughty Volunteer declares upon his houoitr an untruth. I cannot believe a misinformation, unless the world .should have thought that no impertinent, expectant old fellow, could have been found to dispatch so lame an errand but you. You seem ashamed of your generous distribu- tion : I applaud your modesty ! but it shall not be at the expense of truth. You did claim ;^400 out o{ £,100 for your own self ; and there are, I suppose, at least half a dozen people who can attest it. And you shall find that I dare say something else to your mortification, if you sup- LETTERS OF JUNIUS, when all prospects are at an end, you are 1 still looking forward to rewards, which you cannot enjoy. No man is better acquainted with the bounty of government than you \ are. j foil iinpiidoice, Temeraire vicillard, aura sa rccsmpcitse. But I will not descend to an altercation i either with the impotence of your age, or the peevishness of your diseases. Your pamphlet,! ingenious as it is, has been so little read, that the public cannot know- how far you have a right to give me the lie, w ithout the follow ing citation of your own words. Page 6 — ' I. That he is persuaded that the motives, which he (Mr Weston) has alleged, must appear fully sufficient, with or w ithout the opinions of the surgeons. '2. That those very motives must havk BKKN the foundation, on which the earl of Rochford thought proper, &c. '3. That he CANNOT but REGRET that the earl of Rochford seems to have thought proper to lay the chirurgical reports before the king, in preference to all the other suf- ficient motives," &c. Let the public determine whether this be defending government on their principles or your own. The style and language you have adopted are, I confess, not ill suited to the elegance of your own manners, or to the dignity of the cause you have undertaken. Every pose the world is not heartily tired of you, your petulance, and your crudities. I don't believe the governors of Bedlam in- dulge their patients with newspapers, or I should have supposed that Poetikastos had obtained his ! genteel residence there. The poor raving crea- \ ture bawls alcjud for swords and pistols, .-ind j requires the last argument instead of the best, j The public has pronounced upon his reason the judgment of Felo de se, from his own pen ; — I am { so impressed with humanity as to wish the coroner may not have the trouble of passing the same sentence upon his person from his sword. I should, however, pity the elegant Ji'nils, who well deserves the thanks of the independent public, if he was obliged to take notice of every fool, svcophant, and bully.— Crito. Edit. ' It is possible Ji nils, though his information was generally accurate, was incorrect in attribut- ing this pamphlet to Mr Weston. For. in a letter inserted by Mr Wc.-ton in the Public common dauber writes rascal and villain under his pictures, because the pictures themselves have neither character nor re- semblance. But the works of a master require no index. His features and colour- ing are taken from nature. The impression they make is immediate and uniform ; nor is it possible to mistake his characters, whether they represent the treachery of a minister, or the abused simplicity of a king. JUNIUS, LETTER XI, TO HIS GR.\CE THE DUKE OF GK.\l-TON. Mv Lord, 24 April, 1769. The system you seemed to have adopted, when lord Chatham unexpectedly left you at the head of aftairs, gave us no promise of that uncommon exertion of vigour, which has since illustrated your character, and distinguished your adminis- tration. Far from discovering a spirit bold enough to invade the first rights of the peo- ple, and the first principles of the constitu- tion, you were scrupulous of exercising even those powers, with which the executive branch of the legislature is legally invested. We have not yet forgotten how long Mr Wilkes was suflTered to appear at large, nor how long he was at liberty to canvass for the city 2 and county, with all the terrors of Advertiser a few months afterwards, Octolier 14, he solemnly denies his having written this and a variety of pamphlets and letters attributed to him. — Edit. ^ Prior to his offering himself for the county of Middlesex, Wilkes had become a candidate for the metropolis, and it was in consequence of his failure in the city, that he pressed forwards to the county. The populace, in both cases, were so immerou.sly and so violently attached to him, that many serious riots were the consequence ; and so outr.-igeous were they in two or three in- stances, that the court party strenuously asserted that the city and even the palace itself were not free from danger. Of these riots, the two most serious that occurred, were on the meeting of parliament, when the populace surrounded the King's Piench prison from an expectation of see- ing Wilkes, who had then been elected member for Middlesex, liberated, in order to take his seat in the senate, in the course of which several per- sons were killed by the firing of the military, and 154 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. an outlawry hanging over him.i Our gra- extraordinary care you took of his dignity cious sovereign has not yet forgotten the and of the safety of his person, when at a on the counter-address to that of the city being carried to St James's by those who were deputed for this purpose ; on which last occasion the Riot Act was read at the palace gate, and lord Talbot, the lord-steward, had his stafi' of office broken in his hand. — EniT. * As JuNiLS was extremely severe in his cen- sures on lord Mansfield, it is deemed a mere act of justice to extract a part of his Lordship's speech on the reversal of Mr Wilkes's outlawry, by which it will appear, such was the temper of the times, that the chief justice was even pri- vately threatened upon the occasion, should his decision of the cause be in opposition to the popular opinion of the day. The extract is well worthy the reader's perusal, as a specimen of eloquence not often equalled, and rarely ex- celled ; it forms the conclusion of his address. ' I have now gone through the several errors assigned by the defendant, and which have been ingeniously argued and confidently relied on by his counsel at the bar; I have given my senti- ments upon them, and if upon the whole, after the closest attention to what has been said, and with the strongest inclination in favour of the defendant, no arguments which have been urged, no cases which have been cited, no reasons that occur to me, are sufficient to satisfy me in my conscience and judgment that this outlawry should be reversed, I am boiuid to affirm it — and here let me make a pause. ' Many arguments have been suggested, both in and out of court, upon the consequences of establishing this outlawry, either as they may affect the defendant as an individual, or the public in general. As to the first, whatever they may be, the defendant has brought them upon i himself; they are inevitable consequences of law I arming from his own act ; if the penalty, to I which he is thereby subjected, is more than a punishment adequate to the crime he has com- ! niitted, he should not have brought himself into this unfortunate predicament, by flying from the justice of his country ; he thought proper to do I so, and he must take the fruits of his own con- : duct, however bitter and unpalatable they may I be ; and although we may be heartily sorry for ' any person who has brought himself into this I situation, it is not in our power^ God forbid it ! should ever be in our power, to deliver him I from it ; we cannot prevent the judgment of the I law by creating irregularity in the proceedings ; we cannot prevent the consequence of that judg- ment by pardoning the crime ; if the defendant has any pretensions to mercy, those prcte-^sions must be urged, and that power exercised, in another place, where the constitution h.ns wisely and necessarily vested it • the crown will judge for itself; it does not belong to us to interfere with punishment, we have only to declare the Ia\r : none of us had any concern in the prosecu- tion of this business, nor any wishes upon the event of it ; it was not our fault that the defend- ant was prosecuted for the libels upon which he has been convicted ; I took no share in another place, in the measures which were taken to pro- secute him for one of them ; it was not our fault that he was convicted ; it was not our fault that he fled ; it was not our fault that he was outlawed ; it was not our fault that he rendered himself up to justice ; none of us revived the prosecution against him, nor could any one of us stop that prosecution when it was revived ; it is not our fault if there are not any errors upon the record, nor is it in our power to create any if there are none ; we are bound by our oath and in our con- sciences, to give such a judgment as the law will warrant, and as our reason can prove ; such a judgment as we must stand or fall by, in the opinion of the present times, and of posterity ; in doing it, therefore, we must have regard to our reputation as honest men, and men of skill and knowledge competent to the stations we hold ; no considerations whatsoever should mislead us from this great object to which we ever ought, and I trust ever shall, direct our attention, iiut consequences of a public nature, reasons of state, political ones, have been strongly urged (private anonymous letters sent to me, I shall pass o'.er), open avowed publications which have been judicially noticed, and may therefore be men- tioned, have endeavoured to influence or intimi- date the court, and .so prevail upon us to trifle and prevaricate with God, our consciences, and the public : it has been intimated that consequences of a frightful nature will flow from the establish- ment of this outlawry ; it is said the people ex- i pect the reversal, that the temper of the times 1 tlemand it, that the multitude will have it so ; 1 ih.it the continuation of the outlawry in full I force, will not be endured ; that the execution of I the law upon the defendant will be resisted : j these arc arguments which will not weigh a I feather with me. If insurrection and rebellion are to follow our determination, we have not to answer for the consequences, though we should be the innocent cause — we can only say, /■"/W/ \jnstiti'y . mat carltiin ; we shall discharge our I duty without expectations of approbation, or the apprehensions of censure ; if we are subjected to the latter unjustly, we must submit to it ; \ we cannot prevent it, we will take care not to deserve it. He must be a v/eak man indeed who can be staggered by such a consideration. ' The misapprehension or the misrepresenta- tion of the ignorant or the wicked, the Mendax Iii/amia, which is the consequence of both, are equally indifferent to, unworthy the attention of, and incapable of making any Impression on, men of firmness and Intrepidity. — 'I'hose who imagine judges are capable of being influenced by such unworthy. Indirect niians, most grossly deceive themselves ; and for n\y own part I trust that my temper, and the colour and conduct of my life, have clothed me with a suit of armour to shield mc fron\ such arrows. If I have ever LETTERS OF JUNIUS. crisis which courtiers affected to call alarm- ing, you left the metropolis exposed for two nights together, to every species of riot and disorder. The security of the royal resid- ence from insult was then sufficiently pro- vided for in Mr Conway's firmness ^ and lord Weymouth's discretion ; while the prime minister of Great Britain, in a rural retirement, and in the arms of faded beauty, 2 had lost all memory of liis sovereign, his country, and himself. In these instances you might have acted w ith vigour, for you would have had the sanction of the laws to support you. The friends of government might have defended you without shame, and moderate men, who wish \\ell to the peace and good order of society, might have had a pretence for applauding your supported the king's measures ; if I have ever afforded any assistance to government ; if I h.ive discharged my duty as a public or private cha- racter, by endeavouriiie to preserve pure and perfect the principles of the constitution, main- taining unsullied the honour of the courts of justice, and by an upright administration of, to give a due effect to the laws, I have hitherto done it without any other gift or reward than that most pleasing and most honourable one, the con.-icientious conviction of doing what was j light. I do not affect to scorn the opinion of | mankind ; I wish earnestly for popularity ; I I will seek and will have popularity ; but 1 will , tell you how I will obtain it ; I will have that ! popularity which follows, and not that which is ■ run after. It is not the applause of a day, it is j not the huzzas of thousands, that can give a moment's satisfaction to a rational being ; that , man's mind must indeed be a weak one, and his [ ambition of a most depraved sort, who can be \ captivated by such wretched allurements, or satisfied with such mon.entary gratifications. I | say with the Roman orator, and can say it with j ■IS much truth as he did, ' £^0 hoc aninto semper fiii, ut invidiam viytute partiun, glorinin fion \ i^L/ainiain futayem : ' But the threats have been carried further ; personal violence has been de- ! nounced, unless public humour be complied with : ! 1 do not fear such threats ; I do not believe there | '.s any reason to fear them ; it is not the genius ! of the worst of men in the worst of times to ; proceed to such shocking extremities : bi:t if such an event should happen, let it be so ; even ; such an event might be productive of wholesome ^ effects ; such a stroke might rouse the better i part of the nation from their lethargic condition to a state of activity, to assert and execute the law, and punish the daring and impious hands which had violated it ; and those who now \ supinely behold the danger which threatens all liberty, from the most abandoned licentiousness, conduct. But these it seems were not occasions worthy of your Grace's interposi- tion. You reserved the proofs of your in- trepid spirit for trials of greater hazard and importance ; and now, as if the most dis- graceful relaxation of the executive au- thority had given you a claim of credit to indulge in excesses still more d-angerous, you seem determined to compensate amply for your former negligence ; and to balance the non-execution of the laws w ith a breach of the constitution. From one extreme you suddenly start to the other, without leaving, between the weakness and the fury of the passions, one moment's interval for the firmness of the understanding. Tliese observations, general as they are, might easily be extended into a faithful history of your Grace's administration, and might, by such an event, be awakened to a sense of their situation, as drunken men arc oftentimes stunned into sobriety. If the security of our persons and our property, oi all we hold dear and valuable, are to depend upon the caprice of a giddy multitude, or to be at the dis- posal of a giddy mob; if, in compliance with the humours and to appease the clamours of those, all civil and political institutions are to be disre- garded or overthrown, a life somewhat more than sixty is not worth preserving at such a price, and he can never die too soon, who hys down his life in support and vindication of the policy, the government, and the constitution of his country.' — Edit. ' The Hon. Henry Seymour Conway was brother to lord Hertford, and father of the present Mrs Darner, who constitutes indeed his only issue. He had enjoyed several places of high rank and confidence at court during the beginning of his Majesty's reign. After the prorogation of parliament, in the jear 1764, G. Grenville, then first lord of the Treasury and chancellor of the Exchequer, in conjunction with the duke of Bedford, lord president, took from him his regiment and dismissed him from his office as groom of the bedchamber to the king, in conse- quence of having voted in the Lower House, in opposition to government, upon the question of General Warrants. Mr Conway was made a secretary of state in the Rockingham adminis- tration of 1765, and retained that post till lord Chatham, who succeeded lord Rockingham, quitted office In Oct. 1768. Mr C. was a man of an independent mind, but often wavering in his opinion, and like his favourite cousin, Horace Walpole, Hiuch attached to literature and the fine arts. — Edit. - 'Ihe duke of Grafton was, at that time, living with the celebrated Nancy Parsons, aft'-rwards la.-'v MaMiard. — EoiT. \ 1^6 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. perhaps may be the employment of a future houi But the business of the present moment will not suffer me to look back to a series of events, which cease to be interest- ing or important, because they are succeed- ed by a measure so singularly daring, that it excites all our attention, and engrosses all our resentment. Your patronage of Mr Luttrell has been crowned with success. ^ With this pre- cedent before you, with the principles on which it was established, and with a future House of Commons, perhaps less virtuous than the present, every county in England, under the auspices of the Treasury, may be represented as completely as the county of Middlesex. Posterity will be indebted to ^ In the contest for the county of Middlesex, the House of Commons, on the 3rd of February, 1769, had proceeded to the severe step of expel- ling Mr Wilkes, for, among other ofTences, repub- lishing, in the St James's Chronicle, lord Wey- mouth's letter to Mr Justice Ponton, one of the magistrates for Surry, with the ensuing prefa- tory remarks : ' I send you the following au- thentic state paper, the date of which, prior by more than three weeks to the fatal loth of May, 176S, shows how long the horrid massacre in St George's Fields had been planned and deter- mined upon, before it was carried into execution, and how long a hellish project can be brooded over by some infernal spirits, without one moment's remorse.' Mr Wilkes having admitted the publication, the House resolved, ' That John Wilkes, Esq., a member of this House, who hath, at the bar of this House, confessed himself to be the author and publisher of what this House has resolved to be an insolent, scandalous, and seditious libel ; and who has been convicted in the Court of King's Bench, of having printed and published a seditious libel, and three obscene and impious libels ; and, by the judgment of the said court, has been sentenced to undergo twenty-two months' imprisonment, and is now in execution under the said judgment, be expelled this House,' which was carried in the affirmative by 219 agamst 137. On the 16th of February, 1769, he was a second time returned for Middlesex without opposition. On the day following the election was vacated, and he was declared by a majority of the House, incapable of being elected into that parliament. Notwithstanding this reso- lution of the house, he was a third time, March 10, elected without opposition ; for Dingley, as before observed, had not been able to obtain even a nomination. This election, however, was also declared void the next day. 'Jhe great mass of Middlesex freeholders were in_ consequence thrown into a more violent commotion than ever, and insisted upon their right to return whom- your Grace for not contenting yourself with a temporary expedient, but entailing upon them the immediate blessings cf your ad- ministration. Boroughs were already too much at the mercy of government. Coun- ties could neither be purchased nor in- timidated. But their solemn determined election may be rejected, and the man they detest may be appointed, by another choice, to represent them in parliament. Yet it is admitted, that the sheriffs obeyed the laws and performed their duty.- The return they made must have been legal and valid, or undoubtedly they would have been cen- sured for making it. With every good- natured allowance for your Grace's youth and inexperience, there are some things which you cannot but know. You cannot soever they pleased, let parliament expel him as often as it pleased. Wilkes was a third time expelled : and to oppose him with a certainty of success, another device was now contrived, and under the promise that he should certainly be seated for the county in opposition to Wilkes, col. Luttrell was prevailed upon to relinquiih the seat he then held, and to oppose him wita all the force that could be mustered up on the occa- sion. With every possible effort exerted in his favour, however, Luttrell was incapable of obtaining more than two hundred and ninety-six votes, and Wilkes was again returned almost unanimously. The ministry were intimidated : but still resolved to carry their new device into effect. Wilkes was nut now, therefore, to be openly re-expelled, but, which amounted to the same thing, to be declared incapable of sitting in parliament in consequence of his previous expul- sion, and Luttrell was of course declared the sitting member. Yet, with an incongruity not often to be parallelled, the sheriffs, instead of being punished, were admitted to have done their duty, in allowing Wilkes to have become a candidate, and in returning him as fairly elected. The nation at large now joined in the cause of the Middlesex freeholders ; the parliament from exercising the unconstitutional act of rejecting one person who was a real member of its body, without an adequate cause, and in admitting another person to be a member who had never been returned by a majority of votes, was declared to have passed into a state of political incapacity, every vote and act of which must ] necessarily be incompetent and illegislative, and , the throne was thronged with petitions and ! remonstrances from every part of the kingdom beseeching his Majesty to dissolve it. — Edit. I ' Sir Fletcher Norton, when it was proposed to punish the sheriffs, declared in the House of j Commons, that they, in returning Mr Wilkes, had done no more than their dutj'. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. but know that the right of the freeholders to adhere to their choice (even supposing it improperly exerted), was as clear and in- disputable as that of the House of Com- mons to exclude one of their own members : — nor is it possible for you not to see the wide distance there is between the negative power of rejecting one man, and tlie posi- tive power of appointing another. The right of expulsion, in the most favourable sense, is no more than the custom of par- liament. The right of election is the very essence of the constitution. To violate that right, and much more to transfer it to any other set of men, is a step leading im- mediately to the dissolution of all govern- ment. So far forth as it operates, it con- stitutes a House of Commons which does not represent the people. A House of Commons so formed would involve a cori- tradiction and the grossest confusion of ideas ; but there are some ministers, my Lord, whose views can only be answered by reconciling absurdities, and making the same proposition, which is Ailse and absurd in argument, true in fact. This measure, my Lord, is however at- tended with one consequence favourable to the people, which I am persuaded you did not foresee.! While the contest lay between the ministry and Mr Wilkes, his situation and private character gave you advantages over him, which common candour, if not the memory of your former friendship, should have forbidden you to make use of. To religious men, you had an opportunity of exaggerating the irregularities of his past life ; — to moderate men you held furtli the pernicious consequences of faction. Men who, with this character, looked no farther than to the object before them, were not dissatisfied at seeing Mr Wiikes excluded from parliament. You have now taken care to shift the question ; or, rather, you have created a new one, in which Mr Wilkes is no more concerned than any other English gentleman. You have united this country against you on one grand con- The reader is desired to mark this prophecy. The duke, about this lime, had separated stitutional point, on the decision of which our existence as a free people absolutely depends. You have asserted, not in words but in fact, that representation in parlia- ment does not depend upon the choice of the freeholders. If such a case can possibly happen once, it may happen frequently ; it may happen always ; — and if three hundred votes, by any mode of reasoning whatso- ever, can prevail against twelve hundred, the same reasoning would equally have given Mr Luttrell his seat with ten votes, or even with one. The consequences of this attack upon the constitution are too plain and palpable not to alarm the dullest ap- prehension. I trust you will find that the people of England are neither deficient in spirit nor understanding, though you have treated them as if they had neither sense to feel nor spirit to resent. We have reason to thank God and our ancestors, that there never yet was a minister in this country who could stand the issue of such a conflict; and with every prejudice in favour of your intentions, I see no such abilities in your Grace, as should entitle you to succeed in an enterprise, in which the ablest and basest of your predecessors have found their de- struction. You may continue to deceive your gracious n»aster with false representations of the temper and condition of his subjects. You may command a venal vote, because it is the common established appendage of your office. But never licpe that the free- holders will make a tame surrender of their rights, or that an English army will join with you in overturning the liberties of their country. They know tliat their first duty, as citizens, is paramount to all subsequent engagements, nor will they prefer the dis- cipline, nor even the honours, of their pro- fession, to those sacr-i original rights, which belonged to them b^efore they were soldiers, and which they claim and possess as the birthright of Englishmen. Return, my Lord, before it be too late, to that easy insipid system, which you first set out with. Take back your mistress ; ^ himself from Ann Parsons, but proposed to con- I tinue united with her, on some platonic terms of i-,3 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. — the name of friend may be fatal to her, for it leads to treachery and persecution. Indulge the people. Attend Newmarket. Mr Luttrell may again vacate his seat ; and Mr Wilkes, if not persecuted, will soon bo forgotten. To be weak and inactive is safer than to be daring and criminal ; and wide is the distance between a riot of the populace and a convulsion of the whole kingdom. You may live to make the ex- periment, but no honest man can wish you should survive it. JUNIUS. LETTER XII. TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. My Lord, 30 May, 1769. If the measures in which you have been most successful, liad been supported by any tolerable appearance of argument, I should have thought my time not .ill em- ployed, in continuing to examine your con- duct as a minister, and stating it fairly to the public. But when I see questions, of the highest national importance, carried as they have been, and the first j)rinciples of the constitution openly violated, without argument or decency, I confess, I give up the cause in desj^air. The meanest of your predecessors had abilities sufficient to give a colour to their measures. If they invaded the rights of the people, they did not dare to offer a direct insult to their understand- ing ; and, in former times, the most venal i parliaments made it a condition, in their I bargain with the minister, that he should j furnish them with some plausible pretences for selling their country and themselves. You have had the merit of introducing a I more compendious system of government ! and logic. You neither address yourself to I the passions, nor to the understanding, but j simply to the touch. You apply yourself immediately to the feelings of your friends, vrho, contrary to the forms of parliament, friendship, which sVi^ rejected with contempt. His haseness to this worau is beyond description or belief. never enter heartily into a debate until they have divided. Relinquishing, therefore, all idle views of amendment to your Grace, or of benefit to the public, let me be permitted to consider your character and conduct merely as a subject of curious speculation. — There is something in both, which distinguishes you not only from all other ministers, but all other men. It is not that you do wrong by design, but that you should never do right by mistake. It is not that your indolence and your activity have been equally misapplied, but that the first uni- form principle, or, if I may so call it, the genms of your life, should have carried you through every possible change and contradiction of conduct, without the mo- mentary imputation or colour of a virtue ; and that the wildest spirit of inconsistency should never once have betrayed you into a wise or honourable action. This, I own, gives an air of singularity to your fortune, as well as to your disposition. Let us look back together to a scene, in which a mind like yours will find nothing to repent of. Let us try, my Lord, how well yuu h.a\e supported the. various relations in which you stood, to your sovereign, your country, your friends, and yourself. Give us, if it be possible, some excuse to posterity, and to ourselves, for submitting to your admin- istration. If not the abilities of a great minister, if net the integrity of a patriot, or the fidelity of a friend, show us, at least, tlie firmness of a man.— For the sake of your mistress, the lover shall be spared. I will not lead her into public, as you have done, nor will I insult the memory of de- parted beauty. Her sex, which alone made her amiable in your eyes, makes her respectable in mine, Aj Th.e character of the reputed ancestors cf some men, has made it possible for their descendants to be vicious in the extreme, without being degenerate. Those of your Grace, for instance, left no distressing ex- amples of virtue, even to tlieir legitimate posterity, and you may look back wi.h pleasure to an illustrious pedigree, in wliich LETTERS OF JUNIUS. f59 heraldry has not left a single good quality upon record to insult or upbraid you.^ You have better proofs of your descent, my Lord, than the register of a marriage, or any troublesome inheritance of reputa- tion. There are some hereditary strokes of character, by which a family may be as clearly distinguished as by the blackest features of the human face. Charles the First lived and died a hypocrite. Charles the Second was a hypocrite of another sort, and should have died upon the same scaf- fold. At the distance of a century, we see their different characters happily revived, and blended in your Grace. Sullen and severe without religion, profligate without gaiety, you live like Charles the Second, without being an amiable companion, and, for aught I know, may die as his father did, "O. without the reputation of a martyr. You had already taken your degrees with credit in those schools, in which the Eng- lisli nobility are formed to virtue, when you were introduced to lord Chatham's protec- tion. 2 From Newmarket, White's, and the Opposition, he gave you to the world with an air of popularity, which young men usually set out with, and seldom pre- serve : — grave and plausible enough to be thought fit fur business, too young for treachery, and, in short, a patriot of no unpromising expectations. Lord Chatham equal share of power with lord Rocking- ham. When the duke of Cumberland's first negotiation failed, and when the favourite was pushed to the last extremity, you saved him, by joining with an adminis- tration, in which lord Chatham had refused to engage. Still, however, he was your friend, and you are yet to explain to the world, why you consented to act without him, or why, after uniting with lord Rock- ingham, you deserted and betrayed him. You complained that no measures were taken to satisfy your patron, and that your friend, Mr Wilkes ..ho had suffered so much for the party, had been abandoned to his fate. They have since contributed, not a little, to your present plenitude of power ; yet, I think, lord Chatham has less reason than ever to be satisfied ; and as for Mr Wilkes, it is, perhaps, the great- est misfortune of his life, that you should have so many compensations to make in the closet for your former friendship with him. Your gracious master understands your character, and makes you a persecutor, be- cause you have been a friend. Lord Chatham formed his last adminis- tration upon principles which you certainly concurred in, or you could never have been placed at the head of the Treasury. By de- serting those jjrinciples, and by acting in direct contradiction to them, in which he w.-\s the earliest object of your political i found you were secretly supported in the wonder and attachment." Yet you deserted 1 closet, you soon forced him to leave you to him, upon the first hopes that offered of an ! vourself, and to withdraw his name from j * The first duke of Graflon was a natural son of Charles II. During the proccress of the revo- , pie, and lord Lyttleton. They, however, objected lution he abandoned the Stu.irts for king William ; [to the undue inrtuence of the noble favourite, and his dcsccndanls had hitherto ;ienerallj' ranked j and the proposal was declined. Lord Rocking- theniselves among the party of the \\'higs. — ham was now applied to, and prevailed upon to Edit. take the lead, and form an administration of his ^ To understand tliese passages, the reader is own : Mr Pitt refused to unite in it, but the duke referred to a noted pamphlet, called the History 0/ the Minority. 3 The duke of Grafton was first introduced of Grafton deserted him, and accepted the office of secretary of state. With this administration, however, he soon became chagrined and resigned into the political world at an early period of life, [ his office. Lord Chatham again received him under the auspices and protection of lord Chat- into communion ; and in the ministry, shortly ham then Mr Pitt) as a determined Whig. To ! after i)Ianned and carried into effect \)y himself, the administration of lord Kute sticceeded that j in which he held the privy seal, he nominated of G. Grenville and the duke of Bedford, who ' the duke of Graflon first lord of the Treasury, soon became obnoxious to lord I5ute, the guardian : At the head of this new system, however, lord of his Majesty's non-age, and still his confi- Chatham did not long continue — he withdrew dential adviser. The duke of Cumberland, uncle in disgust ; but the noble duke, instead of fol- ic the king, was deputed to propose another ^ louing him, to >k the lead upon himself, and adniinistration conjointly to Mr Pitt, lord Tcai- ' commenced an administration of hi.-^own. — liorr. i6o LETTERS OF JUxXIUS. an administration, which had been formed on the credit of it. You had then a pros- pect of friendships better suited to your genius, and more hkely to fix your disposi- tion. Marriage is the point on which every rake is stationary at last ; and truly, my Lord, you may well be weary of the circuit you have taken, for you have now fairly travelled through every sign in the political zodiac, from the Scorpion, in which you stung lord Chatham, to the hopes of a Vir- gin ^ in the house of Bloomsbury. One would think that you had had sufficient experi- ence of the frailty of nuptial engagements, or, at least, that such a friendship as the duke of Bedford's might have been secured to you by the auspicious marriage of your late duchess with- his nephew. But ties of this tender nature cannot be drawn too close ; and it may possibly be a part of the I duke of Bedford's ambition, after making] [ Jk£r an honest woman, to work a miracle of i the same sort upon your Grace. This | worthy nobleman has long dealt in virtue. | There has been a large consumption of it in his own family; and, in the way of, traffic, I dare say, he has bought and sold ] more than half the representative integrity i of the nation. i In a political view, this union is not im- 1 prudent. The favour of princes is a perish- , able commodity. You have now a strength j sufficient to command the closet ; and if it | ' His Grace had lately married Miss Wrottes- ; ley, niece of the Good Gertrude, duchess of Bed- j ford. I - Mis.-, Liddel, after her divorce from the duke, married lord Upper Ossory. j J Mr Stuart Mackenzie was Ijrotlier to the earl i of Hvite. The duke of Bedford's abuse of power | here referred tu, is again noticed in J u nils, | Letter XXXVI., and consisted in compelling his Majesty to displace Mr Mackenzie from the office of Lord Privy Seal of Scotland, shortly after his appointment, in favour of lord Krederick Campbell. In this act of coercion Mr Grenville ' bore an equal part with the noble duke. Upon ] the resignation of these ministers, Mr stuart | Mackenzie was reinstated in his former post.— j Edit. ^ See note.s above. — Edit. ■ 5 At the period here referred to, the American , colonies had acquired such a population, and proportion of public wealth, as to render it ne- cessary to enquire, more critically than had be necessary to betray one friendship more, you may set even lord Bute at defiance. Mr Stuart Mackenzie may possibly remem- ber what use the duke of Bedford usually makes of his power; 3 and our gracious sovereign, I doubt not, rejoices at this first appearance of union among his servants. His late Majesty, under tlie happy influence of a family connexion between his minis- ters, was relieved from the cares of govern- ment. A more active prince may perhaps observe, with suspicion, by what degrees an artful servant grows upon his master, from the first unlimited professions of duty and attachment, to the painful representa- tion of the necessity of the royal service, and soon, in regular progression, to the humble insolence of dictating in all the obsequious forms of peremptory submission. The interval is carefully employed in form- ing connexions, creating interests, collect- ing a party, and laying the foundation of double marriages;-* until the deluded prince, who thought he had found a crea- ture prostituted to his service, and insig- nificant enough to be always dependent upon his pleasure, finds him at last too strong to be commanded, and too formid- able to be removed. Your Grace's public conduct, as a min- ister, is but the counterpart of your private history ; — the same inconsistency, the same contradictions. In America we trace you, from the first opposition to the Stamp Act,'' hitherto been done, into the peculiar mode of its political connexion with the mother country, and to bind it to the latter in a m need make no scruple of con- sulting the Doctor himself. The example of the English nobility may, for aught I know, sufficiently justify the duke of Grafton, when he indulges his genius in all the fashionable excesses of the age ; yet, considering his rank and station, I think it would do him more honour to be able to deny the fact, than to defend it by such authority. But if vice itself could be excused, there is yet a certain display of it, a certain outrage to decency, and violation of public decorum, which, for the benefit of society, should never be forgiven. It is not that he kept a mistress at home, but that he constantly attended her abroad. — It is not the private indulgence, but the public insult of which I complain. The name of Miss Parsons would hardly have been known, if the first lord of the Trea- sury had not led her in triumph through the Opera House, even in the presence of the queen. 7 When we see a man act in this manner, we may admit the shameless depravity of his heart, but what are we to think of his understanding? His Grace, it seems, is now to be a regu- of May, 1772, he was appointed a lord of the Ad- miralty. See further, p. 225, note. — Edit. " Lord Camden. — Edit. 3 At this time chief justice in Eyre, with a salary of ;C3ooo, and just appointed a privy counsellor. — Edit. "* Mr De Grey, afterwards lord Walsingham. — Edit. 5 Doctor Blackstone had been, unfortunately for himself, an adviser of sir James Lowthcr against the duke of Portland, in the dispute con- cerning the Cuniberland crown lands, upon the obsolete law of tiulln7n tetiipus. See further, p. 300, note. — Edit. 6 Doctor Blackstone had also supported government in its rejection of Mr Wilkes, as member for the county of Middlesex. See Letter XVIII. ; as also Miscellaneous Letters, No. LVL— Edit. ' See this transaction more fully detailed in Miscellaneous Letters, No. XX. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. lar domestic man, and as an omen of the future delicacy and correctness of his con- duct^ he marries a first cousin of the man, who had fixed that mark and title of infamy upon liim, which, at the same moment, makes a husband unhappy and ridiculous. The ties of consanguinity may possibly preserve him from the same fate a second time, and as to the distress of meet- ing, I take for granted the venerable uncle of these common cousins has settled the etiquette in such a manner, that, if a mis- take should happen, it may reach no farther than from Madavic ina fcmme to Madame via cousi/ie. The duke of Grafton has always some excellent reason for deserting his friends. — The age and incapacity of lord Chatham ;i — tlie debility of lord Rockingham ; — or the infamy of Mr Wilkes. There was a time indeed when he did not appear to be quite so well acquainted, or so violently offended with the infirmities of his friends. But now I confess they are not ill ex- changed for the youthful, vigorous virtue of the duke of Bedford ; — the firnmess of general Conway ;- — the blunt, or if I may call it, the aukward integrity of Nfr Rigby,^ and the spotless morality of lord Sandwich.'* If a large pension to a broken gambler-^ be an act worthy of commendation, the duke of Grafton's connexions will furnish him with many opportunities of doing praiseworthy actions ; and as he liimself bears no part of the expense, the generosity of distributing the public money for the support of virtuous families in distress, will * Lord Chatham, it is well knosvn, laboured under a premature decrepitude of body, from frequent and violent attacks of the gout ; but his mind was never affected by such paroxysms. — Edit. ' See his character in Letter XL, p. 155, note.— Edit. 3 Mr Rigby was introduced Into political life by the duke of Bedford, to whom he had chiefly recommended himself by his convivial talents. He at length attained the lucrative post of pay- master of the British forces. His pretensions to integrity are well known even to the present moment to have been rather aukiva-.d: — Edit. •* It was lord Sandwich, who, in conjunction with Dr Warburton, complained to the House of Lords, of Wilkes's Essay on Woman, and induced be an unquestionable proof of his Grace's humanity. As to public affairs. Old Noll is a little tender of descending to particulars. He does not deny that Corsica has been sacri- ficed to France, and he confesses, that with regard to America, his patron's measures have been subject to some variation ; but then he promises wonders of stability and firmness for the future. These are mys- teries, of which we must not pretend to judge by experience ; and truly, I fear, we shall perish in the Desart, before we arrive at the Land of Promise. In the regular course of things, the period of the duke of Grafton's ministerial manhood should now be approaching. The imbecility of his infant state was committed to lord Chat- ham. Charles Townshend took some care of his education ^ at that ambiguous age, which lies between the follies of political childhood, and the vices of puberty. The empire of the passions soon succeeded. His earliest principles and connexions were of course forgotten or despised. The com- pany he has lately kept has been of no service to his morals ; and, in the conduct of public affairs, we sec the character of his time of life strongly distinguished. .\n obstinate ungovernable self-sufficiency plainly poirkts out to us that state of im- perfect maturity, at which the graceful levity of youth is lost, and the solidity of experience not yet acquired. It is possible the young man may in time grow wiser, and reform ; but, if I understand his dis- position, it is not of such corrigible stuff, their lordships' Interference ; in consequence of which, the writer was prosecuted by the crown. The irony of the expression here adopted, pro- ceeds from the well-known fact that lord Sand- wich was at this very time the most profligate and blasphemous of all the Bedford party. — Edit. 5 Sir John Moore. 6 Charles Townshend, younger brother of the first marquis Townshend, who had been inducted into political life under the banners of the first lord Holland, drew up the plan for taxing America, which the duke of Grafton was persuaded to adopt, and thus avowed himself to be, in this instance, a pupil of Charles 'J'ownshend, who was chancellor of the exchequer at the period here referred to, in which office he died, and was succeeded by lord North in 1767. — Edit. [66 LET'JLRS 01 JUNIUS. that we should hope for any amendment in him, before he has accomphshed the de- struction of this country. Like other rakes, he may perhaps Hve to see his error, but not until he has ruined his estate. PHILO JUNIUS. LETTER XV TO HIS GRACE TllR DUKE OF GRAFTON. Mv Lord, 8 July, 1769. If nature had given you an under- standing qualified to keep pace with the wishes and principles of your heart, she would have made you, perhaps, the most formidable minister that ever was em- ployed, under a limited monarch, to ac- complish the ruin of a free people. When neither the feelings of sliame, the reproaches of conscience, nor the dread of punishment, form any bar to the designs of a minister, the people would have too much reason to lament their condition, if they did not find some resource in the weakness of his un- derstanding. We owe it to the bounty of Providence, that the completest depravity of the heart is sometimes strangely united with a confusion of the mind, which coun- teracts the most favourite principles, and makes the same man treacherous without art, and a hypocrite without deceiving. The measures, for instance, in which your Grace's activity has been chiefly exerted, as they were adopted without skill, should have been conducted with more than com- mon dexterity. But truly, my Lord, the execution has been as gross as the de- sign. By one decisive step, you have de- feated all the arts of writing. You have fairly confounded the intrigues of opposi- tion, and silenced the clamours of faction. A dark, ambiguous system, might require and furnish the mateiials of ingenious illus- tration ; and, in doubtful measures, the vimlent exaggeration of party must be em- ployed, to rouse and engage the passions of the people. You have now brought the merits of your administration to an issue, on which every Englishman, of the narrow- est capacity, may determine for himself. • It is not an alarm to the passions, but a calm appeal to the judgment of the people, upon their own most essential interests. A more experienced minister would not have hazarded a direct invasion of the first prin- ciples of the constitution, before he had made some progress in subduing the spirit of the people. With such a cause as yours, my I^rd, it is not sufficient that you have the court at your devotion, unless you can find means to corrupt or intimidate the jury. The collective body of the people form that jury, and from their decision there is bui one appeal. Whether you have talents to supjiort you, at a crisis of such difficulty and dan- ger, should long since have been considered. Judging truly of your disposition, you have perhaps mistaken the extent of your capa- city. Good faith and folly have so long been received for .synonymous terms, that the reverse of the proposition has grown into credit, and every villain fancies himself a man of abilities. It is the apprehension of your friends, my Lord, that you have drawn some hasty conclusion of this sort, and that a partial reliance upon your moral character has betrayed you beyond the depth of your understanding. You have now carried things too far to retreat. You have plainly declared to the people what they are to expect from the continuance of your administration. It is time for your Grace to consider what you also may ex- pect in return from their spirit and their resentment. Since the accession of our most gracious sovereign to the throne, we have seen a system of government, which may well be called a reign of experiments. Parties of all denominations have been employed and I dismissed. The advice of the ablest men j in this country has been repeatedly called for and rejected ; and when the Royal dis- pleasure has been signified to a minister, j the marks of it have usually been propor- , tioned to his abilities and integrity. The spirit of the FAVOURITE had some apparent I influence upon every administration ; and LETTERS OF JL'MU 167 every set of ministers preserved an appear- ance of duration, as long as they submitted to that influence. But there were certain services to be performed for the Favourite's security, or to gratify his resentments, which your predecessors in office had the wisdom or the virtue not to undertake. The moment this refractory spirit was dis- covered, their disgrace was determined. Ix)rcl Chatham, Mr Grenville, and lord Uockiiigham have successively had the hcnoiiT tc be dismissed, for preferring their d^i.y -0 servants of the public, to those compliances which were expected from their station. A submissive administration was at last gradually collected from the deserters of all parties, interests, and con- nexions : and nothing remained but to find a leader for these gallant well-disciplined troops. Stand forth, my Lord, for thou art the man. Ix)rd Bute found no resource of dependence or security in the proud im- posing superiority of lord Chatham's abili- ties, the shrewd inflexible judgment of Mr Grenville, 1 nor in the mild but determined integrity of lord Rockingham. His views and situation required a creature void of all these properties ; and he was forced to go through every division, resolution, composi- tion, and refinement of political chemistry, before he happily arrived at the caput vior- tniim of vitriol in your Grace. Flat and insipid in your retired state, but brought into action, you become vitriol again. Such are the extremes of alternate indo- lence or fur\-, which have governed your whole administration. Your circumstances with regard to the people soon becoming desperate, like other honest servants, you determined to involve the best of masters in the same difficulties with yourself. We owe it to your Grace's well-directed labours, * Mr G. Grenville, yoiin;;er brother of lord Temple, and brothcr-m-law to lord Chatham, wa-; a political eleve of his maternal uncle lord Cobham. He first attached himself to the Tory party, in consequence of marrying the daughter of sir W. Wyndham, the confidential friend of bolingbroke, and father of lord Egremont ; and was made one of the secretaries of state, when lord Hute in 1762 was appointed first lord of the Treasury. He planned the American Stamp that your sovereign has been persuaded to doubt of the affections of his subjects, and I the people to suspect the virtues of their sovereign, at a time when both were un- questionable. You have degraded the ! royal dignity into a base, dishonourable competition with Mr Wilkes, nor had you I abilities to carry even this last contemptible triumph over a private man, without the ] grossest violation of the fundamental laws j of the constitution and rights of the people. I But these are rights, my lord, which you , can no more annihilate, than you can the i soil to which they are annexed. The ques- ; tion no longer turns upon points of national ; honour and security abroad, or on the de- j grees of expedience and propriety of mca- I sures at home. It was not inconsistent ! that you should abandon the cause of liberty in another country,- which you had persecuted in your own ; and in the com- mon arts of domestic corruption, we miss no part of sir Robert Walpole's system ^ except his abilities. In this humble imita- tive line, you might long have proceeded, safe and contemptible. You might, pro- bably, never have risen to the digniiy of being hated, and even have been despised with moderation. But it seems you meant to be distinguished, and, to a mind like yours, there was no other road to fame but by the destruction of a noble fabric, w hich you tliought had been too long the admira- tion of mankind. The use you have made of the military force introduced an alarm- ing change in the mode of executing the laws. The arbitrary appointment of Mr Luttrell invades the foundation of the laws themselves, as it manifestly transfers the right of legislation from those whom the people hr^ve chosen, to those whom they have rejected. With a succession of such Act, and commenced the opposition to Wilkes. He afterwards, however, became disgusted with lord Bute, and, upon hL^ resignation, firmly attached himself to the party of lord Rocking- ham ; the most pure and unmixt Whig leader of his day, with whom also lord Temple and the earl of Chatham had now united themselves. See further, pages 000 and 196. — Edit. ^ Corsica. — Edit. 3 See note to Letter XVL, p. 170. — Edit. r68 LETTERS CF JUNIUS. appointments, we ir.ny soon see a House of Commons collected, in the choice of which the other towns and counties of England will have as little share as the devoted county of Middlesex. Yet, I trust, your Grace will find that the people of this country are neither to be in- timidated by violent measures, nor deceived by refinements. When they see Mr Luttrell seated in the House of Commons by mere dint of power, and in direct opposition to the choice of a whole county, they will not listen to those subtleties, by which every arbitrary exertion of authority is ex- plained into the law and privilege of parlia- ment. It requires no persuasion of argu- ment, but simply the evidence of the senses, to convince tliem, that to transfer the right of election from the collective to the repre- sentative body of the people, contradicts all those ideas of a House of Commons, which they have received from their fore- fathers, and which they have already, though vainly perhaps, delivered to their children. The principles, on which this violent measure has been defended, have added scorn to injury, and forced us to feel, that we are not only oppressed, but in, suited. With what force, my Lord, with what protection are you prepared to meet the united detestation of trie people of England? The city of London has given a generous example to the kingdom, in what manner a king of this country ought to be addressed; ^ and I fancy, my Lord, it is not yet in your courage to stand between your sovereign and the addresses of his subjects. The in- juries you have done this country are such as demand not only redress, but vengeance. In vain shall you look for protection to that venal vote, which you have already jDaid for — another must be purchased ; and to save a minister, the House of Commons must declare themselves not only independ- ent of their constituents, but the determined ' See this subject farther noticed in Letter XXXVII. * I'he duke of Grafton was chancellor, and lord .Sand.vich high steward, of the university of Cambridge. — Eui r. enemies of the constitution. Consider, niy Lord, wh(;ther this be an extremity to which their fears will permit them to ad- vance ; or, if //le/r protection should fail you, how far you are authorized to rely upon the sincerity of those smiles, which a pious court lavishes without reluctance upon a libertine by profession. It is not, indeed, the least of the thousand contra- dictions which attend you, that a man, marked to the world by the grossest viola- tion of all ceremony and decorum, should be the first servant of a court, in which prayers are morality, and kneeling is re- ligion. Trust not too far to appearances, by which your predecessors have been de- ceived, though they have not been injured. Even the best of princes may at last dis- cover, that tliis is a contention, in which everything may be lost, but nothing can be gained ; and as you became minister by accident, were adopted without choice, trusted without confidence, and continued without favour, be assured that, whenever an occasion presses, you will be discarded without even the forms of regret. You will then have reason to be thankful, if you are permitted to retire to that seat of learn- ing, which in contemplation of the system of your life, the comparative pin ity of your manners with those of their high steward, and a thousand other recommending cir- cumstances, has chosen you to encourage the growing virtue of their youth, and to preside over their education. ^ Whenever the spirit of distributing prebends and bishoprics shall have departed from you, you will find that learned seminary per- 1 fectly recovered from the delirium of an | installation, and, what in truth it ought to j be, once more a peaceful scene of slumber and thoughtless meditation. The venera- \ ble tutors of the university will no longer distress your modesty, by proposing you for a pattern to their pupils. The learned dulness of declamation will be silent ; '■^ and 3 Dr HinchlifiTe, afterwards bishop of Peter- borough, in his official situation as Vicc-Chan- cellor of Cambridge, made an oration in praise of the duke of Grafton, on introducing him to the Senate-house, on the morning of his installa- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. r6Q even the venal muse ^ though happiest in fiction, will forget your virtues. Yet, for the benefit of the succeeding age, I could wish that your retreat might be deferred, until your morals shall happily be ripened to that maturity of corruption, at which the worst examples cease to be contagious. J J NT US. LETTER XVI. TO THE PKINTKR OF THE PUBLIC ADVKUTISEU. Sir, 19 July, 1769. A GREAT deal of useless argument might have been saved, in the political con- test which has arisen upon the expulsion of Mr Wilkes, and the subsequent appoint- ment of Mr Luttrell, if the question had been once stated with precision, to the satis- faction of each party, and clearly under- stood by them both. But in this, as in almost every other dispute, it usually hap- pens that much time is lost in referring to a multitude of cases and precedents, which prove nothing to the purpose, or in main- taining propositions, wliich are either not disputed, or, whether they be admitted or denied, are entirely indilTerent as to the matter in debate ; until at last the mind, perplexed and confounded with the endless subtleties of controversy, loses sight of the main question, and never arrives at truth. Both parties in the dispute are apt enough to practise these dishonest artifices. The man, who is conscious of the weakness of his cause, is interested in concealing it: and, on the other side, it is not uncommon to see a good cause mangled by advocates, who do not know the real strength of it. I should be glad to know, for instance, to what purpose, in the present case, so many precedents have been produced to prove, that the House of Commons have a right to ton to the chancellorship of that university. — Edit. I * He alludes to Gray's celebrated Ode to J Music, composed and performed on the installa- I tion of his Grace a i chancellor of the university ; i beginning, I 1 _ expel one of their own members ; that it belongs to them to judge of ihe validity of elections ; or that the law of parliament is part of the law of the land ? - After all these propositions are admitted, Mr Luttrell's right to his seat will continue to be just as disputable as it was before. No* one of them is at present in agitation. _, ct it be admitted that the House of Commons were authorized to expel Mr Wilkes ; that they are the pioper court to judge of elections, and that the law of parliament is binding upon the people ; still it remains to be en- quired whether the House, by their resolu- tion in favour of Mr Luttrell, have, or have not, truly declared that lav/. To facilitate this enquiry, I would have the question cleared of all foreign or indifferent matter. The following state of it will probably be thought a fair one by both parties ; and then, I imagine, there is no gentleman in this country, who will not be capable of forming a judicious and true opinion upon it. I take the question to be strictly this : ' Whether or no it be the known, establish- ed law of parliament, that the expulsion of a member of the House of Commons of itself creates in him such an incapacity to be re-elected, that, at a subsequent election, any votes given to him are null and void, and that any other candidate, who, except the person expelled, has the greatest num- ber of votes, ought to be the sitting mem- ber.' To prove that the affirmative is the law of parliament, I apprehend it is not suffi- cient for the present House of Commons to declare it to be so. We may shut our eyes indeed to the dangerous consequences of suffering one branch of the legislature to declare new laws, without argument or example, and it may perhaps be prudent enough to submit to authority ; but a mere assertion will never convince, mucn less will it be thought reasonable to prove the Hence ! avaunt ! 'tis holy ground— Conuis and his midnight crew, &c. — Edit. - 'J'he reader will observe that these admis- sions are made, not as of truths unquestionable, but for the sake of argument, and in order f) bring the real question to issue. \^o LETIE R6 OY J U X I U S. right by Ike fact itself. The ministry have not yet pretended to such a tyranny over our minds. To support tlie affirmative fairly, it will either be necessary to produce some statute, in which that positive provi- sion shall have been made, that specific dis- ability clearly created, and the consequences of it declared ; or, if there be no such statute, the c-.:3tom of parliament must then be referred to, and some case or cases, ^ strictly in point, must be produced, with the decision of the court upon them ; for I readily admit that the custom of parliament, once clearly proved, is equally binding with the common and statute law. The consideration of what may be reason- able or unreasonable makes no part of this question. We are enquiring what the law is, not what it ought to be. Reason may be applied to show the impropriety or expe- dience of a law, but we must have either statute or precedent to prove the existence of it. At the same time I do not mean to admit that the late resolution of the House of Commons is defensible on general prin- ciples of reason, any more than in law. This is not the hinge on which the debate turns. Supposing, therefore, that I have laid down an accurate state of the question, I will venture to affirm, ist, That there is no ^ Precedents, in opposition to principles, have little weight with Junius ; but he thought it necessary to meet the ministry upon their own ground. - Case of the Middlesex Election considered, page 38. ^ This fact occurred while Mr Walpole was in an inferior capacity to that in which he after- wards appeared so conspicuously as prime minis- ter of George I. and George II. At the period in question, the Tories having obtained a majority in parliament, expelled him for the crime of hav- ing accepted profits upon a military contract, while secretary at war, and at the same time possessed influence enough to have him com- mitted to the Tower. He was member for Lynn Regis, the burgesses of which borough were warmly attached to him. It was for this borough he had been returned at an early period of his life ; by which he was enabled, while a young politician, to head the Whig party against St John, afterwards lord Bolingbroke, who took a leading part in the Tory administration of Harley. Statute existing, by which that specific dis- ability, which we speak of, is created. If there be, let it be produced. The argument will then be at an end. 2ndl}-, That there is no piecedent in all the proceedings of the House of Commons which comes entirely home to the present case, \\i. ' where an expelled member has been returned again, and another candi- date, with an inferior number of votes, has been declared the sitting member.' If there he such a precedent, let it be given to us plainly, t nd I am sure it will have more weight than all the cunning arguments which ha\'e been drawn from inferences and probabilities. The ministry, in that laborious pamphlet, which, I presume, contains the whole strength of the party, have declared,- ' That Mr \\'alpole"s^ was the first and only in- stance, in which the electors of any county or borough had returned a person expelled to serve in the same parliament.' It is not possible to conceive a case more exactly in point. Mr Walpole was expelled, and having a majority of votes at the next election, was returned again. The friends of Mr Taylor, a candidate set up by the ministry, petitioned the House that he might be the sitting mer.'ber.^ Thus far the cir- From the disgrace into which, he was hereby for a long time plunged, he was at length re- lieved by the failure of the minister's favourite expedient of the South Sea incorporation, and the extreme unpopularity in which he was con- sequently involved. Walpole now triumphed upon the ruin of his rival ; became prime minis- ter, retained the post through the whole of the existing and part of the next reign, and for his services was created earl of Orford. — Edit. ^ The following are the particulars of this case, as extracted from the journals of the House of Commons : * On the 23 of February 1711, a petition of the freemen and free-burghers of the borough of King's Lynn, in the county of Norfolk, was presented to the House, and re.ad ; setting forth, that Monday the eleventh of February last, be- ing appointed for chasing a member to serve in parliament for this borough, in the room of j Robert W.alpole, Esq., expelled this House, ' Samuel Taylor, Esq. ivtis elected their burgess ; but John Bagg, present mayor of the said borough, refused to return the said Samuel I'aylor, though required so to do ; and returned the said Robert Walpole, though ex])elled this LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 171 cumstances tally exactly, except that our House of Commons saved Mr Luttrell the trouble of petitioning. The point of law however was the same. It came regularly before the House, and it was their business ^to determine upon it. They did determine it, for they declared Mr Taylor not duly elected. !f it be said that they meant this resolution as matter of fiivour and indulg- ' once to the borougli, which had retorted j Mr Walpole upon them, in order that the ; burgesses, knowing what the law was, i might correct their error, I answer, j I. That it is a strange way of arguing, to oppose a supposition, which no man can prove, to a fact which proves itself. n. That if this were the intention of the House of Commons, it must have defeated itself. The burgesses of Lynn could never have known their error, much less could they have corrected it, by any instruction they received from the proceedings of the House of Commons. They might perhaps have foreseen, that, if they returned Mr Walpole again, he would again be rejected ; but they never could infer, from a resolution by which the candidate with the fewest votes was declared not duly elected, that, at I a future election, and in similar circum- } stances, the House of Commons would reverse their resolution, and receive the same candidate as duly elected, whom they had before rejected. This indeed would have been a most ex- traordinary way of declaring the law of parliament, and what I presume no man, whose understanding is not at cross-pur- House, and then a prisoner in the Tower, and praying the consideration of the House. ' March 6th. The order of the day being read of taking into consideration the merits of the petition of the freemen and free-burghers of the borough of King's Lynn in the county of Norfolk, and a motion being made that council be called in, upon a division, it was resolved in the negative. Tellers for the yeas sir Charles Turner, Mr Pultency, 127. Tellers for the noes, Sir Simeon Stuart, Mr Foster, 217. — A motion being made, and the question put, that Robert Walpole, Esq., having been this session of parlia- ment committed a prisoner to the Tower of Lon- don, and expelled this House for an high breach of trust in the execution of his office, and notori- ous corruption, when >ecret:iry at war, was, and poses with itself, could possibly under- stand. If, in a case of this importance, \ thought myself at liberty to argue from suppositions rather than from facts, I thiik the pro- bability, in this instance, is directly the reverse of what the ministry- affirm ; and that it is much more likely that the House of Commons at that time would rather have strained a point in favour of Mr Taylor, than that they would have violated the law of parliament, and robbed Mr Taylor of a right legally vested in him, to gratify a refractory borough, which, in defiance of them, had returned a person branded with the strongest mark of the displeasure of the House. But really. Sir, this way of talking, for I cannot call it argument, is a mockery of the common understanding of the nation, too gross to be endured. Our dearest interests are at stake. An atteinpt has been made, not merely to rob a single county of its rights, but, by inevitable con- sequence, to alter the constitution of the House of Common-.. This fatal attempt has succeeded, and .stands as a precedent, recorded for ever.' If the ministry are unable to defend their cause by fair argu- m.ent, founded on fiicts, let them spare us at least the mortification of being amused and deluded like children. I believe there is yet a spirit of resistance in this country, which will not submit to be oppressed ; but I am sure there is a fund of good sense in this country, which cannot be deceived. JUNIUS. is, incapable of being elected a member to serve in this present parliament, it was resolved, upon a division, in the affirmative. Then a motion being made, and the question put, that Samuel Taylor, Esq. is duly elected a burgess to serve in the present parliament for the borough of King's Lynn in the county of Norfolk, it passed in the negative. Resolved, that the late election of a burgess to ser\'e in the present parliament for the said borough of King's Lynn, in the county of Norfolk, is a void election.'— Edit. _ * See the Editor's note to Letter XLVL, in which the reader will find a particular account of the steps taken by Mr Wilkes to procure the erasure of these pro'^eedings from the journals of the House of Comm^iis. — Edit. 17: LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XVIL TO TIIL PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, I August, 1769. It will not be necessary for Junius ' It seems but fair fliat the reader should be put into possession of both the papers which it is the object of the present letter to oppose ; but more especially the latter, which was written by Dr Blackstone, and a passage from another part of which Jtmls, ^ost, p. 187, contrasts with one from the Commentaries. The Editor has there- fore extracted them from the journal referred to. TO THE I'KIXTEK OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SiK, I HAVE perused, with all due attention, the letter of JuN'ius, inserted in your paper of 1 the 19th inst. I perfectly agree with him, that I a great deal of useless argument might have been saved in the political contest which has arisen upon the e.xpulsionof Mr Wilkes, and the subse- quent appointment of Mr Luttrell, if the ques- tion had been once stated with precision to the satisfaction of each party. Yet after all the in- genious pains Junius has taken, I much doubt whether the question, as he has thought tit to state it, will at all satisfy more than one party. The question, as he has given it, is, ' Whether or no it be the known established law of parliament, that the expulsion of a member of the House of Conmions, of itself creates in him such an inca- pacity of being re-elected, that at a subsequent election, any votes given to him are null and void, and that any other candidate who, except the person expelled, has the greatest number of votes, ought to be the sitting member ?' Junius having thus formed his question, entertains the reader with a few spirited flourishes, not per- haps directly ad rem ; and then asserts, what probably tlie party he opposes will not deny, viz. ' That to support the affirmative fairly, it will either be necessary to produce some statute, in which that positive provision shall have been made, that specific disability clearly created, and the consequences of it declared ; or if there be no such statute, the custom of parliament must then be referred to, and some case, or cases, strictly in point, mist be produced, with the de- cision of the couit upon them.' Suppose, for argument's sake, t'lat no such statute, no such custom of parliament, no such case in point can be produced, does it therefore follow that the determination of the House of Comm.ons, in re- gard to Mr Wilkes and Mr Luttrell, was wrong? Have not the members of the present House as good a right to establish a precedent, as the members of any antecedent House ever had ? Junius admits a right in the House to e.xpel. But was there not a time prior to all expulsion ? and was the first expulsion therefore wrong ? Was there not a time prior to every other precedent n: the journals of tlis House ? Dut was every such, ! to take the trouble of answering your cor- ] respondent G. A., or the quotation from a speech w ithout-doors, published in your paper of the 28th of last month. 1 The any such, precedent therefore wrong? Are ver things wrong merely because they were ne done before ? Or do wrong things become right by mere dint of repetition? Should J in us think fit to answer these questions, I may be in- duced perhaps to enlarge upon the subject. 1 am, Sir, Your humble servant, 7«/v 26. G. A. to the printer of the public .\dvertiser. Sir, 7«6' 28, 1769. In answer to the arguments and ob- servations of your correspondent Junius ^ relating to the vole of the 9th of May, in favour of colonel Luttrell) I send you the following extract from a pamphlet just published, which please to insert as soon as you can, and thereby oblige. Ax Old Correspondent. A sj>eech 7vithout-doors upon the subject of a vote given on the gth day 0/ May, 1769. ' Your question I will answer, having first premised, that if you are satisfied wc did right in setting aside Mr Wilkes's election, I cannot believe it will be a very difficult task to convince you that the admitting of Mr Luttrell was the, unavoidable consequence. " No (say you' ; for surely you might have declared it a void election. Why go greater lengths than in former times, even the most heated and violent, it was ever thought proper to go ? Or upon what ground, either of reason or authority, can you justify the vote you gave, that Mr Luttrell, who, certainly had not the majority, was duly elected? " The question you have a right to put to me, and I mean to give it a direct answer. ' Now the principle upon which I voted was this, that in all cases of election by a majority of votes, wherever the candidate for whoni the most votes are given, appears to have been, at the time of the election, under a known legal in- capacity, the person who had the next greatest number of votes ought to be considered as the person duly elected. And this, as a general principle, I take to be altogether uncontroverti- ble. We may differ in our ways of expressing the principle, or of explaining the grounds of it : some chusing to state it, that the electors voting for such incapable person, do for that time forfeit their right of voting ; others, that their votes arc thrown away ; and others, that votes for a per- son not legally capable, are not legal votes. But in whatever way wc assign the ground of the rule, the result and conclusion is .still the s.-ime, that, in every such case, the election of the capa- ble person by the inferior number of voles, is .1 good and valid election. I ' Nor is this rule, founded as it is in sound I sense and public necessity, to be put out of countenance by a little ingenious scphi^try, play LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 1/3 speech appeared before Juxius's letter, and as the author seems to consider the great proposition, on which all his argument ing upon the ambiguity of certain undefined terms, taunting us with the reproach of elections by a minority, of inverting the rules of arithme- tic, and the hke. Not even the sacredness of the rights of the electors can stand against its authority ; for sacred as those rights ought ever to be held, the exercise of them, as well as of all the other rights of individuals, must ever be con- fined within such bounds, and governed by such rules, as are consistent \\ich the attainment of the great public ends for which they were established. liut could any thing be more preposterous than if, while 3'ou are securing to individuals the right thej' have to take part in determining who shall be appointed to discharge the several public i offices and trusts, no care should be taken that i the public, in all events, may be secure of having 1 any persons appointed at all ? Yet to this incon- | venience the public must be perpetually exposed, i if the rule were to be strictly and invariably fol- lowed, that nothing but a majority of the electors could ever make a good election. That a ma- jority of the whdle number entitled to have voice in the election, is not necessary, will be readily i admitted ; for at that rate, the absence of one ' half of the electors might defeat the possibility of any election at all. Neither is it necessary, in order to a candidate's being duly elected, that he should have the votes of more than one half of the electors present ; since, if it were, diversity I of inclinations amon^ the electors, and the put- j ting up of three candidates, might as completely frustrate all possibility of supplying the vacancy, as the absence of one half of the electors would in the former case. Accordingly, therefore, we ' constantly see, that wherever there are more | than two candidates for one vacancy, the election ■ is determined, not so properly by a majority, as • by a plurality of voices ; and the candidate who ! has more voices than any one of his competitors, ! although fewer than one half of the electors | present, is always determined to be well and ; duly elected ; there being, indeed, no other method allowed by the constitution, of voting against one candidate, but by voting for another; ' nor any liberty of declaring w horn I would pre- fer in the second place, in case my first vote should prove ineffectual ; either of which allow- ' ances might prevent. any election being made. ' Thus far then we are guarded against the pub- ] lie service beingdisappointed, cither by the remiss- ! ness of the electors in absenting themselves from ' the election, or by such a diversity of opinions ' among the electors present, as, though innocent ' in itself, would yet be of fatal consequence to the ' public, should it be suft'ered to operate so far as to prevent any effectual election from taking j place. But much in vain have these rules been established, if it is still to be in the power of the same number of electors, by a little management, ! to effect the sam*^ purpose, and put an effectual \ 'oar to all possibility of a valid election. Hadthey, ; depends, viz. t/u/l Mr Wilkes zcas under that known legal incapacity, of which Junius speaks, as a point granted, his by staying away, declared that they would take no part in supplying the vacancy, their fellow- electors, who chose to exercise their franchise, and upon whom, in that case, the complete right would have devolved, might have exercised their right accordingly, and the public service would have been provided for. But shall they be allowed to come, and by declaring that thej' will vote against one candidate, but for no other, or by voting for a person whom they know to be incapable of holding the office, as truly, to all intents and purposes, deprive their fellows of their right, and the public of its due, as if, in- stead of coming, they had only sent a prohibition of proceeding to any election till it should be their good pleasure to suff'er one ? Against such a mockery of the public authority common sense reclaims ; and has, therefore, provided against this abuse, by pointing out this farther qualifica- tion of the rule by which elections are to be de- cided. That, as the electors who give no vote at all, have no power of excluding any candidate for whom other electors do v ote, so those who give their votes for a person whom they know to be by law incapable, are to be considered exactly on the same footing as if they gave no votes at all ? Not to give any vote, to declare I vote for nobody, or to vote for the (.Ireat Mogul, must undoubtedly have the same effect. ' Thus then it appeared to me, that the gen- eral rule, that in case of a knoivn h'gal incapa- city in the person having the majority of voices, the capable person next upon the poll, although chosen by a minority, is duly elected, is conso- nant to reason, is the dictate of common sense. ' That it had also the sanction of authority, I was as clearly convinced. The practice of the courts of law, in such cases, seems not to be dis- puted ; they have, by repeated decisions, estab- lished the principle. ' Upon these grounds, therefore, both of reason and authority, I not only thought myself fully justified in giving my vote, that -Mr Luttrell was duly elected, but in truth I could not think my- self at liberty to vote otherwise, being convinced, that as, on the one hand, by so voting I should do no wrong to the 1143 freeholders of Middle- sex, who, for the chance of being able to over- bear the authority of the House of Commons, which had adjudged Mr Wilkes to be incapable, had chosen to forego their right of taking part in the nomination of a capable person in his room ; so, by a contrary decision, I should have done a most manifest injustice to Mr Luttrell, and to the 296 freeholders who voted for him ; and who in failure of a nomination by an equal number of freeholders of any other capable candidate, had, upon every principle of reason, and every rule of law, as well as according to the uniform usage of parliament, conferred upon him a clear title to sit as one of the representatives for the county of Middlesex.'— Edit. H 174 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. speech i?, in no shape, an answer to Junius, for tliis is the very question in debate. As to G. A., I observe first, that if he did not admit of JUNlus's state of the question, he should have shown the fallacy of it, or given us a more exact one ;— secondly, that considering the many hours and days, which the ministry and their advocates have wasted, in public debate, in compiling large quartos, and collecting innumerable prece- dents, expressly to prove that the late pro- ceedings of the House of Commons are warranted by the law, custom, and practice of parliament, it is rather an extraordinary supposition, to be made by one of their own party, even for the sake of argument, that 110 suck statute, no such custom of parlia- ment, no such case in point, can be pro- duced. G. A. may however make the sup- position with safety. It contains nothing, but literally the fact, except that there is a case exactly in point, with a decision of the House, diametrically opposite to that which the preircnt House of Commons came to in favo'-.r of Mr Luttrell. The ministry now begin to be ashamed of the weakness of their cause, and, as it usually happens with falsehood, are driven to the necessity of shifting their ground, and changing their whole defence. At first we were told that nothing could be clearer than that the proceedings of the House of \ Commons were justified by the known law \ and uniform custom of parliament. But now it seems, if there be no law, the House of Commons have a right to make one, and if there be no precedent, they have a right to create the first ;— for this, I presume, is the amount of the questions proposed to ; Junius. If your correspondent had been | at all versed in the law of parliament, or ' generally in the laws of this country, he ' would have seen that this defence is as weak and false as the former. j The privileges of either House of Parlia- 1 ment, it is true, are indefinite, that is, they I have not been described or laid down in | any one code or declaration whatsoever ; \ but whenever a question of privilege has arisen, it has invariably been disputed or maintained upon the footing of precedents alone. 1 In the course of the proceedings upon the Aylesbury election, the Houiva of Lords resolved, ' That neither House of Parliament had any power, by any vote or declaration, to create to themselves any new privilege that was not warranted by the known laws and customs of parlia- ment.' And to this rule the House of Commons, though otherwise they had acted in a very arbitrary manner, gave their assent, for they atfirmed that they had guided themselves by it, in asserting their privileges. — Now, Sir, If this be true with respect to matters of privilege, in which the House of Commons, individually and as a body, are principally concerned, how much more strongly will it hold against any pre- tended power in that House, to create or declare a nev/ law, by which not only the rights of the House over their own member, and those of the member himself, are con- cluded, but also those of a third and separ- ate party, I niean the freeholders of the king- dom. To do justice to the ministry, they have not yet pretended that anyone or any two of the three estates have power to make a new law, without the concurrence of the third. They know that a man \\ho main- tains such a doctrine, is liable, by statute, to the heaviest penalties. They do not acknowledge that the House cf Commons have assumed a uc^o privilege, or declared a nno law. — On the contrary, they aftirm that their proceedings have been strictly conformable to and founded upon the ancient law and custom of parliament. Thus therefore the question returns to the point, at which Junius had fixed it, viz. Whether or no this be the law of parlia- ment. If it be not, the House of Commons had no legal authority to establish the pre- cedent ; and the precedent itself is a mere fact, without any proof of right whatsoever. Your correspondent concludes with a ^ This is still meeting the ministry upon their own ground : for, in truth, no precedents will support either natural injustice, or violation of positive right. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 175 question of ilie simplest nature : Musi a thing be ivrong, because it has never been done before f No. But adn^.iiting it were proper to be done, that alone docs not convey an authority to do it. As to tlie present case, I h?po I shall never see the time, when not only a single person, but a whole county, and in effect the entire col- lective body of the people, may again be robbed of their birthright by a vote of the House of Commons. But if, for reasons which I am unable to con^prehend, it be necessary to trust that House with a power so exorbitant and so unconstitutional, at least let it be given to them by an act of the legislature. PHILO JUNIUS. LEITER NVIir. TO DK WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, SOLICITOK- GENERAL TO HER MAJESTV. Sir, 29 Jnly, 1769. I SHALL make you no apology for considering a certain pamphlet, in which your late conduct is defended, as written by yourself.! The personal interest, the personal resentments, and above all, that wounded spirit, unaccustomed to reproach, and I hope not frequently (Conscious of de- hold it. Sir, that an injury oftered to an individual is interesting to society. On this principle the people of England made common cause with Mr Wilkes. On th-'s principle, if you are injured, they will join in your resentment. I shall not follow you through the insipid form of a third person, but address myself to you directly. You seem to think th-' channel of a pamphlet more respecta: le and better suited to the dignity of > jur cause than that of a newspaper. Be it so. Vet if newspapers are scurrilous, you must con- fess they are impartial. They give us, witV.out any apparent preference, the wit and argument of the ministry, as well as the abusive dulness of the opposition. The scales ar2 equally poised. It is not the printer's fault if the greater weight inclines the balance. Your pamphlet then is divided into an attack upon Mr Grenville's character, and a defence of your own. It would have been more consistent, perhaps, with your professed intentions, to have confined your- self to the last. But anger has soine claim to indulgence, and railing is usually a relief to the mind. I hope you have found bene- fit from the experiment. It is not my design to enter into a formal vindication of Mr Grenville, upon his own principles. I have neither the honour of being personally serving it, are signals which betray the known to him,- nor do I pretend to be author to us as plainly as if your name I completely master of all the facts. I need were in the title-page. You appeal to the ' not run the risk of doing an iiijnstice to his public in defence of your reputation. We | opinions, or to his conduct, when your Ihis was at last admitted by the friends of! sex considered,' attributed to Mr Dyson, who the solicitor-general. The pamphlet was en titled, ' An answer to the question stated : ' and was a reply to a pamphlet froni sir William ^leredith, one of the most active members of parliament of the Whig party, entitled, ' 'J'he question staled,' in reference to the adjudication of Wilkes's incapacity to sit in parliament after his last election ; in the course of which also, the inconsistency of opinion between that delivered by the solicitor-general in his Commentaries, and that on the point in question, was severely animadverted upon. The press was overwhelmed with tracts on this dispute from Ijoth sides. Of these, the chief, independently of sir William Meredith's and the reply to it by sir William Blackstone, were ' The ca^e of the last election for the county of Middle- was nick-named, by his opponents, Mungo ' Serious considerations ; ' ' Mungo on the use of Quotations ; ' ' Mungo's case considered ; ' ' Let- ter to Jlnils ; ' ' Postscript to JuNirs,' published in a subsequent edition to sir William Black- stone's reply, and ' The False Alarm,' written by Doctor Johnson. Of all these some incidental notice is taken in the course of the volume before us. — Edit. ^ This, as already obsers'ed in the Preliir.inary Essay, is a truly singular assertion when taken in connexion with the fact, that ?»Ir Grenville, of all the political characters of the day, appears to have been our author's favourite. He voluntarily omits every opportunity of censuring him, and readily embraces every occasion of defending and extolling his conduct and principles. — Edit. IT 2 176 LETTE RS O F J U N I U S. pamphlet alone carries, upon tlic face of it, a full vindication of both. Year first reflection is, that Mr Gronville'^ was, of all men, the person who should not have complained of inconsistence with regard to Mr \\'ilkcs.- This, Sir, is either an unmeaning sneer, a peevish expression of resentment, or, if it means any diing, you plainly beg the question ; for whether his parliamentary conduct with regard to Mr Wilkes has or lias not been inconsi.>it- ent, remains yet to be proved. But it seems he received upon (lie spot a sufficient chastisement for exercising so viifalrly'^ his talent of misrepresentation. You are a lawyer, Sir, and know better thaii I do, upon what particular occasions a talent for misrepresentation may be fairly exert- ed ; but to punish a man a second lime, when he has been once sufficiently chas- tised, is rather too severe. It is not in the laws of England ; it is not in your own Convuentaries, nor is it }et, I believe, in the new law you have revealed to the House of Commons. I hope this doctrine has no existence but in your own heart. After all. Sir, if you had consulted that sober discre- tion, which you seem to oppose with triumph to the honest jollity of a tavern, it might have occurred to you that, although you could have succeeded in fixing a charge of inconsistence upon Mr Grenville, it would not have tended in any shape to exculpate yourself. Yoiu- next insinuation, that sir William j Meredith had Jiastily adopted the false I glosses of his new ally, is of the same sort j ' Mr Grenville had (piote'l a passa.^e from the Doctor's excellent Coninientarics, which directly I contradicted the principles maintained \>y the I J^octor in the Honse of Coniniuns. j - It has been already observed that the oppo- 1 sition to Wilkes commenced with Mr George i (irenvilie, who advised the issue of the General Warrant. It is obser\'ed also in the same note, I that (jreuville afterwards deserted the [ministry, [ and attached himself strenuously to the Whig I party. .See note, p. 167. Upon this apparent I inconsistency Jlnius shrewdly remarks, that I whatever propriety or impropriety there might I have been in Mr Grenville's opposing Wilkes I f-^rsoiinlly — tlie present question has nothing to I do with it — as he now supports him not on with the first. It conveys a sneer as litt'.e worthy of the gravity of your character, as it is useless to your defence. It is of little moment to the public to enquire, by whom the charge was conceived, or by whom it was adopted. The only question we ask is, whether or no it be true. The remain- der of your reflections upon Mr Grenville's conduct destroy thciuselves. He could not possibly come prepared to traduce your in- tegrity to the House. He could not fore- see that you would even speak upon the question, much less could he foresee that you would maintain a direct contradiction of that doctrine, which you had solemnly, disinterestedly, and upon soberest reflection delivered to the public. He came armed indeed with what he thought a respectable authority, to support what he was con- vinced was the cause of truth, and I doubt not he intended to give you, in the course of the debate, an honourable and public testi- mony of his esteem. Thinking highly of his abilities, I cannot however allow hiui the gift of divination. As to what you are ])leased to call a plan coolly formed to im- pose upon the House of Commons, and his producing it without pro\ocation at mid- night, I consider it as the language of pique and invective, therefore unworthy of regard. But, Sir, I am sensible I have followed your example too long, and wan- dered from the point. The quotation from yoiu- Comnientaiies is matter of record. It can neither be altered^ by your friends, nor misrej^resent- ed bv vour enemies ; and I am willing to account of his personal character, but as the in- strument of the pc'^flc^l large, whose rights and pri\ ileges the ministry have grossly violated by their conduct towards him.— Edit. 3 An inaccurate expression in the pamphlet alluded to. The chastisement that ensued is re- lated, p. 179- Llackstone was thtmderstiuck at the contradiction pointed out by Grenville, and was incapable of uttering a word in his defence : — a pause ensued, and %\x Grenville insultingly shook his head : for the rest sec the page as above referred to — Edit. ■* When Wilkes w.-is prosecuted for publishing the Nonh Briton, lord Mansfield was charged with having altered the record, bee p. 104, note.— Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. take your own word for what you have said ia the House of Commons. If there be a reil difference between what you have written and what you have spoken, you confess that your book ou,s:ht to be the standard. Now, Sir, if words mean any thing, I apprehend that, when a long enumeration of disqualifications (whether by statute or the custom of parliament) concludes uith these general comprelien- sive words, ' but subject to these restrictions and disqualifications, n>ciy subject of the reahn is eligible of common right," a reader, of plain understanding, must of course rest satisfied tliat no species of disqualification whatsoever had been omitted. The known character of the aiuhor, and the apparent accuracy with which the whole work is compiled, would confirm him in his opin- ion ; nor could he possibly form any other judgment, without looking upon your Com- mentaries in the same light in which you consider those penal laws, which, though not repealed, are fallen into disuse, and are now in effect A SNARE TO the L'N- WAKY.l You tell us indeed that it was not part of your plan to specify any temporary in- capacity, and that you could not, without a spiiit of prophecy, have specified the dis- ability of a private individual, subsequent to the period at which you wrote. What your plan was I know not ; but v.hat it should have been, in order to complete the work you have given us, is by no means difticiiic to determiiie. The incapacity, which you call temporaiy, may continue seven years ; and though you might not have foreseen the particular case of Mr Wilkes, you might and should have fore- seen the possibility of such a case, and told us how far the House of Commons were authorized to proceed in it by the law and custom of parliament. The freeholders of Middlesex would then have known what they had to trust to, and would never have ' If, in stating the law upon any point, a judge deliberate!)' affirms that he has included e~iery case, and it should appear that he has pur- posely omitted a material case, he does in effect lay a snare for the i(n-tua?y. — Al"thok. returned Mr Wilkes, when colonel Luttrell was a candidate against him. They would have chosen some indifferent person, rather than submit to be represented by tlie ob- I ject of their contempt and detestation. Your attempt to distinguish between dis- abilities which affect whole classes of men, and those which affect individuals only, is really unworthy of your understanding. Your Commentaries had taught me that, although the instance in which a penal , law is exerted be particular, the laws thcir.- selves are general. They are made for the , benefit and instruction of the public, though I the penalty falls only upon an individual, i You cannot but know. Sir, that what was I Mr Wilkes's case yesterday may be yours i or mine to-morrow, and that consequently 1 the common right of every subject of the { realm is invaded by it. Professing there- fore to treat of the constitution of the House of Commons, and of the laws and I customs relative to that constitution, you I certainly were guilty of a most unpardon- i able omission in taking no notice of a right I and privilege of the House, more extra- I ordinary and more arbitrary than all the I others they possess put together. I f the expulsion of a member, not under any I other legal disability, of itself creates in him an incapacity to be re-elected, I see a I ready way marked out, by which the ma- ; jority may at any time remove the honest- j est and ablest men who happen to be in ' opposition to them. To say that they 'will : not make this extravagant use of their i power, would be a language unfit for a ' man so learned in the laws as you are, : By your doctrine. Sir, they have the power, and laws you know are intended to guard ! against what men iiiciy do, not to trust to ; what they will do. j Upon the whole, Sir, the charge against i you is of a plain, si.mple nature : It ap- ] pears even upon the face of your own j pamphlet. On the contrary, your justifica- tion of yourself is full of subtlety and This last part of the sentence is a quotation artfully selected from Blackstone's own works, and turned against himself. — Edit. 1/8 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. refinement, and i\\ sc.r.e places not very James's Chronicle first wilfully misunder- intelligible. If I were personally your stands Junius, then censures him for a bad enemy, I should dwell, with a malignant reasoner.i Junius does not say that it was pleasure, upon those great and useful quali- incumbent upon Dr Blackstone to foresee fications, which you certainly possess, and i and state the crimes, for which Mr Wilkes by wliich you once acquired, though they | was expelled. If, by a spirit of prophecy, could not preserve to you, the respect and , he had even done so, it would have been esteem of your country. I should enum- i nothing to the purpose. The question i:-, erate the honours you have lost, and the not for what particular offences a pcM-son virtues you have disgraced : but having no . may be expelled, but generally, whether by private resentments to gratify, I think it the law of parliament expulsion alone sufificient to have given my opinion of your i creates a disqualification? If the affirm- public conduct, leaving the punishiuent it deserves to vour closet and to yourself. JUNIUS. L1:TTER XIX. TO TIIF. I'KINTF.R OF THE PUT.LIC .\nVi:RTISFR. Sir, 14 A II c; IIS f, 1769. A CORKESrONDFNT of the St ' The following is a copy of the letter alluded ) : — For the St James s Chyonicle. Sir, TO JUNIUS. Once more, Mr Junius, and but once, let me address a few words to you on the sub- ject of your Antiblackstonian letter, reminding you at the same time, that I am no formal defender of the celebrated commentator Jwho wants no such defence), but that it is my sole purpose to show that you are not a competent reader of his works, or that you have wilfully and malevolently perverted them. You tell Mr lilackstone that 'his attempt to distinguish between disabilities that affect whole classes of men, and those which affect individuals only, is really unworthy his understanding.' And yet, Sir, that is no new distinction ; it is net framed and invent-d by Mr Blackstone. Private or personal laws, w.iether inflicting penalties r.nd disabilities, or conferring privileges and immu- niti-is on '..^e particular object of them, and dis- ting'.ii-h'v". from the general and permanent course c^i law, have been known under all states, and under every legislation, both ancient and modern. They are enacted pro re uat<.i, and lose all their force as soon as they have oper- ated upon the individuals marked out by them. But. ' you have been taught, you say yet surely not from the Commentaries*, that, although the instance in which a penal law is exerted be par- ticular, the laws themselves ;I must suppose you to speak of the l.iws now under debate) are general.' But, before you could write thus, what daemon of confusion must have seized your ative be the law of parliament. Doctor Blackstone might and should have told us so. The question is not confined to this or that particular person, but forms one great general branch of disqualification, too important in itself, and too extensive in its consequences, to be omitted in an ac- curate work expressly treating of the law of parliament. i The truth of the matter is evidently this. noddle ! Were the votes of the House, by which sir Robert Waipole, Mr Ward, and many others, have been expelled, and the act of parliament j which inflicted a perpetual exclusion on the S. I S. Directors, general laws? Was the vote to I expel Mr Wilkes in the last parliament, a gener- ] al law 'i So far from it, that its force was quits evaporated, and it could not operate even upon ; him, in the present. Another vote of expulsion was necessarj' ; and the two votes put together could no more expel Mr Townshend and Mr j Sawbridge from the House of Commons, than the decree of the Roman senate on Catiline an.l j the rest of the conspirators, could send our hero 1 and his whole gang to Tyburn. _ | Acts of attainder come under the same descrip- | tion of personal, temporary, and particular laws ; j • and that I may help you the better to under- ' stand this whole matter, and show you, at the j same time, the .accuracy and consistency of Mr | ] Blackstone, I shall give you his account of them [Comm. b. IV. p. 256): 'As for acts of ; parliament to attaint particular persons of I treason and felony, or to inflict pains and | penalties, beyond or contrary to the common 1 law, to serve a special purpose, / speak jwt 0/ tlieiii mark that, Jl'.niis, ; being to all intents | and purposes new laws, made pro re nata, and by no means an execution of tliose already in being.' I shall now take my leave of you, hav- ing, I hope, sufficiently proved to Mr Baldwin's readers, in the instance you have afforded me, how prettily sometimes a man may write without being able to read. PUELUJS. MiiiJ'.e Temple, August 6, 1769. — Edjt. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 179 Dr Blackstone, while he was speaking in the House of Commons, never once thought of his Commentaries, until the contradiction was unexpectedly urged, and stared him in the face. Instead of defending himself upon the spot, he sunk under the charge, in an agony of confusion and despair. It is well known that there was a pause of some minutes in the House, from a general expectation that the Doctor would say something in his own defence ; but it seems, his faculties were too much overpowered to think of those subtleties and refinements, which have since occurred to him. It was then Mr Grenville recrived that severe chastisement which the Doctor mentions with so much triumph. I ivish the houourable gentleman, instead of shaking his head, would shake a good argument out of it. If to tlie elegance, novelty, and bitterness of this ingenious sarcasm, we add the natural melody of the amiable sir Fletcher Norton's pipe, we shall not be surprised that Mr Grenville was un- able to make him any reply. As to the Doctor, I would recommend it to him to be quiet. If not, he may perhaps hear again from Junius iiimself. THILO JUNIUS. Postscript 1 to a pamphlet intitled, ' An Answer to the Question stated.' Supposed to be written by Dr Blackstone, solicitor to the Queen, in answer Xo Ju.Nius's Letter. SiN'CE these papers were sent to the press, a writer in the public papers, who subscribes himself Junius, has made a feint of bringing this question to a short issue. Though the foregoing observations contain, in my opinion at least, a full refutation of all that this writer has offered, I shall, how- ever, bestow a very few words upon him. It will cost me very little trouble to unravel and expose the sophistry of his argument. ' I take the question,' says he, to be strictly this: Whether orno it be the known established law of parliament, that the ex- ■ This is the Postscript, added in a subsequent edition, to sir William Blackstone's reply to sir William Meredith's pamphlet, as noticed, p. 175, pulsion of a member of the House of Com- mons of itself creates in hin\ such an inca- pacity to be re-elected, that, at asubsequent election, any votes given to him are null and void, and that any other candidate, who, except the person expelled, has the greatest number of votes, ought to be the sitting member.' Waving for the present any objection I may have to this state of the question, I shall venture to meet our cliampion upon his own ground ; and attempt to support the affirmative of it, in one of the two ways, by which he says it can be alone fairly sup- ported. ' If there be no statute,' says he, ' in which the specific disability is clearly created, 5:c. (and we acknowledge there is none), the custom of parliament must then be referred to, and some case or cases, strictly in point, must be produced, w ith the decision of fhe court upon them.' Now I assert, that this has been done. Mr Wal- pole's case is strictly in point, to prove that expulsion creates absolute incapacity of being re-elected. This was the clear de- cision of the House upon it ; and was a full declaration, that incapacity was the neces- sary consequence of expulsion. The law- was as clearly and firmly fixed by this reso- lution, and is as binding in every subse- quent case of expulsion, as if it had been declared by an express statute, ' That a member expelled by a resolution of the House of Commons shall be deemed inca- pable of being re-elected." Whatever doubt then there might have been of the law be- fore Mr Walpole's case, with respect to the full operation of a vote of expulsion, there can be none now. The decision of the House upon this case is strictly in point to prove, that expulsion creates absolute inca- pacity in law of being re-elected. But incapacity in law in this instance must have the same operation and effect with incapacity in law in every other in- stance. Now, incapacity of being re-elect- ed implies in its very terms, that any votes note ; see also a further extract on this subject, from a 'Speech \vithout-doors/by sir W. lj.,p. 172, note. — Edit. i8o LETTERS OF JUNIUS. given to the incapable person, at a subse- quent election, are null and void. This is its necessary operation, or it lias no operation at all. It is vox ct prcetcrca nihil. We can no more be called upon to prove this proposition, than wccan to prove that a dead man is not alive, or that twice two are four. \\'hen the terms are under- stood, the proposition is self-evident. Lastly, It is in all cases of election, the known and established law of the land, {j;rounded upon the clearest principles of reason and common sense, that if the votes given to one candidate are null and void, they cannot be opposed to the votes given to another candidate. They cannot affect the votes of such candidate at all. As they have, on the one hand, no positive quality to add or establish, so have they, on the other hand, no negative one to subtract or entity. Such was the determination of the House of Commons in the Maiden and Bedford elections ; cases strictly in point to the present question, as far as they are meant to be in point. And to say, that they are not in point, in all circumstances, in those particularly which are independent of the proposition which they are quoted to prove, is to say no more than that Maiden is not Middlesex, nor serjeant Comyns Mr Wilkes. Let us see then how our proof .stands. Expulsion creates incapacity ; incapacity annihilates any votes given to the incapable person. The votes given to the qualified candidate stand upon their own bottom, film and untouched, and can alone have effect. This, one would think, would be sufficient. But we are stopped short, and told, that none of our precedents come home to the present case ; and are chal- lenged to produce 'a precedent in all the proceedings of tl>o Mouse of Commons that does come home to it, viz. ivhere an expelled member /uis been returned aqain, and an- other candidate, with an inferior nnmber of votes, has been declared the sitting mem- ber: Instead of a precedent, I will beg leave to put a case ; which, I fancy, will be quite as decisive to the present point. Suppose another Sacheverel (and every party must have its Sacheverel) should, at some future election, take it into his head to offer himself a candidate for the county of Middlesex. He is opposed by a candidate, whose coat is of a different colour ; but however of a very good colour. 'Ihe divine has an in- disputable majority ; nay, the poor layman is absolutely distanced. The sheriff, after having had his conscience well informed by the reverend casuist, returns him, as lie supposes, duly elected. The whole House ( is m an uproar, at the apprehension of so strange an appearance amongst them. A motion however is at length made, that the person was incapable of being elected, that his election therefore is null and void, and that his competitor ought to have been re- turned. No, says a great orator. First show me your law for this proceeding. ' Either produce me a statute, in w hich the specific disability of a clergyman is created ; or produce me a precedent 7vhere a clergyman- has been returned, and another candidate, zoith an inferior member of votes, has been declared the sitting member: No such statute, no such precedent, is to be found. \\'hat answer then is to be given to this de- mand? The very same answer which I will give to that of Junius : That there is more than one precedent in the proceedings of the House 'where an incapable person has been returned, and another candidate, with an inferior number of votes, has been declared the sitting mem.ber ; and that this is the known and established law, in all cases of incapacity, from whatever cause it may arise.' I shall now therefore beg leave to make a slight amendment to JUNius's state of the question, the affirmative of which w ill then stand thus : ' It is the known and established law of parliament, that the expulsion of any mem- ber of the House of Commons creates in him an incapacity of being re-elected ; that any votes given to him at a subsequent election are, in consequence of such in- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. i8i capacity, null and void ; and that any otlier I candidate, who, except the person rendered I incapable, has the greatest number of votes, I ought to be the sitting member.' I But our business is not yet quite finished. j Mr Walpole's case must have a re-hearing. I ' It is not possible,' says this writer, ' to conceive a case more exactly in point. Mr Walpole was expelled, and having a ma- jority of votes at the next election, was returned again. The friends of Mr Taylor, a candidate set up by the ministry, petition- ed the House that he might be the sitting member. Thus far the circumstances tally exactly, except that our House of Com- mons saved Mr Luttrell the trouble of petitioning. The point of law, however, was the same. It came regularly before the House, and it was their business to determine upon it. They did determine it ; for they declared Mr Taylor not duly elected.' Instead of examining the justness of tliis representation, I shall beg leave to oppose against it my own view of this case, in as plain a manner and as few words as I am able. It was the known and established law of parliament, when the charge against Mr Walpole came before the House of Com- mons, that they had power to expel, to disable, and to render incapable for of- fences. In virtue of this power they ex- pelled him. Had they, in the very vote of expulsion, adjudged him, in terms, to be incapable of being re-elected, there must have been at once an end with him. But though the right of the House, both to expel, and ad- judge incapable, was clear and indubitable, it does not appear to me, that the full operation and effect of a vote of expulsion singly was so. The lav/ in this case had never been expressly declared. There had been no event to call up such a declaration. I trouble not myself with the grammatical meaning of the word expulsion. I regard only its legal meaning. This was not, as I think, precisely fixed. The House thought proper to fix it, and explicitly to declare the full consequences of their former vote, before they suffered these consequences to take effect. And in this proceeding they acted upon the most liberal and soHd prin- ciples of equity, justice, and law. What then did the burgesses of Lynn collect from the second vote ? Their subsequent con- duct will tell us : it will with certainty tell us, that they considered it as decisive against Mr Walpole ; it will also, with equal certainty, tell us, that, upon suppo- sition that the law of election stood then as it does now, and that they knew it to stand thus, they inferred, ' that at a future election, and in case of a similar return, the House would receive the saine candidate, as duly elected, whom they had before rejected.' They could infer nothing but this. It is needless to repeat the circumstance of dissimilarity in the present case. It will be sufficient to observe, that as the law of parliament, upon which the House of Com- mons grounded every step of their proceed- ings, was clear beyond the reach of doubt, so neither could the freeholders of Middle- sex be at a loss to foresee what must be the inevitable consequence of their proceedings in opposition to it. For upon every return of Mr Wilkes, the House made enquiry, whether any votes were given to any other candidate ? But I could venture, for the experiment's sake, even to give this writer the utmost he asks ; to allow the most perfect similarity throughout in these two cases ; to allow, that the law of expulsion was quite as clear to the burgesses of Lynn, as to the free- holders of Middlesex, It will, I am confi- dent, avail his cause but little. It will only prove, that the law of election at that time was different from the present law. It will prove, that, in all cases of an incapable candidate returned, the law then was, that the whole election should be void. But now we know that this is not law. The cases of Maiden and Bedford were, as has been seen, determined upon other and more just principles. And these determin- ations are, I imagine, adiuitted on all sides to be law. 11* l82 T.ETTERS OF JUNIUS. I would w illiiigly draw a veil over the re- maining part of this paper. It is astonish- ing, it is painful, to see men of parts and ability, giving in to the most unworthy artifices, and descending so much below their true line of character. Hut if they are not the dupes of their sophistry (which is hardly to lie conceived), let thcni consider that they are something much worse. The dearest interests of this country are its laws and its constitution. Against every attack upon these, there will, I hope, be always found amongst us the f.rmest s/ir/f of resistance : superior to the united efforts of faction and ambition. For ambition, though it does not always take the lead of faction, will be sure in the end to make the most fatal advantage of it, and draw it to its own purposes. But, I trust, our day of trial is yet far off ; and there is a fund of good sense in this country, which cannot long be deceived, by the arts eiiher of false reasoning, or false patriotism. LETTER XX.i TO THK PRINTKR OF TIIR PUBLIC ADVEKTISKR. S:r, 8 August, 1769. Thk gentleman who has published an answer to sir William Meredith's pamphlet, having honoured me with a postscript of six quarto pages, which he moderately calls, bestowing a '^ery few- words upon me, I cannot, in common politeness, refuse him a reply. The form and m.ignitude of a quarto imposes upon the miiid ; and men who are unequal to the labour of discussing an intricate argu- ment, or wish to avoid it, are willing enough to suppose, that much has been proved, because much has been said. Mine, I confess, are humble labours. I do not presume to ir.itruct the learned, but simply to inform the body of the people ; and I ' ' I wish the enclosed to be announced to- morrow conspicuously. I am not capable of writ- ing anything more finished.' Private Letter, No. 6. — Edi r. prefer that channel of conveyance, which is likely to spread farthest among them. The advocates of the ministry seem to me to write for fame, and to flatter themselves, that the size of their works will make thei\i immortal. They pile up reluctant quarto upon solid folio, as if their labours, because they are gigantic, could contend with truth and heaven. The writer of the volume in question meets mc upon my own ground. He ac- knowledges there is no statute, by which the specific disability we speak of is created, but he aftirms, that the custom of parlia- ment has been referred to, and that a case strictly in point has been produced, with the decision of the court upon it. — I thank him for coming so fairly to the point. He asserts, that the case of Mr \\'alpole is strictly in point to prove that expulsion creates an absolute incapacity of being re- elected ; and for this purpose he refers generally to the first vote of the House upon that occasion, without venturing to recite the vote itself. The unfair, disin- genuous artifice of adopting that part of a precedent which seems to suit his purpose, and omitting the remainder, deserves some pity, but cannot excite my resentment. He takes advantage eagerly of the first reso- lution, by which Mr Walpole's incapacity is declared ; but as to the two following, by which tlie candidate with the fewest vot(^s was declared ' not duly elected,' and the election itself vacated, I dare say he would be well satisfied, if they were for ever blotted out of the journals of the House of Commons. In fair argument, no part of a precedent should be admitted, unless the whole of it be given to us together. The author has divided his precedent, for he knew, that, taken together, it produced a consequence directly the reverse of that, which he endeavours to draw from a vote of expulsion. But what will this honest person say, if I take him at his word, and demonstrate to him, that the House of Commons never meant to found Mr Wal- pole's incapacity upon his expulsion only ? What subterfuge will then remain? LETTERS OF JUNIUS. t«^3 Let it be remembered that we are speak- ing of the intention of men, who lived more than half a century ago, and that such intention can only be collected from their words and actions, ;is they are delivered to us upon record. To prove their designs by a supposition of what they would have done, opposed to what they actually did, is mere trifling and impertinence. The vote, by which Mr Walpole's incapacity was de- clared, is thus expressed, ' That Robert Walpole, Esq., having been this session of parliament committed a prisoner to the Tower, and expelled this House for a high breach of trust in the execution of his office, and notorious corruption when secretar)^ at war, was and is incapable of being elected a member to serve in this present parlia- ment." i Now, Sir, to my understanding, .iO proposition of this kind can be more evident, than that the House of Commons, by this very vote, tliemselves understood, and meant to declare, that Mr Walpole's incapacity arose from the crimes he had ' It is well worth remarking, that the com- piler of a certain quarto, called Tke case of the late election for the county of Middlesex con- sidered, has the impudence to recite this very vote, in the following terms, vide page ii. ' Re- solved, that Robert Walpole, Esq., having been that session of parliament e.xpelled the House, was and is incapable of being elected a member to serve in that present parliament.' 'l"here can- not be a stronger positive proof of the treachery of the compiler, nor a stronger presumptive proof that he was convinced that the \ ote, if truly re- cited, would overturn his whole argument. — Althor. The editor has already remarked that the pamphlet alluded to in the above note of the author was from the pen of Mr Dyson. See p. i75, note. — Edit. ^TO THE TRIKTEB OF THE PCBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 22 May, tjti. Very early in the debate upon the de- cision of the Middlesex election, it was observed by JcNlfS, that the House of Commons had not only e.vceeded their boasted precedent of the expulsion and subsequent incapacitation of Mr Walpole, but that they had not even adhered to it strictly as far as it went. After convicting Mr Dyson of giving a false quotation from the Journals, and having explained the purpose which that contemptible fraud was intended to answer, he proceeds to state the vote itself, by which Mr Walpole's supposed incapacity was committed, not from the punishment the House annexed to them. The high breach of trust, the notorious corruption, are stated in the strongest terms. They do not tell us he was incapable because he was ex- pelled, but because he had been guilty of such offences as justly rendered him un- worthy of a seat in parliament. If they had intended to fix the disability upon his ex- pulsion alone, the mention of his crimes in the same vote would have been highly im- proper. It could only perplex the minds of the electors, who, if they collected any thing from so confused a declaration of the law of parliament, must have concluded that their representative had been declared incapable because he was highly guilty, not because he had been punished. But even admitting tiiem to have understood it in the other sense, they must then, from the very terms of the vote, have unired the idea of his being sent to the Tower with that of his expulsion, and considered his incapacity as the joint effect of both. "^ decbred, viz.—' Resolved, that Robert Walpole, Esq., having been this session of parliament com- mitted a prisoner to the Tower, and expelled this House for a high breach of trust in the exe- cution of his office, and notorious corruption when secretary at war, was and is incapable of being elected a member to serve in this present parliament : ' — and then observes that, from the terms of the vote, we have no right to annex the incapacitation to the expulsion only, for that, as the proposition stands, it must arise equally from the e.ypulsion and the commitment to the Tower. I believe, Sir, no man, who knows any thing of dialectics, or who understands English, will dis- pute the truth and fairness of this construction. But Ji'NRS has a great authority to support him, which, to speak with the duke of Grafton, I accidentally met with this morning in the course of my reading. It contains an admonition, which cannot be repeated too often. Lord .Somers, in his excellent tract upon the rights of the people, after reciting the vote of the convention of the 28th of January, 16S9, viz. — 'That King James the Second, having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of this kingdom by breaking the original contract between king and people, and by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked per- sons having violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, hath abdicated the government, &;c.' — makes this observation upon it. 'The word abdicated relates to all the clauses aforegoing, as well as to his deserting the kingdom, or else they would have been wholly in vain.' And that there might II* 2 'M LETTERS OF JUNIUS. I do not mean to give an opinion upon the justice of the proceedings of the House of Commons with regard to Mr Walpole ; but certainly, if I admitted their censure to be well founded, I could no way avoid agreeing with them in the consequence they drew from it. I could never have a doubt, in law or reason, that a man, convicted of a high breach of trust, and of a notorious corruption, in the execution of a public office, was and ought to be incapable of sitting in the same parliament. Far from attempting to invalidate that vote, I should have wished that the incapacity declared by it could legally have _been continued for ever. Now, Sir, observe how forcibly the argument returns. The House of Com- mons, upon the face of their proceedings, had the strongest motives to declare Mr Walpole incapable of being re-elected. They thought such a man unworthy to sit among them. — To that point they pro- ceeded ; — no farther ; for they respected the rights of the people, while they asserted their own. They did not infer, from Mr Walpole's incapacity, that his opponent was duly elected ; on the contrary, they declared Mr Taylor 'Not duly elected,' and the election itself void. be no pretence for couhningthe irdtiicn f ion merely to the -iU it lid rawing, lord .Soiners farther ob- serves, that King yaines, by refusing to gover>i lis according to that law, by which he held the crown, implicitly renounced his title to it. If Jlnii's's construction of the vote against Mr Walpole be now admitted (and indeed I cannot comprehend how it can honestly be dis- puted , the advocates of the House of Commons must either give up their precedent entirely, or be reduced to the necessity of maintaining one of the grossest absurdities imaginable, viz. — ' That a commitment to the Tower is a constituent part of, and contributes half at least to the incapacita- tion of the person who suffers it.' I need not make you any excuse for en- deavouring to keep alive the attention of the public to the decision of the Middlese.Y election. 'I'he m «re I consider it, the more I am convinced that, a., :\. /act, it is indeed highly injurious to the rights of the people ; but that, as a. precedent, it is one of the most dangerous that ever was established against those who are to come after us. Vet I am so far a moderate man, that I verily believe the majority of the House of Commons, when they passed this dangerous Such, however, is the precedent, which my honest friend assures us is strictly in point to prove, that expulsion of itself creates an incapacity of being elected. If it had been so, the present House of Com- mons should at least have followed strictly the example before them, and should have stated to us, in the same vote, the crimes for which they expelled Mr Wilkes ; where- as they resolve simply, that, ' having been expelled, he was and is incapable,' In this proceeding I am authorized to affirm, they have neither statute, nor custom, nor reason, nor one single precedent to support them. On the other side, there is indeed a pre- cedent so strongly in point, that all the en- chanted castles of ministerial magic fall before it. In the year 1698 (a period which the rankest Tory dare not except agains;) Mr Wollaston was expelled, re-elected, and admitted to take his seat in the same par- liament. The ministry have precluded themselves from all objections drawn from the cause of his expulsion, for they affirm absolutely, that expulsion of itself creates the disability. Now, Sir, let sophistry evade, let falsehood assert, and impudence deny — here stands the precedent, a land- mark to direct us through a troubled sea of controversy, conspicuous and unremoved. vote, neither understood the question, nor knew the consequence of what they were doing. I'heir motives were rather despicable, than criminal, in the extreme. One efi'ect they certainly did not foresee. They are now reduced to such a situa- tion, that if a member of the present House of Commons were to conduct himself ever so im- properly, and in reality deserve to be sent back to his constituents with a mark of disgrace, they would not dare to expel him ; because they know that the people, in order to try again the great question of right, or to thwart an odious House of Commjns, would probably overlook his im- mediate unworthiness, and return the same per- son to parliament. — But, in time, the precedent will gain strength. A future House of Commons will have no such apprehensions, consequently will not scruple to follow a precedent, which they did not establish. 'Jhe miser himself sel- dom lives to enjoy the fruit of his extortion ; but his heir succeeds to him of course, and takes possession without censure. No man expects him to make restitution, and, no matter for his title, he lives quietly upon the estate. PHILO JUNIUS. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. I have dwelt the longer upon the discus^ sion of this point, because, in my opinion, it comprehends the whole question. The rest is unworthy of notice. We are en- quiring whether incapacity be or be not created by expulsion. In the cases of Bed- ford and Maiden, the incapacity of the per- sons returned, was matter of public noto- riety, for it was created by act of parlia- ment. But, really, Sir, my honest friend's suppositions are as unfixvourable to him as his facts. He well knows that the clergy, besides that they are represented in common w ith tlieir fellow-sub;ects, have also a separ- ate parliament of their own ; — that their incapacity to sit in the House of Commons has been confirmed by repeated decisions of the House, and that the law of parlia- ment, declared by those decisions, has been for above two centuries notorious and im- disputed. The author is certainly at liberty to fancy cases, and make whatever com- parisons he thinks proper ; his suppositions still continue as distant from fact, as his wild discourses are from solid argument. The conclusion of his book is candid to an extreme. He offers to grant me all I desire. He thinks he may safely admit that the case of Mr Walpole makrs directly against him, for it seems he has one grand solution /// petto for all difficulties. If, says he, I 'tverc to allozo all this, iin'illonly prove, that the hno of election li'as dij^ereiit, in ijueen Anne's time, from xohat it is at present. This indeed is more than I expected. The principle, I know, has been maintained in fact, but I never expected to see it so fvjrmally declared. What can he mean ? does he assume this language to satisfy the doubts of the people, or does he mean to rouse their indignation? are tlie ministry daring enough to affirm, that the House of Commons have a right to make and un- make the law of parliament at their plea- sure ? — Does the law of parliament, which we are so often told is the law of the land, — does the common right of every subject of the realm, — depend upon an arbitrary capricious vote of one branch of the legis- , lature ? — The voice of truth and reason must be silent. I The ministiy tell us plainly that this is no ' longer a question of right, but of power j and force alone. What was law yesterday I is not law to-day : and now, it seems, we ! have no better rule to live by, than the I temporary discretion and fluctuating in- tegrity of the House of Commons. j Professions of patriotism are become stale and ridiculous. For my own part, I j claim no merit from endeavouring to do a ^ service to my fellow-subjects. I have done j it to the best of my understanding ; and, I without looking for the approbation of other I men, my conscience is satisfied. What re- I mains to be done concerns the collective I body of the people. They are now to I determine for themselves, whether they will firmly and constitutionally assert their rights ; or make an humble, slavish sur- I render of tiiem at the feet of the ministry. To a generous mind there cannot be a doubt. We owe it to our ancestors to pre- serve entire those rights which they have delivered to our care : we owe it to our posterity not to suffer their dearest inherit- ; ance to be destroyed. But if it were pos- ; sible for us to be insensible of these sacred I claims, there is yet an obligation binding ' upon ourselves, from which nothing can I acquit us, — a personal interest, which we ' cannot surrender. To alienate even our , own rights, would be a crime as much more ! enormous than suicide, as a life of civil I security and freedom is superior to a bare I existence ; and if life be the bounty of heaven, we scornfully reject the noblest part of the gift, if we consent to surrender that certain rule of living, without which the ' condition of human nature is not only ! miserable, but contemptible. j JUNIUS. j LETTER XXL TO THE PRIXTKR OF THE PUBLIC I ADVERTISER. Sir, 22 August, 1769. I MUST beg of you to print a few i86 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. lines in explanation of some passages in my last letter, v.hicli I see have been mis- understood. 1. When I said, thvit the House of Commons never meant to found Mr W'al- pole's incapacity on his expulsion only, I meant no more than to deny the general proposition, that expulsion alone creates the incapacity. If there be any thing am- biguous in the expression, I beg leave to explain it by saying, that in my opinion, expulsion neither creates, nor in any part contributes to create, the incapacity in question. 2. I carefully avoided entering into the merits of Mr \\'alpole's case. I did not enquire, -whether the House of Commons acted justly, or whether they truly declared the law of parliament. My remarks went only to their apparent meaning and inten- tion, as it stands declared in their own re- solution. 3. I never meant to aftirm, that a com- mitment to the Tower created a disqualifi- cation. On the contrary, I considered that idea as an absurdity, into which the min- istry must inevitably fall, if they reasoned right upon their own principles. The case of Mr W'oUaston speaks for itself. The ministry assert that expulsion alone creates an absolute, complete inca- pacity to be re-elected to sit in the same parliament. This proposition they have uniformly maintained, without any con- dition or modification whatsoever. Mr Wollaston was expelled, re-elected, and admitted to take his seat in the same par- liament.— I leave it to the public to de- termine, w hether this be a plain matter of fact, or mere nonsense and declamation. JUNIUS. LETTER XXIL TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 4 Sept., 1769. Akgu.mext against Fact ; or, A new System of political Ix)gic, by which the ministry have demonstrated, to the satis- faction of their friends, that expulsion alone creates a complete incapacity to be re-elected ; alias, that a subject of this realm may be robbed of his common right, by a vote of the House of Com- mons. ITRST FACT. ^[|■ Wollaston, in 1698, li'as ex- pelled, re-elected, and admitted to take his seat. ARGUMENT. As this cannot conveniently be recon- ciled with our general proposition, it may be necessary to shift our ground, and look back to the canse of Mr WoUaston's expul- sion. From thence it will appear clearly that, ' although he was expelled, he had not rendered himself a culprit too igno- minious to sit in parliament, and that hav- ing resigned his employment, he was no longer incapacitated by law.' l''ide Serious Considerations, page 23, Or thus, ' The House, somewhat inaccurately, used the word EXPELLED ; they should have called it A MOTION.' Vide Mtingos case con- sidered, page ti. Or, in short, if these arguments should be thought insufficient, we may fairly deny the fact. F'or example ; ' I arfirm that he was not re-elected. The same Mr Wollaston, who was expelled, was not again elected. The same indi- vidual, if you please, walked into the House, and took his seat there ; but the same per- son in law was not admitted a member of that parliament, from which he had been discarded.' I 'ide Letter /f J u.N i us, page 12. SECOND FACT. Mr Walpole, having been committed to the Toioer, and expelled for a high breach 0/ trust and notorious corruption in a pub- lic office, -cuas declared incabable, c-v, ARGUMENT. From the terms of this vote, nothing can be more evident than that the House of Commons meant to fix the incapacity upon the punishment, and not upon the crime ; but lest it should appear in a different light to weak, uninformed persons, it may be LKTTERS OF JUNIUS. 187 advisable to gut the resolution, and give it to the public, with all possible solemnity, ill the following terms, viz. ' Resolved, the burgesses might be apprized of the law of parliament ; which law the House took a very direct way of explaining to them, by that Robert Walpole, Esq. having been ' resolving that the candidate with the fewest that session of parliament expelled the ! votes was not duly elected :—' And was House, was and is incapable of being elect- j not this much more equitable, more in the td a member to serve in that present par- I spirit of that equal and substantial justice, liament.' Vii'/e Muugo, on the use ie, and \\as beaten upon his own ground. — Author. This contest took place September 4th, 1769, on the election of mayor, bailiffs, and chamber- lains for the borough of Bedford. His Grace having in vain objected to the making of any new freemen, at length pievailcd on the corpora- tion to allow some of his own particular friends to be put in nomination, when about twenty of them were made accordingly. The names of the freemen proposed to be elected on the popular side of the question, were then read, and were heard with profound silence by his Grace, till the name of yokn Home was pronounced, when the duke expressed himself with great bitterness towards that gentleman in particular ; the cor- Irace was of course complete. — Edi ^ Mr Heston Homphrey, a countrj' attorney, horsewhipped the duke with equal justice, severity, and perseverance, on the course at Litchfield. Kigl'y and i(r?-d Trcutham were also cudgelled in a most exemplary n:anner. This gave rise to the following story : ' VVhen the late king heard that sir Edward Hawke had given the French a drubbing, his Majesty, who had never received that kind of chastisement, was pleased to ask lord Chesterfield the meaning of the word. Sir, says lord Chesterfield, the meaning of the word — but here comes the duke of Bedford, who i» better able to explain it to your Majesty than I air..' ■♦ Soon after the death of the duke of Bedford the following paragraph was inserted in the Pub- lic Advertiser, and as it remained uncontradicted, LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 191 who had as little feeling for his own dignity as for the welfare of his country ; and they found him in the first rank of the nobility. Bflleisle, Goree, Guadaloupe, St Lucia, Martinique, the Fishery, and the Havanna, are glorious monuments of your Grace's talents for negotiation. 1 My Lord, we are too well acquainted with your pecuniary character, to think it possible that so many public sacrifices should have been made, without some private compensations. Your conduct carries with it an internal evidence, beyond all the legal proofs of a court of justice. Even the callous pride of lord Egremont was alanned.- He baw and felt his own dishonour in corresponding w ith you ; and there certainly was a moment, at which he meant to have resisted, had not a flital letliargy prevailed over his faculties, and carried all sense and memory away with it. there is some re.ison to believe it authentic. As the duke in this letter is arraigned in the most severe terms for the concessions made in negoti- ating the peace of 1763, it is but justice to his Grace, that a circumstance so honourable should be more generally known. The paragraph runs thus : 'The following anecdote of the late duke of Bedford may be depended upon as fact : — When his Grace negotiated the late peace at Paris, he signed the preliminaries with the French minister Choiseul, and stipulated no farther for the pos- sessions of the East India Company than he was advised to stipulate by the court of directors. A gentleman (a Dutch Jew of great abilities and character', hearing this, wrote a letter to the duke of Bedford, informing him that the English East India Company had materially neglected their own interest, as their chief conquests were made subsequent to the period at which they had fixed their claim of sovereignty ; and if these latter conquests were to be restored, an immense annual revenue would necessarily be taken from England. The duke, struck with the force of the fact, yet embarrassed how to act, as pre- liminaries were reallj' signed, repaired to Choi- seul at Versailles, and addressed him thus : ' My Lord, I have committed a great mistake in sign- ing the preliminaries, as the affair of the India possessions mast be carried down to our last con- quest in Asia.' To this Choiseul replied, 'Your Grace astonishes me ; I thought I had been treating with the minister of a great nation, and not with a student in politics, who does not consider the vali^iity of written engagements.' 'Your reproach, my Lord, is just,' returned the duke, ' but I will not add treachery to negli- gence, nor betray my country deliberately. I will not pretend to specify the secret terms on which you were invited to support an administration ^ which Lord Bute pre- tended to leave in full possession of their | ministerial authority, and perfectly masters ] of themselves. He was not of a temper to relinquish power, thougli he retired from employment. Stipulations were certainly made between your Grace and him, and certainly violated. After two years' sub- mission, you thought you had collected a strength sufficient to controul his influence, and that it was your turn to be a tyrant, because you had been a slave. When you found yourself mistaken in your opinion of your gracious Master's firmness, disappoint- ment got the better of all your humble discretion, and carried you to an excess of outrage to his person, as distant from true spirit, as from all decency and respect.^ After robbing him of the rights of a king, because I have overlooked her interest unac- countably in a single circumstance ; therefore, unless your Lordship agrees to cede the latter con- quests in India, I shall return home in twelve hours, and submit the fate of my head to the discretion of an English parliament.' Choiseul, staggered at the duke's intrepidity, complied : and this country now enjoys above half a million annually through the firnmess of a man, whom it is even patriotism at present to calumniate, but whose virtues have never yet received justice from the community. On the termination of the affair to his satisfaction, he gave his informant, the Dutch gentleman, the warmest recommenda- tions to England, who accordingly came over, and receives at this moment a pension of ;^5oo a year from the India Company as a reward for his services.' — Edit. ^ The peace of 1763 was negotiated by his Grace of Bedford ; the conquests here specified were relinquished by its conditions : and the rumour, as already observed, was in general cir- culation that the duke and his friends had been bribed into so prodigal a surrender. See the note in p. 188. — Edit. «... - This man, notwithstanding his pride and Tory principles, had some English stuff in him. Upon an official letter he wrote to the duke of Bedford, the duke desired to be recalled, and it was with the utmost difficulty that lord Bute could appease him. 3 Mr Grenville, lord Halifax, and lord Egre- mont. 4 The ministry- having endeavoured to exclude the Dowager out of the regency bill, the earl of Bute determined to dismiss them. Upon this the duke of Bedford demanded an audience of the | king, reproached him in plain terms, with his 19- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. you would not permit him to preserve tlie honour of a gentleman. It was then lord Weymouth was nominated to Ireland, and despatched (we well remember with what indecent hurry) to plunder the treasury of the first fruits of an employment which you well knew he was never to execute. i This sudden declaration of war against the favourite might have given you a momentary merit with the public, if it had cither been adopted upon principle, or maintained with resolution. Without look- ing back to all your former servility, we need only observe your subsequent conduct, to see upon what motives you acted. Ap- parently united with Mr Grenville, you waited until lord Rockingham's feeble administyation should dissolve in its own weakness.— Tlie moment their dismission was suspected, the moment you perceived that another system was adopted in the closet, you thought it no disgrace to return to your former dependence, and solicit once more the friendship of lord Bute. You begged an interview, at which he had spirit enough to treat you with contempt. It w oukl now be of little use to point out, by what a train of weak, injudicious mea- .sures it became necessary, or was thought so, to call you back to a share in the administration.- The friends, whom you did not in the last instance desert, were not of a character to add strength or credit to government ; and at that time your alliance with the duke of Grafton was. I presume, hardly foreseen. We must look for other stipulations, to account for that sudden resolution of the closet, by which three of your dependants' (whose characters, I think, cannot be less respected than they are) were advanced to offices, through which you might again controul the minister, and probably engross the whole direction of affairs. The possession of absolute power is now once more within your reach. The mea- sures you have taken to ol)tain and confirm it, are too gross to escape the eyes of a discerning judicious prince. His palace is besieged ; the lines of circumvallation are drawing round him ; and unless he finds a I resource in his own activity, or in the attachment of the real friends of his family, the best of princes must submit to the con- finement of a state prisoner, until your I Grace's death, or some less fortunate event, shall raise the siege. For the present, you may safely resume that style of insult and menace, which even a private gentleman cannot submit to hear without being con- temptible. Mr Mackenzie's history is not yet forgotten, and you may find precedents enough of the mode, in which an imperious subject may signify his pleasure to his sovereign. Where will this gracious mon- arch look for assistance, when the wretched Grafton could forget his obligations to his master, and desert him for a hollow alli- ance with such a man as the duke of Bed- ford ! Let us consider you, then, as arrived at the summit of worldly greatness ; let us suppose, that all your plans of avarice and ambition nre accomplished, and your most sanguine wishes gratified in the fear as well as the hatred of the people : Can age itself forget that you are now in the last act of ^ life ? Can grey hairs make folly venerable ? and is there no period to be reserved for meditation and retirement ? For shame ! my Lord : let it not be recorded of you, that the latest moments of your life were dedicated to tlie same unworthy pursuits, the same busy agitations, in which your youth and manhood were exhausted. Con- sider, that, although you cannot disgrace your former life, you are violating the cha- racter of age, and exposing the impotent imbecility, after you have lost the vigour of the passions. Your friends will ask, perhaps. Whither shall this unhappy old man retire? Can he duplicity, baseness, falsehood, treachery, and Ilypocri^y,— repeatedly gave him the lie, and left him in convulsions. ' He received three thousaiu.! pounds for plate and equipage money. -' When earl Gower was appointed president of the council, the king, with his usual sincerity, assured him, that he had not had one happy moment since the duke of Bedford left him. 3 Lords Ciowcr, Weymouth, and Sandwich. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. remain in the metropolis, where his life has been so often threatened, and his palace so often attacked? If he returns to Wooburn, scorn and mockeiy await him. He must create a solitude round his estate, if he would avoid t!ie face of reproach and derision. At Plymouth, his destruction would be more than probable ; at Exeter, inevitable. No honest Englishman will ever forget his attachment, nor any honest Scotchman forgive his treachery, to lord Bute. At every town he enters, he must change his liveries and his name. Which ever way he flies, the Hue and Cry of the country pursues him. In another kingdom, indeed, the blessings of his administration have been more sensibly felt ; his virtues better understood ; or at worst, they will not, for him alone, forget their hospitality. — As well might Verkrs have returned to Sicily. You have twice escaped, my Lord ; beware of a third experiment. The indignation of a whole people, plundered, insulted, and oppressed as they have been, will TxCt always be dis- appointed. It is in vain therefore to shift the scene. Vou can no more fly from your enemies than from yourself. Persecuted abroad, you look into your own heart for consola- tion, and find nothing but reproaches and despair. But, my Lord, you may quit the field of business, though not the field of danger ; and though you cannot be safe, you may cease to be ridiculous. I fear you have listened too long to the advice of those pernicious friends, with whose interests you have sordidly united your own, and for whom you have sacrificed every thing that ought to be dear to a man of honour. Tiiey are still base enough to encourage the follies of your age, as they once did the vices of your youth. As little acquainted ^ As some apprehension was entertained by the printer, that he might be brought before the House of Lords, for inserting this letter in liis paper, Junius wrote to him in Private Letter, No. lo, as follows : — ' As to yon, it is clearly my opinion that you have nothing to fear from the duke of Bedford. I reserve some things ex- pressly to awe liim, in case he should think of with the rules of decorum, as \\ith the laws of morality, they will not suffer you to profit | by experience, nor even to consult the pro- i priety of a bad character. Even now they tell you, that life is no more than a dra- inatic scene, in which the hero should pre- >** serve his consistency to the last, and that as j you lived without virtue, you should die without repentance.^ JUNIUS. LETTER XZ.7. TO JUNIUS. Sir, 14 September, 1769. Having accidentally seen a re- publication of your letters, wherein you have been pleased to assert, that I had sold the companions of my success ; I am again obliged to declare the said assertion to be a most infamous and malicious falsehood ; and I again call upon you to stand forth, avow yourself, and prove the charge. If you can make it out to the satisfaction of any one man in the kingdom, I will be con- tent to be thought the worst man in it ; if you do not, what must the nation think of you ? Party has nothing to do in this affair : you have made a personal attack upon my honour, defamed me by a most vile calumny, which might possibly have sunk into oblivion, had not such uncommon pains been taken to renew and perpetuate this scandal," chiefly because it has been told in good language : for I give you full credit for your elegant diction, w^ell turned periods, and attic wit ; but wit is often- times false, though it may appear brilliant ; which is exactly the case of your whole per- formance. But, Sir, I am obliged in the most serious manner to accuse you of being guilty oi falsities. You have said the thing bringing you before the House of Lords. I am sure I can threaten him privately with such a storm, as would make him tremble even in his grave.' See also p. 199. — Edit. ^ The reader will perceive, by a reference to Private Letter, No. 4, that this republication was without the author's knowledge or consent. — Edit. 194 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. that i5 not. To support your story, ^o\\\'oiirsclf. People cannot bear any longer your lion s skin, and the despicable impos- ture of the old Roman name -which you have affected. For the future assume the name of some modern 3 bravo and dark assassin : let your appellation have some affinity to your practice. But if I must ■perish^ JUNIUS, let me perish in the face of have recourse to the following irresistible argument : ' You sold the companions of your victory, because when the i6th regi- ment was given to yon, you was silent. The conclusion is inevitable.' I believe that such deep and acute reasoning could only come from such an extraordinary WILLIAM DRAPER. uriter as Junius. But unfortunately for \ day ; be for once a generous and open you, the premises as well as the conclusion j enemy. I allow that Gothic appeals to cold are absolutely false. Many applications iron are no better proofs of a man's honesty have been made to the ministry on the sub- j and veracity, than hot iron and burning ject of the Manilla ransom since the time of j ploughshares are ol female chastity : but a my being colonel of that regiment. As I ■ soldier's honour is as delicate as a woman's ; have for some years quitted London, I was . it must not be suspected ; you have dared obliged to have' recourse to the honourable to throw more than a suspicion upon mine : colonel Monson and sir Samuel Cornish, i ' you cannot but know the consequences, to negotiate for me ; in the last autumn, I j which even the meekness of Christianity personally delivered a men^orial to the earl j would pardon me for, after the injury you of Sheiburne at his seat in Wiltshire. As have done me. you have told us of your i:r.portance, that j you are a person of rank and fortune, and above a common bribe, 2 you may in all pro- bability be not nnknmon to his Lordship, who can satisfy you of the truth of what I say. But I shall now take the liberty. Sir, to seize your battery, and turn it against yourself. If your puerile and tinsel logic could carry the least weight or conviction with it, how must you stand affected by the inevitable conclusion, as you are pleased to term it? According to Junius, j//<://^^ is | guilt. In many of the public papers, you and have been called in the most direct and offensive terms a liar and a coxoard. When did you reply to these foul accusations? you have been quite silent ; quite chop- fallen : therefore, because you was silent, the nation has a right to pronounce you to be both a liar and a coward from your own argument : but. Sir, I will give you fairer play ; will afford you an opportunity to wipe off the first appellation ; by desiring the proofs of your charge against me. Pro- duce them ! To wipe off the last, produce LETTER XXV. Hccret lateri Icthalis arundo. to sir william dr.\per, k. b. Sir. * These gentlemen accompanied sir William as brother officers in his expedition against the Philippines. — Edit. - See -Miscellaneous Letter of the author, No. LIV.— EuiT. 25 September, 1769. After so long an interval, I did not expect to see the debate revived between us. My answer to your last letter shall be short ; for I write to you with reluctance, I hope we shall now conclude our ' correspondence for ever. Had you been originally and without j provocation attacked by an anonymous writer, you would have some right to demand his name. But in this cause you are a volunteer. You engaged in it with the unpremeditated gallantry of a soldier. You were content to set your name in opposition to a man, who would probably continue in concealment. You understood the terms upon which we were to correspond, and gave at least a tacit assent to them. After voluntarily attacking me under the character of Junius, what possible right have you to 3 Was Brutus an ancient bravo and dark assassin ? or does sir \V. D. think it criminal to stab a tyrant to the heart ? LETTERS OF JUNIUS. '95 know me under any other ? Will you for- give me if I insinuate to you, that you foresaw some honour in the apparent spirit of coming forward in person, and that you were not quite indifferent to the display of your literary qualifications ? You cannot but know that the republica- tion of my letters was no more than a catchpenny contrivance of a printer, in which it was impossible I should be con- cerned, and for which I am no way answer- able. At the same time I wish you to iindei-stand, that if I do not take the trouble of reprinting these papers, it is not from any fear of giving offence to sir William Draper. Your remarks upon a signature, adopted merely for distinction, are unworthy of notice ; but when you tell me I have sub- mitted to be called a liar and a cov.ard, I must ask you in my turn, whether you seri- ously think it any way incumbent upon me to take notice of the silly invectives of every simpleton, who writes in a newspaper ; and what opinion you would have conceived of my discretion, if I had suffered myself to be the dupe of so shallow an artifice ? Your appeal to the sword, though con- sistent enough with your late profession, will neither prove your innocence nor clear you from suspicion. Your complaints with regard to the Manilla ransom were, for a considerable time, a distress to go- vernment. You were appointed (greatly out of your turn) to the command of a regiment, and during that administration we heard no more of sir William Draper. The facts, of which I speak, may indeed be variously accounted for, but they are too notorious to be denied ; and I think you might have learnt at the university, that a false conclusion is an error in argument, not a breach of veracity. Your solicita- tions, I doubt not, were renewed under another administration. Admitting the fiict, I fear an indifferent person would only infer from it, that experience had made you acquainted with the benefits of complain- ing. Remember, Sir, that you have your- self confessed, that, considering the critical situation of this country, the ministry are in the right to temporize with Spain. This confession reduces you to an unfortunate dilemma. By renewing your solicitations, you must either mean to force your country into a war at a most unseasonable juncture ; or, having no view or expectation of that kind, that you look for nothing but a private compensation to yourself. As to me, it is by no means necessary that I should be exposed to the resentment of the worst and the most powerful men in this country,! though I may be indifferent about yours. Though you would fight, there are others who would assassinate. But after all. Sir, where is the injury? You assure me, that my logic is puerile and tinsel ; that it carries not the least w eight or conviction ; that my premises are false and my conclusions absurd. If this be a just description of me, how is it possible for such a writer to disturb your peace of mind, or to injure a character so well established as yours ? Take care, sir William, how you indulge this unruly temper, lest the world should suspect that conscience has some share in your resentments. You have more to fear from the treachery of your own pas- sions, than from any malevolence of mine. I believe. Sir, you will never know me. A considerable time must certainly elapse before we are personally acquainted. You need not, however, regret the delay, or suffer an apprehension that any length of time can restore you to the Christian meek- ness of your temper, and disappoint your present indignation. If I understand your character, there is in your own breast a re- pository, in which your resentments may be safely laid up for future occasions, and pre- served without the hazard of diminution. The Odia in longum jaciens, quce 7-econde- ret, auctaque promeret, I thought had only l>elonged to the worst character of antiquity. The text is in Tacitus ; — you know best where to look for the commentary. JUNIUS. ' See Private Letter, No. 41, in which he continues to entertain some apprehensions con- cerning the effects of a discovery of his person. — Edit. 196 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XXVL A WORD AT I'ARTING TO JUNIUS. 1 Sir, 7 October, 1769. As you have not favoured me w ith either of the cxphiiiaiions demanded of you, I can have nothing more to s.ay to you upon my cnon account. Your mercy to me, or tenderness for yourself, has been very great. The pubhc will judge of your motives. If your excess of modesty forbids you to produce either the proofs of your- self, I will excuse it. Take courage ; I have not the temper of Tiberius, any more than the rank or power. You, indeed, are a tyrant of another sort, and upon your political bed of torture can excruciate any subject, from a first minister down to such a grub or Initterfly as myself ; like another detested t)rant of antiquity, can make the wretched sufferer fit the bed, if the bed will not fit the sufferer, by disjointing or tearing the trembling limbs until they are stretched to its extremity. But courage, constancy, and patience, under torments, have some- times caused the most hardened monsters to relent, and forgive the object of their cruelty. You, Sir, are determined to try all that human nature can endure, until she ex- pires : else, was it possible that you could be the author of that most inhuman letter to the duke of Bedford ? I have read it with astonishment and horror. Where, Sir, where were the feelings of your own heart, when you could upbraid a most affectionate father with the loss of his only and most amiable son? Read over again those cruel lines of yours, and let them wring your very soul ! Cannot political questions be dis- I cussed without descending to the most ! odious personalities ? Must you go wan- tonly out of your way to tormont declining ; age, because the duke of Bedford may have ' quarrelled with those whose cause and politics you espouse? For shame! for shame ! As you have spoke dagi^er-i tc him, you may justly dread the use of thei^i .igainst your own breast, did a want of courage, or of noble sentiments, stimulate him to such mean revenge. He is above it ; he is brave. Do you fancy that your own base arts have infected our whole island ? But your own reflections, your own conscience, must and will, if you have any spark of humanity , remaining, give him most ample vengeance. 1 Not all the power of words w ith which you I are so graced, will ever wash out, or even palliate, this foul blot in your character. 1 have not time at present to dissect your letter so minutely as I could wish, but I will be bold enough to say, that it is (as to reason and argument) the most extraordin- I ary piece oi Jlorid impotence that was ever imposed upon the eyes and ears of the too credulous and deluded mob. It accuses the duke of Bedford of high treason. Upon what foundation ? You tell us, ' that the duke's pecuniary character makes it more than probable, that he could not have made such sacrifices at the peace, without some private compensations ; that his conduct carried with it an interior evidence, beyond all the legal proofs of a court of justice." My academical education. Sir, bids me I tell you that it is necessary to establish the truth of your first proposition, before you : presume to draw inferences from it. First I prove the avarice, before you make the rash, hasty, and most wicked conclusion. ' Measures and not men is the common cant of affected moderation ; — a base, counterfeit language, fabricated by knaves, and made current among fools. Such gentle censure is not fitted to the present degenerate state of society. What does it avail to expose the ab- surd contrivance, or pernicious tendency, of measures, if the man who advises or executes, shall be suffered not only to escape with impunity, but even to preserve his power, and insult us with the favour of his sovereign ! I would re- commend to the reader the whole of Mr Pope's letter to Doctor Arbuthnot, dated 26 July, 1734, from which the following is an extract. ' To re- form and not to chastise I am afraid is impossi- ble ; and that the best precepts, as well as the best laws, would prove of small use, if there were no examples to enforce them. To attack vices in the abstract, without toi'chlng persons, may be safe fighting indeed, but it is fighting with shadows. My greatest comfort and en- couragement to proceed, has been, to see that those who have no shame, and no fear of any thing else, have appeared touched by my satires.' LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 19; This father, J UN' IL'S, whom you call avari- cious, allowed that son eight thousand pounds a year. Upon his most unfortunate death, which your usual good nature took care to remind him of, he greatly increased the jointure of tlie afflicted lady, his widow. Is this avarice? Is this doing good by sUalth f It is upon record. If exact order, method, and true economy as a master of a family ; if splendour and just magniiicence, wiiliout uiid waste and thoughtless extravagance ; may constitute the character of an avaricious man, the duke is guilty. But for a moment let us admit that an ambassador may love money too much ; what i)roof do you give that he has taken any to betray his country ? Is it hearsay ; or the evidence of letters, or ocu- lar ; or the evidence of those concerned in this black affair ? Produce your authorities to the public. It is a most impudent kind of sorcery to attempt to blind us with the smoke, without convincing us that the fire has existed. You first brand him with a vice that he is free from, to render him odious and suspected. Suspicion is the foul weapon with which you make all your chief attacks ; with that you stab. But slr.all one of the first subjects of the realm be ruined in his fame, shall even his life be in constant danger, from a charge built upon such sandy foundations? Must his house be besisged by lawless ruffians, his journies impeded, and even the asylum of an altar be insecure, from assertions so base and false? Potent as he is, the duke is amenable to justice ; if guilty, punishable. The parliament is the high and solemn tribunal for matters of such great moment. To that be they submitted. But 1 hope also that some notice will be taken of, and some punishment inflicted upon, false accusers, especially upon such, Ji.'Nlirs, who are wilfully false. In any truth I will agree even with Junius; will agree with him that it is highly unbecom- ing the dignity of peers to tamper with * Sir William gives us a pleasant account of men, who, in kis opinion at least, are the best qualified to govern an empire. boroughs. Ariitccracy l^i as fatal as demo- cracy. Our constituticn admits of neither. It lov°s a King, Lords, ami Commons really C;ic3en by the imbought suffrages of a free people. But if corruption only shifts hands ; if the wealthy commoner gives the bribe, instead of the potent peer, is the state better served by this exchange? Is the real emancipation of the borough effected, because new parchment bonds may possibly supersede the old? To say the truth, wherever such practices prevail, they are equally criminal to and destructive of our freedom. The rest of your declamation is scaue worth considering, excepting for the ele- gance of the language. Like Hamlet in the play, you produce two pictures : you tell us, that one is not like the duke of Bedford; then you bring a most hideous caricature, and tell us of the resemblance ; but mulhtm abliidit imago. All your long tedious accounts of the ministerial quarrels, and the intrigues of the cabinet, are reducible to a few short lines ; and to convince you. Sir, that I do not mean to flatter any minister, cither past or present, these are my thoughts : they seem to have acted like lovers, or children ; have pouted, quarrelled, cried, kissed, and been fi lends again, 1 as the objects of desire, the ministerial rattles, have been put into their hands. But such proceedings are very un- worthy of the gravity and dignity of a great nation. We do not want men of abilities ; but we have wanted steadiness ; we want j unaninr.ity : your letters, Junius, will not I contribute thereto. You may one day ex- I pire by a flame of your own kindling. But I it is my humble opinion that lenity and I moderation, pardcn and oblivion, will dis- : appoint the efforts of all the seditious in the { land, and extinguish their v/idc-sprearli ng I fires. I have lived with this sentiment ; with this I shall die. WILLIAM DRAPER.-i - A few days subsequent to the publication cf this letter, a report was circulated, that sir William Draper, in consequence of his defence of lord Granby, had been appointed to a govern- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. TO Sir, Tllli PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. But it seems I have outraged the feelings LETTER XXVII. of a fathers heart. — Am I indeed so in- judicious? Does sir William Draper think I would have hazarded my credit with a generous nation, by so gross a violation of 13 October, 1769. the laws of humanity? Does he think I If sir William Draper's bed be a am so little acquainted with the first and bed of torture, he has rr.ade it for himself, j noblest characteristic of Englishmen ? Or I shall never interrupt his repose. Having j how will he reconcile such folly with an chan°-ed the subject, there are parts of his understanding so full of artifice as mine? last letter not undeserving of a reply. Leav- ; Had he been a father, he would have been ino- his private character and conduct out of but little offended with the severity of the the question, I shall consider him merely reproach, fur his mind A\ould have been in the capacity of an author, whose labours filled with the justice of it. He would have certainly do no discredit to a newspaper. ' seen that I did not insult the feelings of a We say, in common discourse, that a man father, but the father who felt nothing, may l)e his own enemy, and the frequency He would have trusted to the evidence of of the fact makes the expression intelligible, his own paternal heart, and boldly denied But that a man should be the bitterest the possibility of the fact, instead of de- enemy of his friends, implies a contradic- fending it. Against whom then will his tion of a peculiar nature ! There is some- honest indignation be directed, when I thing in it which cannot be conceived assure him, that this whole town beheld the without a confusion of ideas, nor expressed duke of Bedford's conduct, upon the death without a solecism in language. Sir ' of his son, with horror and astonishment. William Draper is still that fatal friend lord Sir William Draper does himself but little Granbv found him. Yet I am ready to do honour in opposing the general sense of justice to his generosity ; if indeed it be not something more than generous, to be the voluntary advocate of men, who think themselves injured by his assistance, and to consider nothing in the cause he adopts, but the difficulty of defending it. I thought however he had been better read in the history of the human heart, than to com- pare or confound the tortures of the body with those of the mind. He ought to have known, though perhaps it might not be his interest to confess, that no outward tyranny can reach the mind. If conscience plays the tyrant, it would be greatly for the bene- fit of the world that she were more arbi- trary, and far less placable, than some men find her. liis country. The people are seldom wrong in their opinions ; — in their sentiments they are never mistaken. There maybe a vanity perhaps in a singular way of thinking ; — but when a man professes a want of those feelings, which do honour to the multitude, he hazards something infinitely more im- portant than the character of his under- standing. After all, as sir William may possibly be in earnest in his anxiety for the duke of Bedford, I should be glad to relieve him from it. He may rest assured that this worthy nobleman laughs, with equal indifference, at my reproaches, and sir William's distress about him. But here let it srop. Even the duke of Bedford, in- sensible as he is, will consult the traiKiuiilit\- orship in America, which sir William contra- I governor in America. The story has been dieted, in the following short note, addressed to , raised to make the public believe that he has the Printer of the Piil)lic Advertiser, Oct. 20, ' endeavoured to vindicate those whom he knows J769. 1 to have been most infamously traduced for the sake of a reward. His r-otive for this voyage is 'SiK, entirely curiosity. He has nothing to do with ' You are desired to contradict the re- the politics of this rninistry, or any other set jf port that sir William Draper is appointed a ! men whosoever.'— F, hit. I LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 199 of his life, in not provoking the moderation of my temper. If, from the profoundest contempt, I should ever rise into anger, he should soon find, that all I have already said of him was lenity and compassion. 1 Out of a Icng catalogue, sir William Draper has con.'ined himself to the refuta- tion of two charges only. The rest he had KCi time to discuss ; and indeed it would have been a laborious undertaking. To draw up a defence of sucii a series of i enormitirs, would have required a life at I least as long as that which has been uni- formly employed in the practice of them. The public opinion of the duke of Bedford's extreme economy is, it seems, entirely with- out foundation. Though not very prodigal abroad, in liis own family, at least, he is regular and magnificent. He pays his ' See Private Letter, No. 10. - 'I'his gentleman is supposed to have the same idea oi I'hishiiig^, that a man blind from his birth has of scarlet or sky-blue. 3 In answer to this heavy charge, two instances of the noble duke's benevolence were brought forward in two separate letters in the Public Advertiser. The one dated Oct. 17, and signed Frances, which states his having relieved with a patent etnployincnt, the husband of the writer of a series of sentimental letters of ' Henry and Frances,' in which the author, a Mrs Gritlfiths, fictitiously depicted their own real distress. The other dated Oct. 20, and signed Jere. Clears, lieut. of the 29th regt. relates the duke's gener- ous and unsolicited bestowment upon him of a pair of colours, upon a knowledge, when lord- lieutenant of Ireland, of the writer's destitute situation. A much abler reply to Jl'NIUs's severe attack upon his Grace was afterwards introduced into the Public Advertiser in a letter to Junils sub- scribed M. TuUius, dated Dec. 8, from which the editor feels bound, on the score of impar- tiality, to make the following extract : ' In these strictures I have principally in view the treatment which Junfis, in two publications, has thought proper to offer to the duke of Bed- ford. His animadversions on this illustrious nobleman are intended to reflect both on his public and private character. With regard to the first of these, nothing of consequence is urged besides his Grace's conduct as ambas- sador at the court of Versailles in the mak- ing of the late pe.ace. I mean not to enter here into the merits or demerits of that import- ant transaction. Thus much is known to all, the riches of the nation were at that time well nigh exh.-iustcd, public credit was on the brink of ruin, the national debt increased to such an enormous height as to threaten us with a sudden debts, abhors a beggar, and makes a hand- some provision for his son. His charity has improved upon the proverb, and ended where it began. Admitting the whole force of this single instance of his domestic gen- erosity (wonderful indeed, considering the narrowness of his fortune, and the little merit of his only son), the public may still perhaps be dissatisfied, and demand some other less equivocal proofs of his munifi- cence. Sir William Draper should have entered boldly into the detail — of indigence relieved — of arts encouraged— of science patronized ; men of learning protected, and works of genius rewarded ; in short, had there been a single instance, besides Mr Rigby,- of b:U£hing merit brought forward by the duke, for the service of the public, it should not have been omitted.^ and universal crush ; and whatever be said of the concessions that were made to bring that memorable event to bear, Canada, among other instances, will ever remain a glorious monument ; the interests of this kingdom were not forgotten in that negotiation: But Junius, hackneyed in the tricks of controversy, where a man's open and avowed actions are innocent, has the art to hint at secret terms and private compensations ; and though he is compelled by the force of truth to own ' no document of any treasonable prac- j tice is to be foimd,' we are given plainly to lui- derstand, so many public sacrifices were not made at that period without a valuable con- sideration, and that in practice there is very little difierence in the ceremony of offering a bribe, and of that duke's accepting it. To a charge that is alledged, not only without proof, but even with a confession that no proof is to be expected, no answer is to be returned but that of a con- temptuous silence. When a writer takes upon him to attack the character of a nobleman of the highest rank, and in a matter of so capital a nature as that of selling his country for ?. bribe, common policy, as well as prudence, retiuire that an accusation of such importance be sup- ported with at least some show of evidence, and that even this be not done but with the utmost moderation of temper and expression : but so sober a conduct would have been beside the purpose of Ji'nils, whose business it was not to reason, but rail. The Roman rhetorician, among the other arts of oratory, mentions one, which he dignifies with the title of a " Canine eloquence," that of filling up the empty places of an argu- ment with railings, convitiis iinplcre vacua cau- sarnm. In the knowledge of this rule Juxifs is without a rival ; and the present instance, among a thousand others, is a convincing testi- mony of his dexterity in the application of it. ' But here it will be said, it is not from cir- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. I wish it were possible to establish my ' I believe the principle is fuunded. My inference with the same certainty, on wliich I conclusion however was not drawn from tiie cuinstance and conjecture alone that this charge against the duke cf Bedford is founded ; the general cliaracter of every one takes its colour and complexion from that quality in him which predominates, and the allowed a\arice of the man affords an evidence not to l)e resisted of the rapacity of the ambassador : and is it then so incontestible a point that the duke is indeed the sordid man which JuMLS has delineated? are ' there no instances to be produced that denote a i contrary disposition? one would think if a i vicious thirst of gain had borne so large a share, | as is pretended, in his Grace's composition, this i would have discovered itself in the pecuniary , emoluments he had secured for himself when he ; engaged in a share of Government. But what advantages of this kind has he obtained ; or to what bargains with the minister does Junius allude, when he knows that his Grace, though willing to assist the friends of administration with his interest and weight, has not accepted any department either of power or profit? had JuNU s and candour not shaken hands, this cir- cumstance alone would have afforded him an evidence beyond all the legal proofs of a court of justice, of the iniquity of his own insinuations. But we are not at a loss for other instances, and those no ordinary ones, of the duke's munifi- cence. To what principle shall we attribute the payment of the elder brother's debts to the amount of not much less tlian one hundred thousand pounds? the splendid provision he made for his unfortunate son ; and afterwards for that .son's more unfortunate widow? what shall we .say to hLs known attachments to the interests of his friends, his kindness to his domes- tics, and annual bounty to those who have served him faithfully ? his indulgence to his de- pendants ? or what are, if these be not, une- quivocal proofs of genuine liberality and benevo- lence ? ' When to these symptoms of an enlarged and generous mind, we add what are equally constitu- ent parts of his Grace's character, the decency and decorum of his conduct in private life, his regularity in his family, and what is now so rare a virtue among the great, his constant attend- ance on all the public offices of Divine Wor.-hip, we .shall hardly find, in the wholo circle of the nobility, a man that has a juster and much more than a constitutional claim to respect, or one that less deserved the censures of a satirist, such as Jrxius, than \i\z Grace of Bedford. But in the reflections of JuN'ius there is a more surprising piece of profiigacy yet behind. As if all the former instances of his malignity had been too little, he has filled up the measure of his crimes by calling back to our remembrance the loss, which not the father alone, but the kingdom sustained in the death of his only son, and to re- proach him for the insensibility he supposes him to have discovered, on that afTecting occasion. The cruelty of tliis accusation is only to be paralleled by the falsehood of it, and in a belter age than the present would have been deemed a prodigy. To one who possessed the proper sentiments cf a man, the dwelling at all on a calamity wnich is still so recent, which in all its circumstances was so truly fiitiable, would have appeared in the highest degree ungenerous and mean ; but to represent the principal sufferer in this scene of woe as tiie only one not sensible of his misfortune ; to paint a father destitute of a father's love, and even professing a want of those feelings which do honour to the multitude, is an instance of barbarity of which a savage would have been ashamed, and which no prctti- nesses of style, no powers of language, no literary merit, can ever excuse or e.xpiate : and indeed, " corrupt as the times are .said to be, I have the satisfaction to observe Junius for once ha,-? reckoned without his host, and mistaken the tasle and temper of his countrymen : we can allow for the petulance which want and hiuiger e.\tort from an opposition ; we can pity the wretch who is obliged to draw his venal quill, and say and unsay as is dictated to him by his superiors : but we are not yet so far gone in the road to ruin, or dead to all the movements of compassion, as to behold without abhorrence the man, who can so totally resign ail pretences to humanity, or regard him in any other light than as the object of general detestation. ' Junius in his letter to the duke of EedfonJ, amuses himself with describing, in theory, the dignity and importance of an independent nobleman : by way of conclusion to these re- marks, I shall delineate for him in return, what I conceive should be the character of one who sets up for a political writer ; and this, in imita- tion of his own method, both by the positive and negative marks which may be given of it. A writer then of this class, though he will ever be suspicious of the conduct of those in power, will be sure to watch with equal jealousy over himself, lest in his zeal for exciting a reasonable love of liberty, he encourage a dangerous s^piiit of licentiousness : he will be as cautious of weakening the constitutional powers of the prince, as he will be careful of supporting the undoubted rights of the people ; and will e.xpose with the same freedom, in their turns, the ex- orbitances of prerogative, and the lav/less efi'orts of a faction. In the negative ytsx'^.z of his cha- racter, he will not give occasion to Jne most dis- tant suspicion that his opposition to government proceeds not so much from a dislike to measures, as to men : in times of real security he will not inflame the minds of the populace with affected apprehensions : before he complains of griev- ances he will be sure they exist : in his freest writings he will never violate, knowingly, the laws of truth and justice ; he will not causelessly expose the follies of youth, the infirmities of age, or the irregularities of private life, in which the public interests are not concerned : he will be J. LlSTTEkS or JUNIUS. principle alone. I am iiot so unjust as to reason from one crime to another ; tliough I think, that, of all the vices, avarice is most apt to taint and corrupt the heart. I combined the known temper of the man, with the extravac;ant concessions made by the ambassador ; and though I doubt not sufficient care was taken to lea\e no docu- ment of any treasonable negotiation, I still maintain that the conduct^ of tl^is minister carries with it an internal and a convincing evidence against him. Sir William Diaper seems not to know the value or force of such a proof. He will not permit us to judge of the motives of men, by the manifest tendency of tlieir actions, nor by the notorious character of their minds. He calls for papers and witnesses, with a sort of triumphant security, as if nothing could be true but what could be proved in a court of justice. Yet a religious man might have remembered, upon what foundation some truths, most interesting to mankind, have been received and established. If it were not for tlie internal evidence, which the purest of religions carries with it, what would have become of his once well-quoted decalogue, and of the meekness of his Christianity ? The generous warmth of his rcscntnicnt makes him confound the order of events. He forgets that the insults and distresses which tlie duke of Bedford has suffered, and which sir William has lamented with many delicate touches of the true pathetic, were only recorded in my letter to his Grace, not occasioned by it. It was a simple, candid narrative of facts ; though, for aught I know, it may carry w ith it something pro- phetic. His Grace undoubtedly has re- ceived several ominous hints ; and I think, in certain circui.nstances, a wise man would reslraincd by a sense of honour from calumniat- ing the innocent or satirising the unhappy : in a word, he will not take advantage of his own security to stab in the dark, or with Solomon's foul, divert himself with holding out the most respcct.ible characters as objects of contempt and ridicule, and say, am not I in sport?' — Edit. '■ If sir W. D. will take the trouble of looking do well to prepare ri:-r.3^1f for tlie event. But I have a charg.v of a heavier nature against sir William Draper. He tells us that the duke of Bedford is amenable to justice ;— that parliament is a high and solemn tribunal ; and that, if guilty, he may be punished by due course of law ; and all this, he says, with as much gravity as if he believed every word of the matter. I hope, indeed, the day of impeachments will arrive before this nobleman escapes out of life ; — but to refer us to that mode of proceeding now, with such a ministry, and such a House of Commons as the pre- I sent, what is it, but an indecent mockery j of the common sense of the nation ? I think he might have contented himself with de- fending the greatest enemy, without insult- ing the distresses of his country. His concluding declaration of his opinion, with respect to the present condition of affairs, is too loose and undetermined to be of any ser\ ice to the public. How strange it is that this gentleman should dedicate so much time and argument to the defence of worthless or indifferent characters, while he gives but seven solitary lines to the only subject, which can deserve his attention, or do credit to his abilities. JUNIUS. LETTER XXVIII. TO Tlir: PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC I ADVERTISER. Sir, 20 October, 1769. I VERY sincerely applaud the spirit with which a lady has paid the debt of gratitude to her benefactor.- Though I think she has mistaken the point, she shows a virtue which makes her respectable. The question turned upon the personal gener- into Torcy's Memoirs, he will s^e with what little ceremony a bribe may be offered to a duke, and with what little ceremony it was only not a ccep ted. — Author. It is too generally known to need further e.v- planation that the first duke of Marlborough is the nobleman liere referred to. — Edit. ^ The letter of Mrs Griffiths, signed Frances. Sec note, ante, p. 200. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. osity or avarice of a man, wliose private fortune is immense, 'ihe proofs of his munificence must be drawn from the uses to which he has apphed that fortune. I was not speaking of a lord-Heutenant of Ireland, but of a rich English duke, whose wealth gave liim the means of doing as much good in this country, as he de- rived from his power in another. I am far from wishing to lessen the merit of this single benevolent action ; — perhaps it is the more conspicuous from standing alone. All I mean to say is, that it proves nothing in the present argument. JUNIUS. LETTER XXIX. Sir, i; PKixTi'.R OF Tin-: plclic ADVIiRTISER. 19 October, 1769. I AM well assured that Junius will never descend to a dispute with such a writer as Modcstus (whose letter appeared in the Gazetteer of Monday ^) especially as the dispute must be chiefly about words. Notwithstanding the partiality of the pub- lic, it does not appear that Junius values himself upon any superior skill in composi- tion, and I hope his time will always be more usefully employed than in the trifling refinements of verbal criticism. Modcstus, however, shall have no reason to triumph in the silence and moderation of Junius. If he knew as much of the propriety of language, as I believe he does of the facts in question, he would have been as cautious of attacking Junius upon his composition, as he seems to be of entering into the sub- ject of it ; yet after all, the last is tlie only article of any importance to the public. I do not wonder at the unremitted ran- cour with which the duke of Bedford and liis adherents invariably speak of a nation, which we well know has been too much in- jured to be easily forgiven. But why must Junius be an Irishman? — The absurdity of I,., ' The gentleman who wrote several letters Dalrymple, a Scotch Advocate, For a specimen under this si£;nature in the Gazetteer, and subse- of his style, sec Miscell. Lett. No. LXVIL — quently in the Public Advertiser, was a Mr I Edit. his writings betrays hint. — Waving all con- sideration of the insult offered by Modestus , to the declared judgment of the people (they may well bear this among the rest), let us follow the several instances, and try whether the charge be fiiirly supported. Eirst then, — the leaving a man to enjoy such repose as he can find upon a bed of torture, is severe indeed ; perhaps too much so, when applied to such a trifler as sir William Draper ; but there is nothing ab- surd either in the idea or expression. Mo- destus cannot distinguish between a sar- casm and a contradiction. 2. I affirm with Junius, that it is the/zr- quciicy of the fact, which alone can make us comprehend how a man can be his own enemy. We should never arrive at the complex idea conveyed by those words, if we had only seen one or two instances of a man acting to his own prejudice. Ofter the proposition to a child, or a man unused to compound his ideas, and you will soon see how little either of them understand you. It is not a simple idea arising from a single fact, but a very complex idea arising from many facts well observed, and ac- curately compared. 3. Modestus could not, without great affectation, mistake the meaning of Junius, when he speaks of a man who is the bitter- est enemy of his friends. lie ccu-d not but know, that Junius spoke, not of a false or hollow friendship, but of a real intciiiion to serve, and that intention producing the worst effects of enmity. A\'hether the de- scription be strictly applicable to sir William Draper is another question. Junius does not say that it is more criminal for a man to be the enemy of his friends than \\h own, though he might have affirmed it with truth. In a moral light a man may cer- tainly take greater liberties with himself than with another. To sacrifice ourselves merely, is a weakness we may indulge in, if we think proper, for we do it at our own hazard and expense ; but, under the pre- LETTERS OF JUNIUS, 203 tence of friendship, to sport with the reput- ation, or sacrifice the honour of another, is something worse than weakness ; and if, in favour of the fooHsh intention, we do not call it a crime, we must allow at least that it arises from an overweening, busy, meddling impudence.— JUNIUS says only, and he says truly, that it is more extra- ordinary, that it involves a greater contra- diction than the other ; and is it not a maxim received in life, that in general we can determine more wisely for others than for ourselves ? The reason of it is so clear in argument, that it hardly wants the con- firmation of experience. Sir \\'illiam Draper, I confess, is an exception to the general rule, though not much to his credit. 4. If this gentleman will go back to his ethics, he may perhaps discover the truth of what Junius says, that no outward tyranny can reach the mind. The tortures of the body may be introduced by way of ornament or illustration to represent those of the mind, but strictly there is no simili- tude between them. They are totally different both in their cause and operation. The wretch who suffers upon the rack, is merely passive ; but when the mind is tor- tured, it is not at the command of any out- ward power. It is the sense of guilt which constitutes the punishment, and creates that torture with which the guilty mind acts upon itself. 5. He misquotes what Junius says of conscience, and makes the sentence ridicul- ous, by making it his own. So much for composition. Xow for fact. — Junius it seems has mistaken the duke of Bedford. His Grace had all the proper feelings of a father, though he took care to ^ Within a fortnight after lord Tavistock's death, the venerable Gertrude had a rout at Bedford-house. The good duke (who had only sixty thousand pounds a year" ordered an inven- tory to be taken of his son's wearing apparel, down to his slippers, sold them all, and put the money in his pocket. The amiable marchioness, shocked at such brutal, unfeeling avarice, gave the value of the clothes, to the marquis's servant, out of her own purse. That incomparable woman did not long survive her huNband. When she died, the duchess of Beuford treated her as the suppress the appearance of them. Yet "t was an occasion, one would think, on whicli he need not have been ashamed of his grief ;— on which less fortitude would have done him more honour. I can conceive indeed a benevolent motive for his endea- vouring to assume an air of tranciuillity in his own family, and I wish I could dis- cover any thing, in the rest of his ciiaracter, to justify my assigning that motive to his behaviour. But is there no medium ? Was it necessary to appear abroad, to ballot at the India House, and make a public dis- play, though it were only of an apparent insensibility ? — I know we are treading 1 on tender ground, and Junius, I am con- ! vinced, does not wish to urge this question ! farther. Let the friends of the duke of i Bedford observe that humble silence, which 1 becomes their situation. They should re- collect that there are still some facts in I store, at which human nature would shud- I der. I shall be understood by those wliom i it concerns, when I say that these facts go farther than to the duke.^ It is not inconsistent to suppose that a man may be quite indifferent about one part of a charge, yet severely stung with another, and though he feels no remorse, that he may wish to be revenged. The charge of insensibility carries a reproach indeed, but no danger with it. — Junius had said, there are others who would assassinate. Modest us, knowing his man, will not suffer the insinuation to be divided, but fixes it all upon the duke of Bedford. Without determining upon what evidence Junius would choose to be condemned, I will venture to maintain, in opposition to Modes- tus, or to Mr Rigby (who is certainly not I Modest us), or any other of the Bloomsbury ; duke had treated his only son. She ordered I every gown and trinket to be sold, and pocketed I the money. — These are the monsters, whom sir j William Draper comes forward to defend. — May God protect ;//y and the dwke of Bedford. Mr Rigby, I take for granted, will assert his natural right to the modesty of the quotation, and leave all the opprobrium to his Grace. PHILO JUNIUS. LETTER XXX. TO Tin: PRINTER OF THE PUIJLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 17 October, 1769. It is not wonderful that the great cause, in which this country is engaged, should have roused and engrossed the whole attention of the people. I rather admire the ger.erous spirit, with which they feel and assert their interest in this important ques- tion, than blame them for their indifference about any other. When the constitution is openly invaded, when the first original right of the people, from which all laws derive their authority, is directly attacked, inferior grievances naturally lose their force, and ' Major-general Ganscl was arrested Septem- ber 21, 1769, in Piccadilly, for two tliousand pounds. He told the bailiff, if he would go down with him to the Tilt-yard, he should there find a are suffered to pass by without punishment or observation. The present ministry are as singularly marked by their fortune, as by their crimes. Instead of atoning for their former conduct by any wise cr popular measure, they have found, in the enormity of one fact, a cover and defence for a series of measures, wliich must have been fatal to any other administration. I fear we are too remiss in observing the whole of their proceedings. Struck with the principal figure, we do not sufficiently mark in what manner the canvass is filled up. Yet surely it is not a less crime, nor less fatal in its consequences, to encourage a . flagrant breach of the law by a military force, than to make use of the forms of parliament to destroy the constitution. — The ministry seem determined to give us a choice of dif- ficulties, and, if possible, to perplex us with the multitude of their offences. The expe- dient is well worthy of the duke of Grafton. But though he has preserved a gradation and variety in his measures, we should re- member that the principle is uniform. Dic- tated by the same spirit, they deserve the same attention. The following fact, though of the most alarming nature, has not yet been clearly stated to the public, nor have the consequences of it been sufficiently un- derstood. Had I taken it up at an earlier period, I should have been accused of an uncandid, malignant precipitation, as if I watched for an unfair advantage against the ministry, and would not allow them a reasonable time to do their duty. They now stand without excuse. Instead of em- ploying the leisure they have had, in a strict examination of the offence, and punishing the offenders, they seem to have considered that indulgence as a security \u them, that, with a little time and manage- ment, the whole affair might be buried in .silence, and utterly forgotten. A major-general of the army is arrested by the sheriff s ofticers for a considerable debt.i He persuades them to conduct him friend, and would, on his not giving bail, go with him to a .spunging-house. When they can.e to the Horse-guards, the officer sent for a Serjeant and file of musquetecrs to secure the bailiff, on LETTERS OF JUNIUS. to the Tilt-yard in St James's Park, under some pretence of business, which it imported him to settle before he was confined. He applies to a serjeant, not immediately on duty, to assist with some of his companions in favouring his escape. He attempts it. A bustle ensues. The bailiffs claim their prisoner. An officer of the guards, ^ not then on duty, takes part in the affair, ap- plies to the lieutenant commanding the Tilt-yard guard,- and urges him to turn out his guard to relieve a general officer. The lieutenant declines interfering in person, but stands at a distance, and suffers the business to be done. The other officer takes upon himself to order out the guard. In a moment they are in arms, quit their guard, march, rescue the general, and drive away the sheriffs" officers, who in vain represent their right to the prisoner, and the nature of the arrest. The soldiers first conduct the general into their guard room, then escort him to a place of safety, with bayonets fixed, and in all the forms of militaiy triumph. I will not enlarge upon the various circumstances which attended this atrocious proceeding. The personal injury received by the officers of the law in the execution of their duty, may perhaps be atoned for by some private compensation. I consider nothing but the wound which has been given to the law itself, to which no remedy has been applied, no satisfaction a pretence that he had been insulted by him, which they did, while the prisoner escaped. Adjutant-general Harvey having heard of the affair, ordered the serjeant and his men close prisoners to the Savoy, and sent captain Cox to notify to the sheriffs the steps he had taken in consequence of the proceedings of general Gan- sel, who had, in the mean while, surrendered himself into custody. In consequence of the above circumstance, on the 21st of April follow- ing, was issued to the brigade of guards, the Order as under : ' Parole Hounslow, ' B. O. His Majesty has signified to the field officer in waiting, that he has been acquainted that serjeant Bacon of the first regiment, and serjeant Parke of the Coldstream regiment, William Powell, William Hart, James Porter, and Joseph Collins, private soldiers in the first regiment of foot-guards, were more or less con- made. Neither is it my design to dwell upon the misconduct of the parties con- cerned, any farther than is necessary to show the behaviour of the ministry in its , true light. I would make every compas- : sionate allowance for the infatuation of the prisoner, the false and criminal discretion of one officer, and the madness of another. I would leave the ignorant soldiers entirely out of the question. They are certainly the I least guilty, though they are the only per- sons who have yet suftered, even in the ' appearance of punishment. 3 The fact itself, however atrocious, is not the principal I point to be considered. It might have I happened under a more regular govern- : ment, and with guards better disciplined than ours. The main question is, in what manner have the n-.inistry acted on this j extraordinary occasion. A general officer I calls upon the king's own guard, then actu- j ally on duty, to rescue him from the laws j of his country ; yet at this moment he is in a situation no worse, than if he had not committed an offence, equally enormous in a civil and military view. — A lieutenant upon duty designedly quits his guard, and suffers it to be drawn out by another officer, for a purpose, which he well knew (as we may collect from an appearance of caution, which only make* his behaviour the more criminal), to be in the highest degree illegal. Has this gentleman been called to a court cerned in the rescue of major-general Gansel, in I September last ; the king hopes, and is willing j to believe, they did not know the major-general I was arrested, and only thought they were de- . livering an officer in distress : however his I Majesty commands, that they should be severely I reprimanded for acting in this business as they , have done ; and strictly orders for the future, I tliat no commissioned officer or soldier do pre- I sume to interfere with bailiffs, or arrests, on any 1 account or pretence whatsoever, the crime being j of a very atrocious nature ; and if any are found i guilty of disobeying this order, they will be most I severely punished. This order to be read imme- diately at the head of every company in the I brigade of guards, that no man may plead ignor- : ance for the future.' — Edit. j ^ Lieutenant Dodd. ] ^ Lieutenant Garth. ] 3 A few of them were confined, and the rest, as already f)lir the use of that confidence the king puts in him, he basely betrays the king. — he basely betrays his trust. — If the king sold the office, it would be acting contrary to the trust the constitution hath reposed in him. 'I'he con- stitution does not intend the crown should sell tion \\ ith yours ; and does not your heart inform you, that you are degraded below [ the condition of a man, when you are obliged to hear thesa insults with sub- mission, nnd even to thank me for my mo- deration ? We are told, by the highest judicial authority, that Mr Vaughan's offer to pur- chase the reversion of a patent in Jamaica (which he was otherwise sufficiently en- titled to) amounted to a high misdemean- our.i Be it so : and if he deserves it, let him be punished. But the learned judge might have had a fairer opportunity of dis- playing the powers of his eloquence. Hav- ing delivered himse'.f with so mucli energy upon the criminal nature and dangerous consequences of any attempt to corrupt a man in your Grace's station, what would he have said to the minister himself, to that very privy counsellor, to that first com- missioner of the Treasury, who does not wait for, but impatiently solicits the touch of corruption ; who employs the meanest of his creatures in these honourable serv- ices, and, forgetting the genius and fidelity of his secretary, descends to apply to his house-builder for assistance ? those offices, to raise a revenue Qut of them. — Is it possible to hesitate, whether this would not be criminal in the duke of Grafton ; — contrary to his duty as a privy counsellor — contrary to his duty as a minister— contrary to his duty as a subject. — His advice should be free according to his judg- ment ; — it is the duty of his office ; — he has sworn to it.' — Notwithstanding all this, the chaste duke of Grafton certainly sold a patent place to Mr Hine for three thousand five hundred pounds ; and, for so doing, is now lord privy seal to the chaste George, with whose piety we are per- petually deafened. If the House of Commons had done their duty, and impeached the black duke for this most infamous breach of trust, liow woefully must poor, honest Mansfield have been puzzled ! His embarrassment would have af- forded the most ridiculous scene that ever was exhibited. To save the worthy judge from this perplexity, and the no less worthy duke from impeachment, the prosecution against Vaughan was immediaetly dropped upon my discovery and publication of the duke's treachery. The suf- fering this charge to pass, without any enquiry, fixes shameless prostitution upon the face of the House of Commons, more strongly than even the Middlesex election. — Vet the licentiousness of the press is complained of 1 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 213 This affair, my Lord, will do infinite credit to government, if, to clear your character, you should think proper to bring ii into the House of Lords, or into the Court of King's Bench. But, my Lord, you dare not do either. JUNIUS. LETTER XXXV.i FOR THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 19 December, 1769. When the complaints of a brave and powerful people are observed to increase in proportion to the wrongs they have suf- fered ; when, instead of sinking into sub- mission, they are roused to resistance, the time will soon arrive at which every inferior consideration must yield to the security of the sovereign, and to the general safety of the state. There is a moment of difficulty and danger, at which flattery and falsehood can no longer deceive, and simplicity itself can no longer be misled. Let us suppose it arrived. Let us suppose a gracious, well- intentioned Prince, made sensible at last of the great duty he owes to his people, and of his own disgraceful situation ; that he looks round him for assistance, and asks for no advice, but how to gratify the wishes and secure the happiness of his subjects. In these ' The address to the King through the medium of this letter, made a very great impression upon the public mind at the moment of its appearance, and though 500 copies of the P. A. were printed in addition to the usual numbers circulated, not a single copy was to be procured in a few hours after its publication. The author himself, indeed, seemed to entertain a very favourable opinion of it ; as in Private Letter, No. 15, speaking of this letter, he says, ' I am now me- ditating a capital, and, I hope, a final piece.' It was for this production that the printer was pro- secuted, and obtained the celebrated verdict of ' guilty of printing and publishing only,' the con- sequence of which, as already observed in note to p. 122, was, that two distinct motions were made in court ; one by the counsel for the defendant in arrest of judgment, grounded on its ambiguity, and another by the counsel for the crown, to compel the defendant to show cause why the verdict should not be entered up accord- ing to the legal import. The case being argued, the 'Court of King's Bench ultimately decided that a new trial should be granted. This ac- circumstances, it may be matter of curious SPECULATION to consider, if an honest man were permitted to approach a king, in what terms he would address himself to his sovereign. Let it be imagined, no matter how improbable, that the first prejudice against his character is removed, that the ceremonious difficulties of an audience are surmounted, that he feels himself animated by the purest and most honourable affec- tions to his king and country, and that the great person, whom he addresses, has spirit enough to bid him speak freely, and under- standing enough to listen to him with at- tention. Unacquainted with the vain im- pertinence of forms, he would deliver his sentiments with dignity and firmness, but not without respect. Sir, It is the misfortune of your life, and originally the cause of every reproach and distress which has attended your gov- ernment, tjiat you should never have been acquainted with the language of truth, until you heard it in the complaints of your people. It is not, however, too late to correct the error of your education. We are still inclined to make an indulgent allowance for the pernicious lessons you received in your youth, and to form the cordingly commenced, when the attorney-gener- al observing to the chief justice, that he had not the original newspaper by which he could prove the publication ; his Lordship laconically replied, ' that's .not my fault, Mr Attorney : ' and in this manner terminated the second trial. The fact is, that the foreman of the jury upon the first trial had pocketed the paper, upon its being handed to the jury box for inspection, and had afterwards destroyed it. The expense the defendant was put to in this prosecution, as stated in Private Letter, No. 19, amounted to about ;^i2o. The late Mr Almon, who was also prosecuted for selling a reprint of this letter, asserts, in a note toanother edition of this work, that the legal expense incurred in defe-nding his own action, which could not exceed that of the original printer, amounted to between Jive and six hundred pounds ! An exaggeration which proves the necessity of exercising no small de- gree of caution, in estimating whatever other facts he has attempted to advance, with a view of elucidating the general history of the times.— Edit. I* 214 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. most s^ng^uine hopes from the natural benevolence of your disposition.^ We are far from thinking you capable of a direct, deliberate purpose to invade those original rights of your subjects, on which all their civil and political liberties depend. Had it been possible for us to entertain a suspicion so dishonourable to your character, we should long since have adopted a style of remonstrance very distant from the humility of complaint. The doctrine inculcated by our laws. That the King can do ;/' coward pretends to be planet-struck. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. perish bravely at lea^t behind the last dyke of the prerogative. You knew the danger, and might have been provided for it. You took sufficient time to prepare for a meeting with your parhament, to confirm the mer- cenary fidehty of your dependants, and to suggest to your sovereign a language suited to his dignity at least, if not to his benevolence and wisdom. Yet, while the whole kingdom was agitated with anxious expectation upon one great point, you meanly evaded the question, and, instead of the explicit firmness and decision of a king, gave us nothing but the misery of a ruined grazier,^ and the whining piety of a Methodist. We had reitson to expect, that notice would have been taken of the petitions which the king has received from the English nation ; and although I can conceive some personal motives for not yielding to them, I can find none, in com- mon prudence or decency, for treating them ' with contempt. Be assured, my Lord, the j English people will not tamely submit to this unworthy treatment ;— they had a right to be heard, and their petitions, if not granted, deserved to be considered. What- ever be the real views and doctrine of a : court, the sovereign should be taught to , preserve some forms of attention to his subjects, and if he will not redress their grievances, not to make them a topic of jest and mockery among lords and ladies ! of the bedchamber. Injuries may be atoned for and forgiven ; but insults admit of no I compensation. They degrade the mind in ! its own esteem, and force it to recover its ' There was something wonderfully pathetic | in the mention of the horned cattle. — Author. It was with this term that the speech from the i throne may be said to have commenced — in allu- sion to the distemper among the horned cattle, \ a kind of murrain which had prevailed largely on I the continent, and to prevent the importation of which into this country, various regulations ! had been adopted by the privy council during ' the recess. It was impossible for Junius to re- i frain from this stroke of pleasantry upon the < duke of Grafton, the inditer or composer of the ■ royal speech. | While the speech thus condescended to take notice of the veterinary concerns of the nation, the petitions and remonstrances that had been level by revenge. This neglect of the peti- tions was however a part of your original plan of government, nor willany conse- quences it has produced account for your deserting your sovereign, in the midst of that distress, in which you and your 2 new friends had involved him. One would think, my Lord, you might have taken this spirited resolution before you had dissolved the last of those early connexions, which once, even in your own opinion, did honour to your youth ; — before you had obliged lord Granby to quit a service he was at- tached to ; — before you had discarded one chancellor,^ and killed another.^ To what an abject condition have you laboured to reduce the best of princes, when the un- happy man, who yields at last to such per- sonal instance and solicitation, as never can be fairly employed against a subject, feels himself degraded by his compliance, and is unable to survive the disgraceful honours which his gracious sovereign had compelled him to accept ! He was a man of spirit, for he had a quick sense of shame, and death has redeemed his character. I know your Grace too well to appeal to your feelings upon this event ; but there is another heart, not yet, I hope, quite cal- lous to the touch of humanity, to which it ought to be a dreirdful lesson for ever.^ Now, my Lord, let us consider the situa- tion to which you have conducted, and in which you have thought it advisable to abandon, your royal master. Whenever the people have complained, and nothing better could be said in defence of the mea- sures of governinent, it has been the fashion presented from the City, from Westminster, from Surry, York, and other parts of the kingdom, were purposely disregarded and treated with silent contempt. — Edit. - The Bedford party. 3 See note, p. 222. Lord Granby had re- signed about the time of the dismission of lord Camden, and for similar reasons. — Edit. ■♦ Honourable Charles Yorke, brother of lord Hardwicke. See the note before referred to. — Edit. 5 The most secret particulars of this detesta- ble transaction shall, in due time, be given to the public. I'he people shall know what kind of man they have to deal with. 224 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. to answer us, though not xevy fairly, with an appeal to the private virtues of our sovereign. ' Has he not, to reheve the people, surrendered a considerable part of his revenue ? Has he not made the judges independent, by fixing them in their places for life ? ■ — My Lord, we acknowledge the gracious principle, which gave birth to these concessions, and have nothing to regret, but that it has never been adhered to. At the end of seven years, we are loaded with a debt of above five hundred thousand pounds upon the civil list, and we now see the chancellor of Great Britain tyrannically forced out of his office, not for want of abilities, not for want of integrity, or of attention to his duty, but for delivering his honest opinion in parliament, upon the greatest constitutional question that has arisen since the revolution. ^ — We care not to whose private virtues you appeal ; the theory of such a government is falsehood and n)ockery ;— the practice is oppression. You have laboured then (though I confess to no purpose) to rob your master of the only plausible answer that ever was given in defence of his government,— of the opinion, which the people had conceived of his personal honour and integrity. — The duke of Bedford was more moderate than your Grace. He only forced his master to A iolate a solemn promise made to an indi- vidual.- But you, my Lord, have success- fully extended your advice to every political, every mor^l engagement, that could bind either the magistrate or the man. The con- dition of a king is often miserable, but it required your Grace's abilities to make it ' The question here alluded to, was the legality of the vote of the House of Commons, which seated Mr Luttrell for the county of j\rid- dlesex. A great debate arose upon this subject in the House of Lords on the opening of the session, January 9, 1770, in which lord Camden expressed his decided disapprobation of the con- duct pursued by the Lower House, in the follow- ing energetic terms : — ' I consider the decision upon that affair, as a direct attack upon the first principles of the constitution ; and if, in the judicial exercise of my office, I were to pay any regard to that, or to any other such vote, passed in opposition to the known and established laws of the land, I should look upon myself as a contemptible. — You will say perhaps that the faithful servants in whose hands you have left him, are able to retrieve his honour, and to support his government. You have publicly declared, even since your resigna- tion, that you approved of their measures, and admired their characters, particularly that of the earl of Sandwich.^ What a pity it is, that, with all this approbation, you should think it necessary to separate yourself from such amiable companions. You forget, my Lord, that while you are lavish in the praise of men whom you desert, you are publicly opposing your con- duct to your opinions, and depriving your- self of the only plausible pretence you had for leaving your sovereign overwhelmed with distress ; I call it plausible, for, in truth, there is no reason whatsoever, less than the frowns of your master, that could justify a man of spirit for abandoning his post at a moment so critical and important? It is in vain to evade the question. If you will not speak out, the public have a right to judge from appearances. We are authorized to conclude, that you either differed from your colleagues, whose measures you still affect to defend, or that you thought the adminis- tration of the king's aftbirs no longer tenable. You are at liberty to chuse between the hypocrite and the coward. Your best friends are in doubt which way they shall incline. Your country unites the characters, and gives you credit for them both. For my own part, I see nothing in- consistent in your conduct. You began with betraying the people, — you conclude with betraying the king. traitor to my trust, and an enemy to my country'.' This public avowal of an opinion, so contrary to the proceedings, if not to the views, of adminis- tration, was considered by them as a total de- fection ; and on the 17th of the same montli, lord Camden received a message from the secre- tary of state's office, desiring, in his Majesty's name, that he would deliver up the seals that evening at seven o'clock ; which he did acccrd- ingly, into his Majesty's own hands. — Edit. Mr Stuart Mackenzie. — See the instance referred to in p. 160, note. — Edit. 3 Lord Sandwich had been first lord of the Admiralty, and was again nominated to this post in 1771. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Ill your treatment of particular persons, you have preserved the uniformity of your character. Even Mr Bradshaw declares, that no man was ever so ill used as himself. As to the provision i you have made for his family, he was entitled to it by the house he lives in. The successor of one chancellor might well pretend to be the rival of another. It is the breach of private friendship which touches Mr Bradshaw : and to say the truth, when a man of his rank and abilities had taken so active a part in your affairs, he ought not to have been let down at last with a miserable pension of fifteen hundred pounds a year. Colonel Luttrell, Mr Onslow, and governor Burgoyne, were equally engaged with you, and have rather more reason to complain than Mr Bradshaw. These are men, my Lord, whose friendship you should have adhered to on the same principle, on which you deserted lord Rockingham, lord Chat- ham, lord Camden, and the duke of Port- land. We can easily account for your vio- lating your engagements with men of honour, but why should you betray your tiatiiral connexions ? Why separate yourself from lord Sandwich, lord Gower, and Mr Rigby, or leave the three worthy gentlemen above mentioned to shift for themselves ? With all the fashionable indulgence of the times, this country does not abound in characters like theirs ; and you may find it a difficult matter to recruit the black catalogue of your friends. The recollection of the royal patent you sold to Mr Hine,2 obliges me to say a word in defence of a man whom you have taken the most dishonourable means to injure. I do not refer to the sham prosecution which you affected to carrj- on against him. On * A pension of ;ti5c>o per annum, insured upon the 4 i-half per cents he was too cunning to trust to Irish security), for the lives of himself and all his sons. This gentleman, who a very few years ago was clerk to a contractor for for- age, and afterwards exalted to a petty post in the war-office, thought it necessary (as soon as he was appointed secretary to the Treasury) to take that great house in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, in which the earl of Northington had resided, while he was lord high chancellor of Great that ground, I doubt not he is prepared to meet you with tenfold recrimination, and set you at defiance. The injury you have done him affects his moral character. You knew that the offer to purchase the rever- sion of a place, which has heretofore been sold under a decree of the court of Chancery, however imprudent in his situation, would no way tend to cover him with that sort of guilt which you wished to fix upon him in the eyes of the world. You laboured then by every species of false suggestion, and even by publishing counterfeit letters, to have it understood, that he had proposed terms of accommodation to you, and had offered to abandon his principles, his party, and his friends. You consulted your own breast for a character of consummate treachery, and gave it to the public for that of Mr Vaughan. I think myself obliged to do this justice to an injured man, because I was deceived by the appearances thrown out by your Grace, and have frequently spoken of his conduct with indignation. If he really be, what I think him, honest, though mis- taken, he will be happy in recovering his reputation, though at the expense of his understanding. Here, I see, the matter is likely to rest. Your Grace is afraid to carry on the prosecution. Mr Hine keeps quiet possession of his purchase ; and governor Burgoyne, relieved from the ap- prehension of refunding the money, sits down, for the remainder of his life, in- famous AND CONTENTED. I believe, my Ixixd, I may now take my leave of you for ever. You are no longer that resolute minister, who had spirit to support the most violent measures ; who compensated for the want of great and good qualities, by a brave determination Britain. As to the pension, lord North very solemnly assured the House of Commons, that no pension was ever so well deserved as Mr Eradshaw's. — N. B. Lord Camden and sir Jefiery Amherst are not near so well provided for, and sir Edward Hawke, who saved the state, retires with two thousand pounds a year, on the Irish establishment, from which he in fact receives less than Mr Eradshaw's pension. ^ This subject is more particularly discussed in Letters XXXIII. and XXXIV.-Edit. 226 LETTMRS OF JUNIUS. (which some people admired and rehed on) to maintain himself without them. The reputation of obstinacy and persever- ance might have supplied the place of all the absent virtues. You have now added the last negative to your character, and meanly confessed that you are destitute of the common spirit of a man. Retire then, my Lord, and hide your blushes from the world ; for, with such a load of shame, even black may change its colour. A mind such as yours, in the solitary hours of domestic enjoyment, may still find topics of consolation. You may find it in the me- mory of violated friendship ; in the afflic- tions of an accomplished prince, whom you have disgraced and deserted, and in the agitations oi a great country, driven by your councils to the brink of destruction. The palm of ministerial firmness is now transferred to lord North. He tells usso him- self, with the plenitude of iheore roiundo ;'^ and I am ready enough to beheve, that, while he can keep his place, he will not easily be persuaded to resign it. Your Grace was the firm minister of yesterday : Lord North is the firm minister of to-day. To-morrow, perhaps, his Majesty, in his wisdom, may give us a rival for you both. You are too well acquainted with the tem- per of your late allies, to think it possible that lord North should be permitted to govern this country. If we may believe common fame, they have shown him their superiority already. His Majesty is in- deed too gracious to insult his subjects, by chusing his first minister from among rhe domestics of the duke of Bedford. That would have been too gross an out- rage to the three kingdoms. Their pur- pose, however, is equally answered by pushing forward this unhappy figure, 2 and forcing it to bear the odium of measures, which they in reality direct. Without im- ' This eloquent person has got as far as the discipline of Demosthenes. He constantly speaks with pebbles in his mouth, to improve his articulation. ^ Those who had the pleasure of being ac- quainted with the amiable earl of Guildford, here spoken of, or have in any other way duly esti- mediately appearing to govern, they pos- sess the power, and distribute the emolu- ments, of government as they think proper. They still adhere to the spirit of that calcu- lation, which made Mr Luttrell represent- ative of Middlesex. Far from regretting your, retreat, they assure us very gravely, that it increases the real strength of the ministry. According to this way of reason- ing, they will probably grow stronger, and more flourishing, every hour they exist ; for I think there is hardly a day passes in which some one or other of his Majesty's servants does not leave them to iniprove by the loss of his assistance. But, alas ! their countenances speak a different language. When the members drop off, the main body cannot be insensible of its approach- ing dissolution. Even the violence of their proceedings is a signal of despair. Like broken tenants, who have had warning to quit the premises, they curse their landlord, destroy the fixtures, throw every thing into confusion, and care not what mischief they do to the estate. JUNIUS. LETTER XXX Vn. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 19 March, 1770. I BELIEVE there is no man, how- ever indifferent about the interests of this country, who will not readily confess that the situation, to which we are now reduced, whether it has arisen from the violence of faction, or from an arbitrary system of government, justifies the most melancholy apprehensions, and calls for the exertion of whatever wisdom or vigour is left among us. The king's answer to the remonstiance of the city of London, ^ and the measures mated his virtues, will feel the bitterness cf this sarcasm, though they must acknowledge i»s truth.— Edit. 3 The city of London, the city and liberty of Westminster, the counties of Middlesex, Surry, &c., had presented petitions to his Majesty to dissolve the parliament, in consequence of the LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 227 I since adopted by the ministry, amount to a ' wliich Mr Luttrell was seated in the House plain declaration that the principle, on \ of Commons, is to be supported in all its X illegal rejection of Wilkes by the Lower House, after having been returned for the fourth time as a knight of the shire for the county of Middlesex. J These petitions had not been graciously received ; and the petitioners next assumed a bolder tone, and approachad the throne with remo)istranccs upon the answers that had been returned to them. The remonstrance presented by the city of Westminster is contained in note to Private Letter, No. 22. The remonstrance of the Lord j ALiyor, Aldermen, and Livery, here referred to, was, after some difficulty, presented to his Ma- jesty, Mar. 14, 1770. For the particulars of this ; dispute. See Lditor's note to Miscellaneous Let- ter, No. LXX. The following is a copy of the remonstrance, S:c. TO THE king's MOST EXCELLENT M.XJESTY. The humble Address, Remonstrance, and Peti- tion, of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Livery of the city of London, in Common Hall assembled. ' May it please your Majesty, ' We have already in our petition dutifully represented to your Majesty, the chief injuries we have sustained. We are unwilling to believe that your Majesty can slight the desires of your people, or be regardless of their affection, and deaf to their complaints. Yet their complaints remain unanswered ; their injuries are confirmed; and the only judge removeable at the pleasure of the crown, has been dismissed from his high office, for defending in parliament the law and the constitution. ' We, therefore, venture once more to address ourselves to your Majesty, as to the father of your people ; as to him who must be both able and willing to redress our grievances ; and we lepeat our application with the greater propriety, because we see the instruments of our wrongs, who have carried into e.xecution the measures of which we complain, more particularly distin- guished by your Majesty's royal bounty and favour. ' Under the same secret and malign influence, which through each successive administration has defeated every good, and suggested every bad intention, the majority of the House of Commons have deprived your people of their dearest rights. ' They have done a deed more ruinous in its consequences than the levying of ship-money by Charles the First ; or the dispensing power assumed by James the Second. A deed, which must vitiate all the future proceedings of this parliament, for the acts of the legislature itself can no more be valid without a legal House of Commons, than without a legal prince upon the throne. \ ' Representatives of the people are essential to the making of laws, and there is a time when it is morally demonstrable, that men cease to be representatives ; that time is now arrived : The present House of Commons do not represent the people. ' We owe to your Majesty an obedience un- der the restrictions of the laws for the calling and duration of parliaments ; and your Majesty owes to us, that our representation, free from the force of arms or corruption, should be pre- ser\'ed to us in parliament. It was for this we successfully struggled under James the Second ; for this we seated, and h.ive faithfully supported, your Majesty's family on the throne : The people have been invariably uniform in their object, though the different mode of attack has called for a different defence. ' Under James the Second, they complained that the sitting of parliament was interrupted, because it was not corruptly subservient to his designs : We complain now, that the sitting of this parliament Is not Interrupted, because it is corruptedly subservient to the designs of your Majesty's ministers. Had the parliament, under James the Second been as submissive to his commands, as the parliament Is at this day to the dictates of a minister; instead of clamours for its meeting, the nation would have rung, as now, with outcries for its dissolution. ' The forms of the constitution, like those of religion, were not established for the form's sake, but for the substance; and we call GOD and men to witness, that as we do not owe our liberty to those nice and subtle distinctions, which places and pensions and lucrative employments have Invented, so neither will we be deprived of It by them ; but as It was gained by the stern virtue of our ancestors, by the virtue of their descend- ants it shall be preserved. ' Since, therefore, the misdeeds of your Ma- jesty's ministers, in violating the freedom of election, and depraving the noble constitution of parliaments, are notorious, as well as subversive of the fundamental laws and liberties of this realm ; and since your Majesty, both In honour and justice, is obliged inviolably to preserve them, according to the oath made to GOD and your subjects at your coronation : We your Ma- jesty's remonstrants assure ourselves, that your Majesty will restore the constitutional govern- ment and quiet of your people, by dissolving this parliament, and removing those evil ministers for ever from your councils.' To which His Majesty returned the following answer :. ' I shall always be ready to receive the re- quests, and to listen to the complaints, of my subjects ; but it gives me great concern, to find that any of them should have been so far misled, as to offer me an address and remonstrance, the contents of which I cannot but consider as disre- spectful to me, injurious to my parliament, and irreconclleable to the principles of the constitu- tion. * I have ever made the law of the land the rul'j of my conduct, esteeming It my chief glory to 228 LETTERS OF J UN' I US. consequences, and carried to its utmost extent. The same spirit, which violated reign over a free people : with this view, I have always been careful, as well to execute faithfully the trust reposed in me, as to avoid even the ap- pearance of invading any of those powers which the constitution has placed in other hands. It is only by persevering in such a conduct, that I can either discharge my own duty, or secure to niy subjects the free enjoyment of those rights which my family were called to defend, and, while I act upon these principles, I shall have a right to expect, and I am confident I shall continue to receive, the steady and affectionate support of my people.' There was at the same time a declaration against the remonstrance, drawn up and sub- scribed by the aldermen on the ministerial side, and the following address to his Majesty was jointly presented by both Houses of Parliament. The humble Address of the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Com- mons, in Parliament assembled, presented to His Majesty on Friday the 23rd daj' of March, 1770. ^ Most gracious Sovereign, 'We your Majesty's most dutiful and faith- ful subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Tem- poral, and Commons cf Great Britain, in parlia- ment assembled, having taken into consideration the address lately presented to your Majesty under the title of 'The humble Address, Re- monstrance, and Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Livery of the City of London, in Common Hall assembled,' together with the answer which your Majesty was pleased to make to the same ; think ourselves indispensably obliged, upon this occasion, to express to your Majesty the extreme concern and indignation which we feel at finding that an application has been made to your Majesty, in terms so little corresponding with that grateful and affectionate respect which your Majesty is so justly intitled to from all your subjects, at the same time as- persing and calumniating one of the branches of the legislature, and expressly denying the legality of the present parliament, and the validity of its proceedings. ' To present petitions to the throne has at all times been the undoubted right of the subjects of this realm. The free enjoyment of that right wr.s one of the many blessings restored by the Rt volution, and continued to us, in its fullest extent, under the princes of your Majesty's illus- trious house : And as we aie duly sensible of its value and importance, it is with the deepest con- cern that we now see the exercise of it so grossly perverted, by being applied to the purpose, not of preserving, but of overturning the constitution, and of propagating doctrines, which, if generally adopted, must be fatal to the peace of the king- dom, and which tend to the subversion of all lawful authority. ' Your Majesty, we acknowledge with grati- the freedom of election, now invades the declaration and bill of ri"hts, and threatens tude, has ever shown the most tender regard to the rights of your people, not only in the exer- cise of your own power, but in your care tD pre- serve from every degree of infringement or violation the powers intrusted to others. And we beg leave to return your Majesty our unfeigned thanks for the fresh proof you have now given us, of your determination to persevere in your ad- herence to the principles of the constitution. • Permit us also to assure your Majesty, that it is with the highest satisfaction we see your Alajesty expressing so just a confidence in your people. \n whatever unjustifiable excesses some few misguided persons may in this instance have been seduced to join, your Majesty's subjects in general are too sensible of what they owe both to your Majesty and to your illustrious family, I ever to be capable of approaching your Majesty I with any other sentiments than those of the most ' entire respect and affection ; and they under- stand too well their own true interests to wish to loosen the bands of obedience to the laws, and of due subordination to lawful authority. We are therefore fully persuaded that your Majesty's people, as well as your parliament, will reject with disdain every insidious suggestion of those ill-designing men, who are in reality undermining the public liberty, under the specious pretence of zeal for its preservation ; and that your Majes- ty's attention to maintain the liberties of your subjects inviolate, which you esteem your chief glory, will, upon every occasion, prove the sure means of strength to your Majesty, and secure to you that zealous and effectual support, which none but a free people can bestow.' His Majesty's Answer. ' My Lords and Gentlemen, I return you many thanks for this very loyal and dutiful ad- dress. It is with great satisfaction that I receive from my parliament so grateful an acknowledg- ment of my tender regard for the rights of my subjects. Be assured that I shall continue to adhere to the true principles of our excellent constitution ; from which I cannot deviate with- out justly forfeiting the affections of a free people.' The city in its corporate capacity, however, dissatisfied with his Majesty's reply, and still more so with the notice which had been taken of its remonstrance in parliament, ventured to draw up and present another address and remon- strance, which was done on the ensuing May 23, and ran as follows : TO THE king's MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. The humble Address, Remonstrance, and Pe- tition, of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled. ' May it please your Majesty, ' When your Majesty's most faithful subjects, the citizens of London, whose loyalty and affec- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 229 to punish the subject for exercising a privi- lege, hitherto undisputed, of petitioning tion has been so often and so effectually proved and experienced by the illustrious house of Brunswick, are labouring under the weight of that displeasure, which 5'our Majesty has been advised to lay upon them, in the answer given from the throne to their late humble application, we feel ourselves constrained with all humility to approach the royal father of his people. ' Conscious, Sire, of the purest sentiments of veneration which they entertain for your Ma- jesty's person, we are deeply concerned that what the law allows, and the constitution teaches, hath been misconstrued into disrespect to your Majesty, by the instruments of that influence which shakes the realm. * Perplexed and astonished as we are, by the awful sentence of censure, lately passed upon the citizens of London, in your Majesty's answer from the throne, we cannot, without surrendering all that is dear to Englishmen, forbear most humbly to supplicate, that your Majesty will deign to grant a more favourable interpretation to this dutiful though persevering claim to our invaded birthrights ; nothing doubting, that the benignity of your Majesty's nature will, to our unspeakable comfort, at length break through all the secret and visible machinations, to which the city of London owes its late severe repulse, and that your kingly justice, and fatherly tenderness, will disclaim the malignant and pernicious advice which suggested the answer we deplore ; an advice of most dangerous tendency, in as much as thereby the exercise of the clearest rights of the subject, namely to petition the king for redress of grievances, to complain of the viola- tion of the freedom of election, and to pray dis- solution of parliament, to point out mal-practices in administration, and to urge the removal of j evil ministers, hath, by the generality of one compendious word, been indiscriminately checked with reprimand ; and your ALijesty's afflicted citizens of London have heard from the throne itself, that the contents of their humble address, remonstrance, and petition, laying their com- plaints and injuries at the feet of their sovereign, cannot but be considered by your Majesty, as disrespectful to yourself, injurious to your "par- liament, and irreconcileable to the principles of the constitution. ' Your Majesty cannot disapprove that we here assert the clearest principles of the con- stitution, against the insidious attempt of evil counsellors, to perplex, confound, and shake them. We are determined to abide by those | rights and liberties, which our forefathers bravely , vindicated at the ever-memorable revolution, ! and which their sons will always resolutely de- ' fend : We therefore now renew, at the foot of ^ the throne, our claim to the indispensable right : of the subject, a full, free, and unmutilatcd par- ; liament, legally chosen in all its members : A [ right, which this House of Commons have mani- festly violated, depriving, at their will and plea- sure, the county of Aliddlescx of one of its legal the crown. The grievances of the people are aggravated by insults ; their complaints representatives, and arbitrarily nominating, as a I knight of the shire, a person not elected by a majority of the freeholders. As the only con- stitutional means of reparation now left for the injured electors of Great Britain, we implore, with most urgent supplication, the dissolution of this present parliament, the removal of evil min- isters, and the total extinction of that fatal influence which has caused such a national dis- content. In the mean time. Sire, we offer our constant prayers to heaven, that your Majesty may reign, as kings can only reign, in and by the hearts of a loyal, dutiful, and free people.' His Majesty's Answer, delivered the 23rd May, 1770. ' I should have been wanting to the public, as well as to myself, if I had not expressed my dis- satisfaction at the late address. ' My sentiments on that subject continue the same, and I should ill deserve to be considered as the father of my people, if I should suffer myself to be prevailed upon to make such an use of my prerogative, as I cannot but think incon- sistent with the interest, and dangerous to the constitution, of the kingdom.' The lord mayor then addressed his Majesty in the following words : ' Most g^yactous Soz'ereigu, 'Will your Majesty be pleased so far to con- descend as to permit the mayor of your loyal city of London, to declare in your royal pre- sence, on behalf of his fellow-citizens, how much the bare apprehension of your ^Lajesty's dis- pleasure would at all times affect their minds. The declaration of that displeasure has already filled them with inexpressible anxiety and with the deepest affliction. Permit me. Sire, to assure your Majesty, that your Majesty has not in all your dominions any subjects more faithful, more dutiful, or more affectionate to your Majesty's person and family, or more ready to sacrifice their lives and fortunes in the maintenance of the true honour and dignity of your crown. ' We do therefore, with the greatest humility and submission, most earnestly supplicate your Majesty, that you will not dismiss us from your presence, without expressing a more favourable opinion of your faithful citizens, and without some comfort, without some prospect at least of redress. ' Permit mc. Sire, farther to obser\-e, that whoever has already dared, or shall hereafter endeavour, by false insinuations and suggestions, to alienate your Majesty's affections from your loyal subjects in general, and from the city of London in particular, and to withdraw your con- fidence in, and regard for, your people, is an enemy to your ^Majesty's person and family, a violator of the public peace, and a betrayer of our happy constitution, as it was established at the glorious revolution.' 230 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. not merely disregarded, but checked by authority ; and every one of those acts, against which they remonstrated, confirmed by the king's decisive approbation. At such a moment, no honest man will remain silent or inactive. However distinguished by rank or property, in the rights of free- dom we are all equal. As we are English- men, the least considerable man among us has an interest, equal to the proudest nobleman, in the laws and constitution of his country, and is equally called upon to make a generous contribution in support of them ; — whether it be the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, or the hand to execute. It is a common cause, in which we are all interested, in which we should all be engaged. The man who deserts it at this alarming crisis, is an enemy to his country, and, what I think of infinitely less importance, a traitor to his sovereign. The subject, who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate, will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures. The city of London have given an example, which, I doubt not, will be followed by the whole kingdom. The noble spirit of the metropolis is the life-blood of the state, collected at the heart : from that point it circulates, with health and vigour, through every artery of the constitution. The time is come when the body of the English people must assert their own cause : conscious of their strength, and animated by a sense of their duty, they will not surrender their birthright to ministers, parliaments, or kings. The city of London have expressed their sentiments with freedom and firmness ; they have spoken truth boldly ; and, in whatever light their remonstrance may be represented by courtiers, I defy the most subtle lawyer in this country to point out a single instance, in which they have exceed- ed the truth. Even that assertion, which we are told is most offensive to parliament, in the theory of the English constitution, is strictly true. If any part of the representa- tive body be not chosen by the people, Mr liickford was at this time lord mayor, and it is this reply which the corporation has had that part vitiates and corrupts the whole. If there be a defect in the representation of the people, that power, which alone is equal to the making of laws in this country, is not complete, and the acts of parliament, under that circumstance, are not the acts of a pure and entire legislature. I speak of the theory of our constitution ; and whatever difficulties or inconveniences may attend the practice, I am ready to main- tain, that, as far as the fact deviates from the principle, so far the practice is vicious and corrupt. I have not heard a question raised upon any other part of the remon- strance. That the principle, on which the Middlesex election was determined, is more pernicious in its effects, than either the levying of ship-money by Charles the First, or the suspending power assumed by his son, will hardly be disputed by any man who understands or wishes well to the English constitution. It is not an act of open violence done by the king, or any direct and palpable breach of the laws attempted by his minister, that can ever endanger the liberties of this country. Against such a king or minister the people would immediately take the alarm, and all parties unite to oppose him. The laws may be grossly violated in particular in- stances, without any direct attack upon the whole system. Facts of that kind stand alone ; they are attributed to necessity, not defended upon principle. We can never be really in danger, until the forms of par- liament are made use of to destroy the substance of our civil and political liberties ; — until parliament itself betrays its trust, by contributing to establish new principles of government, and employing, the very weapons committed to it by the collective body, to stab the constitution. As for the terms of the remonstrance, I presume it will not be altirmed, by any person less polished than a gentleman usher, that this is a season for compliments. Our gracious king indeed is abundantly civil to himself. Instead of an answer to a engraven beneath the statue erected to his me- mory at the West end of Guildhall. — Edit. LKlTERis OF JUNIUS. 231 petition, his Majesty very gracefully pro- nounces his own paneg)'ric ; and I confess, that, as far as his personal behaviour, or the royal purity of his intentions, is con- cerned, the truth of those declarations, which the minister has drawn up for his master, cannot decently be disputed. In ever)' other respect, I affirm, that they are absolutely unsupported, either in argument or fact. I must add too, that supposing the speech were otherwise unexceptionable, it is not a direct answer to the petition of the city. His Majesty is pleased to say, that he is always ready to receive the re- quests of his subjects ; yet the sheriffs were twice sent back with an excuse, and it was certainly debated in council, whether or no the magistrates of the city of London should be admitted to an audience. Whether the remonstrance be or be not injurious to par- liament, is the very question between the parliament and the people, and such a question as cannot be decided by the asser- tion of a third party, hosvever respectable. That the petitioning for a dissolution of ' See Letters LVII. and LXVIL and notes. — EuiT. ^ See p. 149, note. — Edit. 3 Previous to the riot which took place May 10. 1768,05 noticed in Miscellaneous Letter, No. XXIV., the following letter was issued by lord Barrington, to which Mr Wilkes wrote an introduction, as noticed in Letter XI., an act which formed a part of the offence for which that gentleman was e.\pelled the House of Commons. Curious as this letter is, it has not been preserved even in the Annual Register. Copy. Sir, Si James s, April 17, 1768. Having already signified the king's plea- sure to the lord-lieutenant of the county in which you reside, with regard to the me.isures to be taken in general for preserving the peace, at a time that so very riotous a disposition has discovered itself among the common people, I m.-ike no doubt but that either some steps have, or will immediately be taken by him on that head ; and, I t.ike it for granted, that as chairman of the sessions, you will meet the gen- tlemen, who act in the commission of the peace for the Borough of Southwark and East Hun- dred of ErLxton, to consult together, and fix upon some plan for securing the public tranquillity against any mischiefs which may happen, should the same indecent spirit of tumult and disorder which has appeared in the city and liberties of Westminster, spread itself to those parts which are within the line of your duty ; and though I parliament is irreconcileable w ith the prin- ciples of the constitution is a new doctrine. His Majesty perhaps has not been inform- ed, that the House of Commons themselves have, by a formal resolution, admitted it to be the right of the subject. His Majesty proceeds to assure us that he has made the laws the rule of his conduct. — Was it in ordering or permitting his ministers to ap- prehend Mr Willces by a general warrant? — Was it in suffering his ministers to revive the obsolete maxim of nullum ttmpus to rob the duke of Portland of his property, and thereby give a decisive turn to a county election ? ^ Was it in erecting a chamber consultation of surgeons, with authority to examine into and supersede the legal ver- dict of a jury?^ Or did his Majesty con- sult the laws of this country, when he per- mitted his secretary of state to declare, that whenever the civil magistrate is trifled with, a military force must be sent for, without the delay of a moment, and effectually em- ployed P^ Or was it in the barbarous ex- actness with which this illegal, inhuman am persuaded it is unnecessary to suggest to you, or the gentlemen who will meet you, any part of your duty on such an occasion, yet, after the recent alarming instances of riot and confusion, I can't help apprizing you, that much will depend upon the preventive measures which you shall, in con- junction with the other gentlemen in the com- mission of the peace, take, upon your meeting ; and much is expected from the vigilance and activity with which such measures will be carried into execution. When I inform you, that every possible precaution is taken to support the dignity of your office ; that upon application from the civil magistrate at the Tower, the Savoy, or the War Office, he v/ill find a military force ready to march to his assistance, and to act according as he shall find it expedient and necessary ; I need not add, that if the public peace is not preserved, and if any riotous pro- ceedings, which may happen, are not suppressed, the blame will, most probably, be imputed to a want of prudent and spirited conduct in the civil magistrate. As I have no reason to doubt your caution and discretion in not calling for troops till they are wanted : so, on the other hand, I hope you will not delay a moment calling for their aid, and making use of them effectually, where there is occasion ; that occasion always presents itself, when the civil power is trifled with and insulted, nor can a military force ever be employed to a more constitutional purpose, than in support of the authority and dignity of magistracy.— Harrington. 232 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. doctrine was carried into execution? — If his Majesty had recollected these facts, I think he would never have said, at least with any reference to the measures of his government, that he had made the laws the rule of his conduct. To talk of pre- serving the affections, or relying on the support of, his subjects, while he continues to act upon these principles, is indeed pay- ing a compliment to their loyalty, which I hope they have too much spirit and under- standing to deserve. His Majesty, we are told, is not only puncti;a.l in the performance of his own duty, but careful not to assume any of those powers which the constitution has placed in other hands. Admitting this last assertion to be strictly true, it is no way to the purpose. The city of London have not desired the king to assume a power placed in other hands. If they had, I should hope to see the person who dared to pre- sent such a petition immediately impeach- P.S. I have, for the greater caution, sent copies of this letter to the members for the Borough, and Mr Pownall. If you should have received no directions from lord Onslow for a meeting, you will consider this as sufficient authority for that purpose. Daniel Ponton, Esq., Chairman of the Quarter .Sessions, Lambeth. — Edit. ^ 'When his Majesty had done reading his speech, tlie lord mayor, &c. had tlie honour of kissing his Majesty's hand ; after which, as tliey were withdrawing, his Majesty instantly turned round to his coun\f^r^, a>id durst out a laiig^/iijio^. ' Ney-o/iddled, luliilst Ro)iie lijas burning:' — John Horxe. Author. Mr Home having furnished the printer of the Public Advertiser with a detail of the proceed- ings on presenting the address of the 14th of March, concluded it with the whole of the words quoted by Junius as the foregoing note, for which a prosecution was commenced against the printer, but which was not persevered in. Mr Horne also sent to the printer the particu- lars which occurred on presenting the remon- strance of the 14th of ilay at St James's, to which he added as follows : — N.B. Tlie writer of the above account, having given great offence to some persons by inserting in a former paper, that — Nl'jv fiddled, ivhilst Rome ivas burniug — and an Information having been filed by the attorney-general against the printer in consequence, takes this opportunity to declare, that it was not his Intention to falsify an historical fact, or to give offence to better memories ; he hopes therefore it will be admit- ed.i They solicit their sovereign to exert that constitutional authority, which the laws have vested in him, for the benefit of his subjects. They call upon him to make use of his lawful prerogative in a case, which our laws evidently supposed might happen, since they have provided for it by trusting the sovereign with a discretionary power to dissolve the parliament. This request will, I am confident, be supported by remonstrances from all parts of the kingdom. His Majesty will find at last, that this is the sense of his people, and that it is not his interest to support either ministry or parliament, at the hazard of a breach with the collective body of his sub- jects. — That he is the king of a free peo- ple, is indeed his greatest glory. That he may long continue the king of a free peo- ple, is the second wish that animates my heart. The first is, THAT THE people M,\Y BE FREE. 2 JUNIUS. ted as a recompence, if he now declare-; that Nero did not fiddle whilst Rome was burning. — Edit. ^ As the Letters of Junius have been by some attributed to Mr Dunning, and as the be- ginning of tlie third paragraph of that gentle- man's answer to the chamberlain of London, on being presented with the freedom of the city, has a striking resemblance to the structure and sentiments with which this letter concludes, the reader will excuse its insertion in this pl.ace, though It has no reference to the subject of the letter Itself. ' Mr Chamberlain, ' I am to request the favour of you to represent me to the lord mayor, aldermen, and conmaons of London, as duly sensible of the great, but, I must add, unmerited honour they have done me ; for surely. Sir, there is little merit in acting on one's own opinions, and I cannot, with a safe conr.cicnce, pretend to any other. ' Convinced as I am, that our happy constitu- tion has given us the most perfect system of government the world has ever seen, and that it is therefore our common interest and duty to oppose every practice, and combat every princi- ple, that tends to Impair it, any other conduct than that which the city of London has been pleased to distinguish by Its approbation, must. In my own judgment, have rendered me equally unworthy of the office I had then the honour to hold through his Majesty's favour, and of the trust reposed in me as one of the representatives of the people. ' To discliafge faithfiiUy the duties 0/ what- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 233 LETTER XXXVIIL TO THE PRIXTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. I Sir, 3 April, 1770. In' my last letter I offered you my opinion of the truth and propriety of his Majesty's answer to the city of London, considering it merely as the speech of a minister, drawn up in his own defence, and delivered, as usual, by the chief magistrate. I would separate, as much as possible, the king's personal character and behaviour from the acts of the present government. I wish it to be understood that his Majesty had in effect no more concern in the sub- stance of what he said, than sir James Hodges 1 had in the remonstrance, and that as sir James, in virtue of his office, was obliged to speak the sentiments of the peo- ple, his Majesty might think himself bound, by the same official obligation, to give a graceful utterance to the sentiments of his minister. I'he cold formality of a well- repeated lesson, is widely distant from the animated expression of the heart. This distinction, however, is only tme with respect to the measure itself. The consequences of it reach beyond the min- ister, and materially affect his Majesty's honour. In their own nature they are for- midable enough to alarm a man of pru- dence, and disgraceful enough to afflict a man of spirit. A subject, whose sincere attachment to his ^Lajesty's person and family is founded upon rational principles, will not, in the present conjuncture, be scrupulous of alarming, or even of afflicting, liis sovereign. I know there is another sort of loyalty, of which his Majesty has had plentiful experience. When the loyalty n'cr sifuntiott ive are placed in, is among the first objects of honest ambition. To be thought to have done so, I consider as a second. Conse- quently I cannot but feel a high degree of satis- faction in this testimony of the good opinion of so respectable a body as the citizens of London ; and it is no inconsiderable addition to that satis- faction, th.-it it gives me a nearer relation to men who have been usually among the foremost to assert and maintain those L-galand coiiatitutional of Tories, Jacobites, arid Scotchmen, has once taken possession of an unhappy prince, it seldom leaves him without accomplishing his destruction. When the poison of their doctrines has tainted the natural benevo- lence of his disposition, when their in- sidious coimsels have corrupted the stamina of his government, w^hat antidote can re- store him to his political health and honour, but the firm sincerity of his English sub- jects ? It has not been usual in this country, at least since the days of Charles the First, to see the sovereign personally at variance, or engaged in a direct altercation, with his subjects. Acts of grace and indulgence are wisely appropriated to him, and should constantly be performed by himself. He never should appear but in an amiable j light to his subjects. Even in France, as long as any ideas of a limited monarchy were thought worth preserving, it was a • maxim, that no man should leave the royal presence discontented. They have lost or renounced the moderate principles of their government, and now, when their parlia- ments venture to remonstrate, the tyrant comes forward, and answers absolutely for himself. The spirit of their present con- stitution requires that the king should be feared, and the principle, I believe, is tolerably supported by the fact. But, in our political system, the theory is at vari- ance with the practice, for the king should be beloved. Measures of greater severity may, indeed, in some circumstances, be necessary ; but the minister who advises, should take the execution and odium of them entirely upon himself. He not only betrays his master, but violates the spirit of the English constitution, when he exposes the chief magistrate to the personal hatred rights which are essential to the general interests of the community. ' I have nothing to add, sir, but my acknow- ledgments to you for the obliging expressions y?u have used in executing your commission. March 27, 1771. J. DUNNING.'— Edit. ^ Town-clerk to the city of London, who signed for the corporation the city petition and renvi-.istrance. — Edit. I . . . I 234 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. or contempt of his subjects. When we speak of the firmness of government, we mean an uniform system of measures, deliberately adopted, ar.d resolutely maintained by the servants of the crown, not a peevish asperity in the language or behaviour of the sove- reign. The government of a weak, irreso- lute monaich, may be wise, moderate, and firm ; — that of an obstinate, capricious prince, on the contrary, may be feeble, I undetermined, and relaxed. The reputation of public measures depends upon the min- ister, who is responsible, not upon the king, whose private opinions are not supposed to have any weight against the advice of his counsel, whose personal authority should therefore never be interposed in public affairs. — This, I believe, is true, constitu- tional doctrine. But, for a moment, let us suppose it false. Let it be taken for granted, that an occasion may arise, in which a king of England shall be com- pelled to take upon himself the ungrateful office of rejecting the petitions and cen- suring the conduct of his subjects ; and let the City remonstrance be supposed to have created so extraordinary an occasion. On this principle, which I presume no friend of administration will dispute, let the wisdom and spirit of the ministry be examined. They advise the king to hazard his dignity, by a positive declaration of his own senti- ments ; — they suggest to him a language full of severity and reproach. What fol- lows? When his Majesty had taken so i decisive a part in support of his ministry and parliament, he had a right to expect from them a reciprocal demonstration of firmness in their own cause, and of zeal for his honour. He had reason to expect (and such, I doubt not, were the blustering promises of lord North) that the persons, ' Lord North. This graceful minister is oddly constructed. His tongue is a little too big for his mouth, and his eyes a great deal too big for their sockets. Every part of his person sets natural proportion at defiance. At this present writing, his head is supposed to be much too heavy for his shoulders. ^ It was at first intended by the cabinet that the House .should be requested to unite with his Ma'tsty in puni.shiiig the lord mayor and .sheriffs whom he had been advised to charge with having failed in their respect to him, with having injured parliament, and violated the principles of the constitution, should not have been permitted to escape without some severe marks of the displeasure and venge- ance of parliament. As the matter stands, the minister, after placing his sovereign in the most unfavourable light to his subjects, and after attempting to fix the ridicule and odium of his own precipitate measures upon the royal character, leaves him a solitary figure upon the scene, to recall, if he can, or to compensate, by future com- pliances, for one unhappy demonstration of ill-supported firmness, and ineffectual re- sentment. As a man of spirit, his ^Lajesty cannot but be sensible, that the lofty terms in which he was persuaded to reprimand the city, when united with the silly con- clusion of the business, resemble the pomp of a mock-tragedy, where the most pathetic sentiments, and even the sufferings of the hero, are calculated for derision. Such has been the boasted firmness and consistency of a minister, ^ whose appear- ance in the House of Commons was thought essential to the king's service ; — whose pre- sence was to influence every division :— who had a voice to persuade, an eye to pene- trate, a gesture to command. The reputa- tion of these great qualities has been fatal to his friends. The little dignity of Mr Ellis has been committed. Tlie mine was sunk ; — combustibles provided, and Wel- bore Ellis, the Guy Faux of the fable, waited only for the signal of command. All of a sudden the country gentlemen dis- cover how grossly they have been deceived ; — the minister's heart fails him, the grand plot is defeated in a moment, and poor Mr Ellis and his motion taken into custody. From the event of Friday last - one would for the insult offered to the sovereign by their petition and remonstrance ; and a vote to this effect was to have been moved by Mr Ellis, afterwards lord Mendip, and in the author's own note called Mannikin, on accoimt of his diminu- tive stature. But it was subsequently deter- mined to have recourse to less violent proceed- ings; .ind the conduct of the metropolitan corporation was, in conseqtiencj, morely cen- U LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 235 imagine that some fatality hung over this gentleman. Whether he makes or sup- presses a motion, he is equally sure of his disgrace. But the complexion of the times will suffer no man to be vice- treasurer of Ireland with impunity. ^ I do not mean to express the smallest anxiety for the ministers reputation. He acts separately for himself, and the most shameful inconsistency may perhaps be no disgrace to him. But when the sovereign, who represents the majesty of the state, appears in person, his dignity should be supported. The occasion should be im- portant ; — the plan well considered ; — the execution steady and consistent. My zeal for his Majesty's real honour compels me to assert, that it has been too much the system of the present reign, to introduce him personally, either to act for or to defend his servants. They persuade him to do what is properly their business, and desert him in the midst of it. 2 Yet this is an inconvenience to which he must for ever be exposed, while he adheres to a ministry divided among themselves, or unequal in credit and ability to the great task they have undertaken. Instead of reserving the interposition of the royal personage, as the last resource of government, their weakness obliges them to apply it to every ordinary occasion, and to render it cheap and com- mon in the opinion of the people. Instead of supporting their master, they look to liivi for support ; and for the emolument of re- maining one day more in office, care not sured by a vote of the House, and by the ] preceding address to his Majesty from both Houses, apprizing him of such censure : a measure which was followed bj' another address from the city, as noticed in note, p. 228. — ' Edit. I * About this time the courtiers talked of no- j thing but a bill of pains and penalties against the j lord mayor and sheriffs, or impeachment at the least. Little inannikin Ellis told the king that, if the business were left to his management, he | would engage to do wonders. It was thought ; very odd that a motion of so much importance ' should be entrusted to the most contemptible | little piece of machinerj* in the whole kingdom. | His honest zeal however was disappointed. The minister took fright, and at the very instant that how much his sacred character is prosti- tuted and dishonoured. If I thought it possible for this paper to reach the closet, I would venture to appeal at once to his Majesty's judgment. I would ask him, but in the most respectful terms, ' As you are a young man, Sir, who ought to have a life of happiness in prospect, — as you are a husband, — as you are a father, [your filial duties I own have been reli- giously performed,] is it bona fide for your interest or your honour to sacrifice your do- mestic tranquilHty, and to live in a perpetual disagreement with your people, merely to preserve such a chain of beings as North, Barrington, Weymouth, Gower, Ellis, Ons- low, Rigby, Jerry Dyson, and Sandwich ? Their ven,- names are a satire upon all go- vernment, and I defy the gravest of your chaplains to read the catalogue without laughing.' For my own part, Sir, I have always con- sidered addresses from parliament as a fashionable, unmeaning formality. Usurp- ers, idiots, and tyrants have been success- ively complimented with almost the same professions of duty and affection. But let us suppose them to mean exactly what they profess. The consequences deserve to be considered. Either the sovereign is a man of high spirit and dangerous ambition, ready to take advantage of the treachery of his parliament, ready to accept of the sur- render they make him of the public liberty ; — or he is a mild undesigning prince, who, provided they indulge him with a little state and pageantry, would of himself in- little Ellis was going to open, sent him an order to sit down. All their magnanimous threats ended in a ridiculous vote of censure, and a still more ridiculous address to the king. This shameful desertion so afflicted the generous mind of George the Third, that he was obliged to live upon potatoes for three weeks, to keep off a malignant fever. — Poor man ! — quis talia faitdo teiitpcret a lacrymis ! — Author. See Private Letter, No. 33. — Edit. ^ After a certain person had succeeded in cajoling IMr Yorke, he told the duke of Grafton, with a witty smile, ' My Lord, you may kill the next Percy yourself.'— N.B. He had but that instant wiped the tears away, which overcame Mr Yorke. — Edit. 236 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. "H tend no mischief. On the first supposition, it must soon be decided by the sword, whether the constitution should be lost or preserved. On the second, a prince no way qualified for the execution of a great and hazardous enterprise, and without any deter.T.ined object in view, may neverthe- less be driven into such desperate mea- sures, as may lead directly to his ruin, or disgrace himself by a shameful fluctuation between the extremes of violence at one moment, and timidity at another. The minisier perhaps may have reason to be satisfied with the success of the present ! hour, and with th.e profits of his employ- ment. He is the tenant of the day, and has no interest in the inheritance. The sove- reign himself is bound by other obligations, and ought to look forward to a superior, a permanent interest. His paternal tender- ness should remind him, how many host- ages he has given to society. The ties of nature come powerfully in aid of oaths and protestations. The father, who considers his own precarious state of health, and the possible hazard of a long minority, will wish to see the family estate free and unen- cumbered. 1 What is the dignity of the crown, though it were really maintained ; — what is the honour of parliament supposing it could exist without any foundation of in- tegrity and justice ;— or what is the vain reputation of firmness, even if the scheme of government were uniform and consistent, — compared with the heartfelt affections of the people, with the happiness and security of the royal family, or even with the grate- ful acclamations of the populace ! What- ever style of contempt may be adopted by ministers or parliaments, no man sincerely despises the voice of the English nation. The House of Commons are only interpret- ers, whose duty it is to convey the sense of the people faithfully to the crown. If the interpretation be false or imperfect, the constituent powers are called upon to de- liver their own sentiments. Their speech is rude, but intelligible ; — their gestures fierce, ' Every true friend of the house of Brunswick sees with affliction, how rapidly some of the but full of explanation. Perplexed by sophistries, their honest eloquence rises into action. The first appeal was to the integrity of their representatives ;— the second to the king's justice ;— the last argument of the people, whenever they have recourse to it, will carry more perhaps than persuasion to parliament, or supplica- tion to the throne. J L; XI US. LETTER XXXIX. to the printer of the public advertiser. Sir, 28 .1/(7)', 1770. While parliament was sitting, it would neither have been safe, nor perhaps quite regular, to oft'er any opinion to the public upon the justice or wisdom of their proceedings. To pronounce fairly upon their conduct, it was necessary to wait until we could consider, in one view, the beginning, progress, and conclusion of their delibera- tions. The cause of the public was under- taken and supported by men, whose abili- ties and united authority, to say nothing of the advantageous ground they stood on, might well be thought sufficient to deter- mine a popular question in favour of the people. Neither was the House of Com- mons so absolutely engaged in defence of the ministry, or even of their own resolu- tions, but that they might have paid some decent regard to the known disposition of their constituents, and, without any dis- honour to their firmness, might have re- tracted an opinion, too hastily adopted, when they saw the alarm it had created, and how strongly it was opposed by the general sense of the nation. The ministry too would have consulted their own imme- diate interest, in making some concession satisfactory to the moderate part of the people. Without touching the fact, they might have consented to guard against, or give up, the dangerous principle on which principal branches of th; Timily have dropped off. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 237 it was established. In this state of things, I think it was highly improbable at the beginning of the session, that the com- plaints of the people upon a matter, which, ' in their apprehension at least, immediately affected the life of the constitution, would be treated with as much contempt by their own representatives, and by the House of Lords, as they had been by the other branch of the legislature. Despairing of their integrity, we had a right to expect something from their prudence, and some- thing from their fears. The duke of Grafton certainly did not foresee to what an extent the corruption of a parliament might be carried. He thought, perhaps, that there was still some portion of shame or virtue left in the majority of the House of Commons, or that there was a line in pub- lic prostitution beyond which they would scruple to proceed. Had the young man been a little more practised in the world, or had he ventured to measure the characters of other men by his own, he would not have been so easily discouraged. The prorogation of parliament naturally calls upon us to review their proceedings, and to consider the condition in which they have left the kingdom. I do not ques- tion but they have done what is usually called the king's business, much to his Majesty's satisfaction. 1 We have only to lament, that in consequence of a system introduced or revived in the present reign, this kind of merit should be very consistent with the neglect of every duty they owe to the nation. The inter\-al between the opening of the last and the close of the former session was longer than usual. 2 Whatever were the views of the minister, in deferring the meeting of parliament, sufficient time w^as certainly given to every member of the House of Commons, to look back upon the steps he had taken, and the consequences they had produced. The zeal of party, the violence of personal ani- ^ ' The temper with which you have conducted all your proceedings, has given me great satis- faction.' King's speech on closing the session of parliament, May 19, 1770.— Edit. mosities, and the heat of contention had leisure to subside. From that period, what- ever resolution they took was deliberate and prepense. In the preceding session, the dependants of the ministry had affected to believe, that the final determination of the question would have satisfied the nation, or at least put a stop to their com- plaints ; as if the certainty of an evil could diminish the sense of it, or the nature of in- justice could be altered by decision. But they found the people of England were in a temper very distant from submission ; and, although it was contended that the House of Commons could not themselves reverse a resolution, which had the force and effect of a judicial sentence, there were other constitutional expedients, which would have given a security against any similar attempts for the future. The gener- al proposition, in which the whole country had an interest, might have been reduced to a particular fact, in which Mr Wilkes and Mr Luttrell would alone have been concerned. The House of Lords might interpose ;— the king might dissolve the parliament ; — or, if every other resource failed, there still lay a grand constitutional writ of error, in behalf of the people, from the decision of one court to the wisdom of the whole legislature. Every one of these remedies has been successively attempted. The people performed their part with dig- nity, spirit, and perseverance. For many months his Majesty heard nothing from his subjects but the language of complaint and resentment ; — unhappily for this country, it was the daily triumph of his courtiers that he heard it with an indifference approaching to contempt. The House of Commons having assumed a power unknown to the constitution, were determined not merely to suppc t it in the single instance in question, but to maintain the doctrine in its utmost extent, and to establish the fact as a precedent in law, to be applied in whatever manner his Majesty's ^ There was no .lutumnal session this year. Parliament did not meet till January g, 1769-70. —Edit. 238 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. servants should hereafter think fit. Their proceedings upon this occasion are a strong proof that a decision, in the first instance illegal and unjust, can only be supported by a continuation of falsehood and injustice. To support their former resolutions, they were Obliged to violate some of the best known and established rules of the House. In one instance they went so far as to declare, in open defiance of truth and common sense, that it was not the rule of the House to divide a complicated question, at the request of a member. ^ But after trampling upon the laws of the land, it was not wonderful that they should treat the private regulations of their own assembly with equal disregard. The speaker, being young in otifice, began with pretending ignorance, and ended wiih deciding for the ministry. We were not surprised at the decision ; but he hesitated and blushed at his own baseness," and every man was astonished.2 The interest of the public was vigorously supported in the House of Lords. Their right to defend the constitution against any ^ This extravagant resolution appears in the votes of the House ; but, in the minutes of the committees, the instances of resolutions contrary to law and truth, or of refusals to acknowledge law and truth when proposed to them, are in- numerable. — Author. The following is a more particular explanation of the fact alluded to : The House having on the 30th of January, 1770, resolved itself into a committee on the state of the nation, the ensuing declaration was proposed, 'That in the exercise of its juris- diction, the House ought to judge of elections by the law of the land, and by the custom of parlia- ment, which is part of that law.' This being the first of a string of resolutions that were to lead to a condemnation of the principles on which the determination of the Middlesex election had taken place, it was contended on the part of the ministry that, accordiiTg to the usage of the House, the entire series could not be div ided ; to which the speaker having assented, the ministry next moved that the whole of the intended reso- lutions, except the first, should be omitted, and that the following amendment should be added to it : — 'And that the judgment of this House in the case of John Wilkes was agreeable to the law of the land, and fully authorized by the practice of parliament.' This was carried by 224 to 180.— Edit. ^ Sir Fletcher Norton was now speaker of the encroachment of the other estates, and the necessity of exerting it at this period, was urged to them with every argument that could be supposed to influence the heart or the understanding. But it soon appeared that they had already taken tlieir part, and were determined to support the House of Commons, not only at the expense of truth and decency, but even by a surrender of their own most important rights. Instead of performing that duty which the constitu- tion expects from them, in return for the dignity and independence of their station, in return for the hereditary share it has given them in the legislature, the majority of them made common cause with theother House in oppressing the people, and establislied an- other doctrine as false in itself, and if possi- ble more pernicious to the constitution, than that on which the Middlesex election was determined. By resolving ' that they had no right to impeach a judgment of the House of Commons in any case whatsoever, where that House has a competent jurisdic- tion,' 4 they in effect gave up that constitu- House of Commons. He had commenced his political career as a violent Whig ; but for some time past had exhibited the most complete tergiversation, and had been as warm in the cause of Toryism as the warmest of its oldest espousers. He was elected to the chair, Jan- uary 22, 1770, on the resignation of sir John Cust, through ill health, and who died on the same day that sir Fletcher succeeded him. — Edit. 3 When the king first made it a measure of his government to destroy J\lr Wilkes, and when for this purpose it was necessary to run down privi- lege, sir Fletcher Norton, with his usual prosti- tuted effrontery, assured the House of Commons, I that he should regard one of their votes no more than a resolution of so many drunken porters. I This is the very lawyer, whom Ben Jonson i describes in the following lines : I ' Gives forked counsel ; takes provoking gold, I On either hand, and puts it up. ! So wise, so grave, of so perplex'd a tongue, '' And lo7td withal, that would not wag, nor I _ scarce j Lie still, without a/ee.^ I 4 A motion similar to that recited in note ', above, was made by the marquis of Rocking- ham, in the House of Lords, declaring, ' That the law of the land and the established customs of parliament were the sole rule of determination I in all cases of election,' which having been lost, I was met by one to the purport of that before LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 239 tional check and reciprocal controul of one branch of the legislature over the other, which is perhaps the greatest and most im- portant object provided for by the division of the whole legislative power into three estates ; and now, let the judicial decisions of the House of Commons be ever so ex- travagant, let their declarations of the law be ever so flagrantly false, arbitrary, and oppressive to the subject, the House of Lords have imposed a slavish silence upon themselves ; — they cannot interpose,— they cannot protect the subject, — they cannot defend the laws of their country. A con- cession so extraordinary in itself, so con- tradictory to the principles of their own institution, cannot but alarm tliC most un- suspecting mind. We may well conclude, that the Lords would hardly have yielded so much to the other House, without the certainty of a compensation, which can only be made to them at the expense of the people. The arbitrary power they have assumed of imposing fines, and committing during pleasure, will now be exercised in its full extent. 1 The House of Commons are too much in theii debt to question or in- terrupt their proceedings. The crown too, we may be well assured, will lose nothing in this new distribution of power. After declaring, that to petition for a dissolution of parliament is irreconcileable with the principles of the constitution,- his Majesty has reason to expect that some extraordin- ary compliment will be returned to the royal prerogative. The three branches of quoted, which was carried by a large majority ; ill consequence of which, two most strong and able protests were entered upon the journals of the House, which were signed by no less than forty-two peers. In the last of these, the pro- testing lords pledged themselves to the public, that they would avail themselves, as far as in them lay, of every right and every power with which the constitution had armed them for the good of the whole, in order to obtain full relief ill behalf of the injured electors of Great Britain. — Edit. ^ The man who resists and overcomes this iniquitous power, assumed by the Lords, must be supported by the whole people. We have the laws of our side, and want nothing but an intre- pid leader. When such a man stands forth, let the legislature seem to treat their separate rights and interests as the Roman Trium- virs did their friends. They reciprocally sacrifice them to the animosities of each other, and establish a detestable union among themselves, upon the ruin of the laws and liberty of the commonwealth. Through the whole proceedings of the House of Commons in this session, there is an apparent, a palpable consciousness of guilt, which has prevented their daring to assert their own dignity, where it has been immediately and grossly attacked. In the course of doctor Musgrave's examination, he said every thing that can be conceived mortifying to individuals, or offensive to the House. They voted his information frivol- ous, but they were awed by his firmness and integrity, and sunk under it.^ The terms in which the sale of a patent to Mr Hine were communicated to the public,* naturally called for a parliamentary enquiry. The integrity of the House of Commons was directly impeached ; but they had not courage to move in their own vindication, because the enquiry would have been fatal to colonel Burgoyne and the duke of Grafton. When sir George Saville branded them with the name of traitors to their constituents, when the lord mayor, the sheriffs, and Mr Trecothick expressly avowed and main- tained every part of the city remonstrance, why did they tamely submit to be insulted ? Why did they not immediately expel those refractory members? Conscious of the motives on which they had acted, they pru- the nation look to it. It is not his cause, but our own. — AuTnoK. .See Private Letters, Nos. 80, 81, and 82, in which Wilkes gives an intimation of an intended attack upon the House of Lords. — Edit. - See editor's note to Letter XXXVII., p. 228. — Edit. 3 The examination of this firm, honest man, is printed ior A lynon. The reader will find it a most curious and a most interesting tract. Doctor Musgrave, with no other support but truth and his own firmness, resisted and over- came the whole House of Commons. — Aitthgr. For a further account of the transaction re- ferred to, see editor's note to Letter XXIII., p 1S8.— Edit. •* See Letter XXXIII.— Edit. K 2 240 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. den tly preferred infamy to danger, and were better prepared to meet the contempt than to rouse the indignation of the whole people. Had they expelled those five members.* the consequences of the new I doctrine of incapacitation would have come immediately home to every man. The truth of it would then have been fairly tried, without any reference to Mr Wilkes's private character, or the dignity of the House, or the obstinacy ot one particular county. These topics, I know, have had their weight with men, who affecting a character of moderation, in reality consult nothing but their own immediate ease; — who are weak enough to acquiesce under a flagrant violation of the laws, when it does not directly touch themselves, and care not what injustice is practised upon a man, whose moral character they piously think themselves obliged to condemn. In any other circumstances, the House of Com- mons must have forfeited all their credit and dignity, if, after such gross provoca- tion, they had permitted those five gentle- men to sit any longer among them. We should then have seen and felt the opera- tion of a precedent, which is represented to be perfectly barren and harmless. But there is a set of men in this country, whose ' The five members alluded to are sir George Saville, Mr Beckford, Mr Townshend, IMr Saw- bridge, and Mr Trecothick. — Edit. ■^ A law had lately passed in the Irish legisla- ture, rendering the Irish parliaments octennial : — prior to this period, they had been of longer duration, and it was against the will of the court that the law was enacted, lue parliament that passed it was prorogued immediately afterwards, and then dissolved, under the hope of a more tractable parliament in future. The minister, however, was deceived : for the new parliament objected, shortly after its meeting, to passing the proposed money-bill, in consequence of its having originated in the privy-council, instead of in the House of Commons. Lord Townshend, the lord-lieutenant, on December 2, entered a protest on the journals of the Upper House against the rejection of this bill ; and intended to have done the same on the journals of the House of Commons ; but the latter wouid not suffer him. — Edit. 3 The different schemes devised for making the colonies amenable to the legislature of Great Britain, are glanced at in note 5 to Letter XII., p. 160. After the repeal of the understandings measure the violation of law by the magnitude of the instance, not by the important consequences which flow directly from the principle, and the minis- ter, I presume, did not think it safe to quicken their apprehension too soon. Had Mr Hampden reasoned and acted like the moderate men of these days, instead of hazarding his whole fortune in a law-suit with the crown, he would have quietly paid the twenty shillings demanded of him, — the Stuart family would probably have continued upon the throne, and, at this moment, the imposition of ship-money would have been an acknowledged pre- rogative of the crown. What then has been the business of the session, after voting the supplies, and con- firming the determination cf the Middlesex election? The extraordinary prorogation of the Irish parliament, 2 and the just dis- contents of that kingdom, have been passed by without notice. Neither the general situation of our colonies, nor that particular distress which forced the inhabitants of Boston to take up arms in their defence, have been thought worthy of a moment's consideration. 3 In the repeal of those acts, which were most offensive to America, the parliament have done every thing but remove the offence. They have relinquish- Stamp Act, it was tried whether the Americans would submit to certain custom-house duties, as upon glass, red-lead, tea, &c. But it was the principle itself that was obnoxious to the Ameri- cans : and hence this attempt was as strenuously resisted as the former. These latter duties were in consequence all relinquished, excepting that on tea. The Americans, however, would not submit to this mortification, which as much in- fringed upon their principle, as if no part what- ever had been relinquished : government never- theless insisted upon retaining this impost, and the result is well known. Yet hostilities may be said to have commenced in the first instance at Boston, from a private dispute between two or three soldiers quartered there, and a party of rope-makers. The soldiers in this quarrel were joined by their comrades, and even by their oiificers, and the rope-makers by the inhabitants of the town : in the scufile that ensued, the officers were struck, the soldiers fired, and several persons in the mob were killed or wounded. Captain Preston, the commanding officer, was afterwards tried but acquitted. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS ed the revenue, but judiciously taken care to preserve the contention. It is not pre- tended that the continuance of the tea duty is to produce any direct benefit whatsoever to the mother country. What is it then but an odious, unprofitable exertion of a speculative right, and fixing a badge of slavery upon the Americans, without service to their masters ? But it has pleased God to give us a ministry and a parliament, who are neither to be persuaded by argu- ment, nor instracted by experience. Lord North, I presume, will not claim an extraordinary merit from any thing he has done this year in the improvement or application of the revenue. A great opera- tion, directed to an important object, though it should fail of success, marks the genius and elevates the character of a min- ister. A poor contracted understanding deals in little schemes, which dishonour him if they fail, and do him no credit when they succeed. Lord North had fortunately the means in his possession of reducing all the four per cents at once.^ The failure of his first enterprise in finance is not half so disgraceful to his reputation as a minister, as the enterprise itself is injurious to the public. Instead of striking one decisive blow, which would have cleared the mar- ket at once, upon terms proportioned to the price of the four per cents six weeks ago, he has tampered with a pitiful portion o( a commodity, which ought never to have jfcu. touched but in gross ; — he has given I * The stock denominated three per cents, had i arisen from a loan of two millions raised by government in the 29th of Geo. II., for which a lottery and redeemable annuities at three pounds ten shillings per cent, had been granted and secured. Of the annuities one quarter had been paid ofif, and the sinking fund, which was charged with the remainder, was at this time so fully capable of liquidating it, that a notice to this effect had been given by an order of the House of Commons, dated April 26, 1770. In consequence of this flourishing state of the three per cents, into which almost every one was buying, the four per cents had been much forsaken, and had sunk below their level. Lord North, by a small bonus, might have induced all the holders of this stock to have transferred it into three per cents instead of receiving four, which would have been a great relief to the notice to the holders of that stock, of a design formed by government to prevail upon them to surrender it by degrees, con- sequently has warned them to hold up and enhance the price ; — so that the plnn of re- ducing the four per cents must either be dropped entirely, or continued with an in- creasing disadvantage to the public. The minister's sagacity has served to raise the value of the thing he means to purchase, and to sink that of the three per cents, which it is his purpose to sell. In effect, he has contrived to make it the interest of the proprietor of four per cents to sell out and buy three per cents in the market, rather than subscribe his stock upon any terms, that can possibly be offered by go- vernment. The state of the nation leads us naturally to consider the situation of the king. The prorogation of parliament has the effect of a temporary dissolution. The odium of measures adopted by the collective body sits lightly upon the separate members, who composed it. They retire into sum- mer quarters, and rest from the disgraceful labours of the campaign. But as for the sovereign, // is not so with him. He has a permanent existence in this country ; He cannot withdraw himself from the complaints, the discontents, the reproaches of his subjects. They pursue him to his retirement, and invade his domestic hap- piness, when no address can be obtained from an obsequious parliament to en- courage or console him. In other times. public debt ; but, though the minister was open to this conviction, he went to work v.ith a timid hand, and took so much time to complete what he did intend, as to forfeit every advantage he might at first have derived. Instead of making a proposal of this kind to embrace the ivhole of the four per cents, he proposed to convert only two millions and a quarter of them into three per cents, and that the bonus should be a lottery for five hundred thousand pounds, divided into fifty thousand tickets, of which every holder of a hundred pounds capital should be entitled, for this supposed difference of fourteen pounds ster- ling, to two of such lottery tickets. In the prospect of this scheme the four per cents began to rise at the expense of the three per cents, and the object, so far as regarded pecuniary advan- tage, was completely frustrated. — Edit. 242 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the interest of the king and people of Eng- land was, as it ought to be, entirely the same. A new system has not only been adopted in fact, but professed upon prin- ciple. Ministers are no longer the public servants of the state, but the private do- mestics of the sovereign. One particular class of men are permitted to call them- selves the king's friends, ^ as if the body of the people were the king's enemies ; or as if his Majesty looked for a source of con- solation in the attachment of a few favour- ites, against the general contempt and detestation of his subjects. Edward and Richard the Second made the same dis- tinction between the collective body of the people, and a contemptible party who sur- rounded the throne. The event of their mistaken conduct might have been a warn- ing to their successors. Yet the errors of those princes w^ere not without excuse. They had as many false friends as our present gracious sovereign, and infinitely greater temptation to seduce them. They were neither sober, religious, nor demure. Into.xicated with pleasure, they wasted their inheritance in pursuit of it. Their lives were like a rapid torrent, brilliant in prospect, though useless or dangerous in its course. In the dull, unanimated exist- ence of other princes, we see nothing but a sickly, stagnant water, which taints the atmosphere without fertiUzing the soil. — The morality of a king is not to be mea- sured by vulgar rules. His situation is singular. There are faults which do him honour, and virtues that disgrace him. A faultless, insipid equality in his character, is neither capable of vice nor virtue in the extreme ; but it secures his submission to those persons, whom he has been accus- * ' An ignorant, mercenary, and servile crew ; unanimous in evil, diligent in mischief, variable in principles, constant to flattery, talkers for liberty, but slaves to power ; — styling themselves the court party, and the prince's only friends.' — Dnz'enant. \ ' Miss Kennedy. I ^ Matthew and Patrick Kennedy had been j condemned to suffer death for the murder of John Bigby, a v.atchman. Their sister, Miss Kennedy, was a j.iostitute well known to many tomcd to respect, and makes him a dan- gerous instrument of their ambition. Se- cluded from the world, attached from his infancy to one set of persons, and one set of ideas, he can neither open his heart to new connexions, nor his mind to better information. A character of this sort is the soil fittest to produce that obstinate bigotry in politics and religion, w-hich be- gins with a meritorious sacrifice of the un- derstanding, and finally conducts the mon- arch and the martyr to the block. At any other period, I doubt not, the scandalou.s disorders which have been in- troduced into the government of all the dependencies of the empire, would have roused and engaged the attention of the public. The odious abuse and prostitution of the prerogative at home, — the uncon- stitutional employment of the military — the arbitrary fines and commitments by the House of Lords, and Court of King's Bench ; — the mercy of a chaste and pious Prince extended cheerfully to a wilful mur- derer, because that murderer is the brother of a common prostitute,- would, I think, at any other time, have excited universal indignation.' But the daring attack upon the constitution, in the Middlesex election, makes us callous and indifferent to inferior grievances. No man regards an eruption upon the surface, when the noble parts are invaded, and he feels a mortification ap- proaching to his heart. The free election of our representatives in parliament com- prehends, because it is, the source and security of every right and privilege of the English nation. The ministry have realized the compendious ideas of Caligula. They know that the liberty, the laws, and pro- perty of an Englishman have in truth but of the courtiers of the day, and her intercession availed to obtain for them, first a respite, and afterwards a pardon. The widow of Bigby, nevertheless, laid an appeal against the murder- ers ; and a new trial was appointed. The friends of Miss Kenned}', however, bought them off, by a present to the widow of three hundred and fifty pounds ; and, in consequence, she desisted from appearing against the prisoners when they were arraigned. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 243 one neck, and that to violate the freedom of election strikes deeply at them all. JUNIUS. LETTER XL. I TO LORD NORTH. Mv Lord, 22 Au°^. 1770. Mr Luttrell's services were the chief support and ornament of the duke of Grafton's administration. , The honour of rewarding them was reserved for your Lordship. The duke, it seems, had con- tracted an obligation he was ashamed to acknowledge, and unable to acquit. You, my Lord, had no scruples. You accepted of the succession with ail its incumbrances, •ind have paid Mr Luttrell his legacy, at the hazard of ruining the estate. 1 When this accomplished youth declared himself the champion of government, the world was busy in enquiring what honours or emoluments could be a sufficient recom- pense, to a young man of his rank and fortune, for submittinsr to mark his entrance into life with the universal contempt and detestation of his country. — His noble father had not been so precipitate. — To vacate his seat in parliament ; — to intrude upon a county in which he had no interest or con- nexion ; — to possess himself of another man's right, and to maintain it in defiance of public shame as well as justice, bespoke a degree of zeal or of depravity, which all the favour of a pious prince could hardly re- quite. I protest, my Lord, there is in this young man's conduct, a strain of prostitu- tion which, for its singularity, I cannot but admire. He has discovered a new line in the human character ; — he has degraded ^ At this time he was only lieutenant-colonel. —Edit. ^ He now says that his great object is the rank of colonel, and that he tvi/i have it. 3 This infamous transaction ought to be ex- plained to the public. Colonel Gisborne was quarter-master-general in Ireland. Lord Towns- hend persuades him to resign to a Scotch officer, one Fraser, and gives him the government of Kinsale. — Colonel Cuninghame was adjutant- general in Ireland. Lord Townshend offers him even the name of Luttrell, and gratified his father's most sanguine expectations. The duke of Grafton, with every possible disposition to patronize this kind of merit, was contented with pronouncing colonel Luttrell's panegyric. ^ The gallant spirit, the disinterested zeal of the young adven- turer, were echoed through the House of Lords. His Grace repeatedly pledged him- self to the House, as an evidence of the purity of his friend Mr Luttrell's inten- tions ; — that he had engaged without any prospect of personal benefit, and that the idea of compensation would mortally offend him.* The noble duke could hardly be in earnest ; but he had lately quitted his em- ployment, and began to think it necessary to take some care of his reputation. At that very moment the Irish negotiation was probably begun. — Come forward, thou worthy representative of lord Bute, and tell this insulted coimtry, who advised the king to appoint Mr Luttrell adjutant- general to the army in Ireland. By what management was colonel Cuninghame pre- vailed on to resign his employment, and the obsequious Gisborne to accept of a pension for the government of Kinsale?^ Was it an original stipulation with the Princess of Whiles, or does he owe his preferment to your Lordship's partiality, or the duke of Bedford's friendship? My Lord, though it may not be possible to trace this measure to its source, we can follow the stream, and warn the country of its approaching destruction. The English nation must be roused, and put upon its guard. Mr Luttrell has already shown us how far he may be trusted, whenever an open attack is to be made upon the hber- ties of this country. I do not doubt that there is a deliberate plan formed. Your a pension, to induce him to resign to Luttrell. Cuninghame treats the offer with contempt. What's to be done ? poor Gisborne must move once more. — He accepts of a pension of ;^5oo a year, until a government of greater value shall become vacant. Colonel Cuninghame is made governor of Kinsale ; and Luttrell, at last, for whom the whole machinery is put in motion, be- comes adjutant-general, and in effect takes the command of the army in Ireland. 244 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Lordship best knows by uhoin ; — the cor- ruption of the legislative body on this side — a military force on the other — and then, Farczi'cll to England/ It is impossible that any minister shall dare to advise the king to place such a man as Luttrell in the confidential post of adjutant-general, if there were not some secret purpose in view, which only such a man as Luttrell is fit to promote. The insult offered to the army in general is as gross as the outrage intended to the people cf England. What ! Lieu- tenant-colonel Luttrell, to be adjutant- general of an army of sixteen thousand men ! One would think his Majesty's cam- paigns at Blackhcath and Wimbledon might have taught him better. — I cannot help wishing general Harvey joy of a col- league, who does so much honour to the employment. — But, my Lord, this measure is too daring to pass unnoticed, too dan- gerous to be received with indifference or submission. You shall not have time to new-model the Irish army. They will not submit to be garbled by colonel Luttrell. As a mischief to the English constitution (for he is not worth the name of enemy), they already detest him. As a boy, impu- dently thrust over their heads, they will receive him with indignation and contempt. ^ A few days after this letter made its appear- ance, the writer sent the following article to the Printer of the Public Advertiser, which was in- serted according to its date. INTELLIGENCE EXTRAORDINARY. Sepi. 7, 1770. Colonel Luttrell has resigned the post of adjutant-general in Ireland. The necessity of the times had left the minister no alternative, except the sacrifice of this unworthy tool of power, or of himself. The dismission is too ridi- culous either to deceive the public, or screen the guilty. Does colonel Luttrell expect to find a shelter from couiciupt bj'shunning the rewards of infamy ? A character so well estabhshed as his own, will render such resources needless. Does the minister console himself with any hopes of crushing the most severe enquiries, be- cause he has meanly rescinded this detestable promotion? The vanity of such dependences may be confirmed before the period of another session. As very few forms concurred to this appointment, except private commissions to a lord-licutcnant, we shall not be surprised at that — As for you, my Lord, who perhaps are no more than the blind, unhappy instru- ment of lord Bute and her royal highness the Princess of Wales, be assured that you shall be called upon to answer for the advice which has been given, and either discover your accomplices, or fall a sacri- fice to their security.^ JUNIUS. LETTER XLI. TO THE RIGHT HONOUKABLE LORD MANSFIELD.2 My Lord, 14 November, 1770. The appearance of this letter will attract the curiosity of the public, and command even your Lordship's attention. I am considerably in your debt, and shall endeavour, once for all, to balance the account. Accept of this address, my Lord, as a prologue to more important scenes, in which you will probably be called upon to act or suffer. You will not question my veracity, when I assure you that it has not been owing to any particular respect for your person that I have abstained from you so long. Besides the distress and danger with which the press is threatened, when your lordship is effrontery which may hereafter deny the whole transaction: It is not, however, lost in ignorance, because the royal fiat had, purposely, delayed its progress through the offices of the secretaries of state. It never, perhaps, was intended that this circumstance should have been made public till the destruction of our rights had been at least more easily to be accomplished tlian it is at pre- sent. Let not this insulted country be for a moment off its guard. To make the blow secure, the dagger that is to wound the constitution will be as much as possible concealed until the instant that it strikes. From the intentions of administration every thing is to be dreaded ; their timidity, indeed, as in the present case, may draw a line, which, were they only to con- sult the violence of inclination, they might re- solve to pass, although the track were marked with horror, blood, and desolation. — Edit. ^ In the envelope to this address, Junius makes the following observation. ' The inclosed, though begun within these few days, has been greatly laboured.' Private Letter, No. 24. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 245 party, and the party is to be judge, I con- fess I have been deterred by the ditificulty of the task. Our language has no term of re- proach, the mind has no idea of detestation, which has not already been happily applied to ycu, and exhausted. — Ample justice has been done by abler pens than mine to the separate merits of your life and character. Let it be iny humble office to collect the scattered sweets, till their united virtue tor- tures the sense. Permit me to begin with paying a just tribute to Scotch sincerity, wherever I find it. I own I am not apt to confide in the professions of gentlemen of that countr}', and when they smile, I feel an involun- tarj' emotion to guard myself against mis- chief. With this general opinion of an ancient nation, I always thought it much to your Lordship's honour, that, in your earlier days, you were but little infected with the pnidence of your country. You had some original attachments, which you took every proper opportunity to acknowledge. The hberal spirit of youth prevailed over your native discretion. Your zeal in the cause of an unhappy prince was expressed with the sincerity of wine, and some of the solemni- ties of religion.^ This, I conceive, is the most amiable point of view, in which your character has appeared. Like an honest ' This man was always a rank Jacobite. Lord Ravensworth produced the most satisfactory' evidence of his having frequently drunk the Pre- tender's health upon his knees. ^ This statement of lord Mansfield's immediate connexion with the Pretender's secretary has been disputed by some ; and the charge ad- vanced by lord Ravensworth of his having drimk the Pretender's health upon his knees was made the subject of an investigation before the Privy Council and the House of Lords, in the year 1753, which terminated in Mr Murray's acquittal, both tribunals declaring the charge to be a foul and disgraceful calumny. That lord Mansfield, however, lay under the public im- putation of being of the same blood as the Pre- tender's secretary is certain ; as, in a memorial, [which will be found in Dodington's Diary, p. 441, London edit. 1809,] anonymously addressed to general Hawley, and written for the avowed purpose of procuring the solicitor-general's dis- mission, he is thus spoken of: — ' To have a Scotsman, of a most disaffected family, and allied to the Pretender's fijst minister, con- man, you took that part in pohtics which might have been expected from your birth, education, country, and connexions.- There was something generous in your attach- ment to the banished house of Stuart. We lament the mistakes of a good man, and do not begin to detest him until he affects to renoimce his principles. Why did you not adhere to that loyalty you once professed ? Why did you not follow the example of your wortliy brother ? 3 With him, you might have shared in the honour of the Pretender's confidence — with him, you might have preserv-ed the integrity of your character, and England, I think, might have spared you without regret, — Your friends will say, perhaps, that although you deserted the fortune of your liege lord, you have adhered firmly to the principles which drove his father from the throne ; — that without openly supporting the person, you have done essential service to the cause, and consoled yourself for the loss of a favourite family, by reviving and establish- ing the maxims of their government. This is the way, in which a Scotchman's under- standing corrects the error of his heart. — My Lord, I acknowledge the truth of the defence, and can trace it through all your conduct. I see, through your whole life, one uniform plan to enlarge the power of the crown, at the expense of the liberty of suited in the education of the Prince of Wales, must tend to alarm and disgust the friends of the present royal family.' Dodington, who was mtimate with lord Mansfield, then Mr Murray, no where contradicts the supposed connexion ; who, nevertheless, it is presumed, would have done so, if the assertion had not been true. Should the reader wish to satisfy himself more particularly upon the subject, he will find it de- tailed at some length in various parts of the before-named diary. Mr Murray, when a student in the Temple, was an intimate acquaintance of a Mr Vernon, a rich Jacobite mercer on Ludgate-hill, and the toast above referred to is said to have been fre- quently drunk in the house of this gentleman, whether Mr Murray were ever present on such occasion or not. Mr Vernon on his death be- queathed to Mr Murray an estate in the counties of Chester and Derby. — Edit. 3 Confidential secretary to the late Pretender. This circumstance confirmed the friendship be- tween the brothers. 246 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the subject. To this object, your thoughts, words, and actions have been constantly directed. In contempt or ignorance of the common law of England, you have made it your study to introduce into the court, where you preside, maxims of jurispru- dence unknown to Englishmen. The Roman code, the law of nations, and the opinion of foreign civilians, are your per- petual theme ; — but who ever heard you mention Magna Charta or the Bill of Rights with approbation or respect? By such treacherous arts, the noble simplicity and free spirit of our Saxon laws were first corrupted. The Norman conquest was not complete, until Norman lawyers had intro- duced their laws, and reduced slavery to a system. — This one leading principle directs your interpiretation of the laws, and ac- counts for your treatment of juries. It is not in political questions only (for there the courtier might be forgiven), but let the cause be what it may, your understanding is equally on the rack, either to contract the power of the jury, or to mislead their judgment. For the truth of this assertion, I appeal to the doctrine you delivered in lord Grosvenor's cause. An action for criminal conversation being brought by a peer against a prince of the blood, ^ you were daring enough to tell the jury that, in fix- ing the damages, they were to pay no regard to the quality or fortune of the par- ties ;— that it was a trial between A. and B. — that they were to consider the offence in a moral light only, and give no greater * The action was brought by lord Grosvenor against the duke of Cumberland, for criminal conversation with lady Grosvenor ; and the cause in which lord ^lansfield delivered the opinion here charged to him, was tried before his Lordship in the Court of King's Bench, July 5, 1770. The damages were laid at one hundred thousand pounds : the verdict was for ten thou- sand pounds. The doctrine here justly objected against by Junius, has since been relinquished in our courts of justice, and his own substituted in its stead.— Edit. '■' See an instance of the kind alluded to in Private Letter, No. 46, note^. — Edit. 3 Judge Yates, who was now just dead, had twice publicly differed with the chief justice ; once about a question of real property, Perrin I and Blake ; thf" -^ther lime in the famous dispute damages to a peer of the realm, than to the meanest mechanic. I shall not attempt to refute a doctrine, which, if it was meant for law, carries falsehood and absurdity upon the face of it ; but, if it was meant for a declaration of your political creed, is clear and consistent. Under an arbitrary govern- ment, all ranks and distinctions are con- founded. The honour of a nobleman is no more considered than the reputation of a peasant, for, with different liveries, they are equally slaves. •> Even in matters of private property, we see the same bias and inclination to depart from the decisions of your predecessors, ' which you certainly ought to receive as evidence of the common law. Instead of those certain, positive rules, by which the judgment of a court of law should invari- ably be determined, you have fondly intro- duced your own unsettled iiotions of equity and substantial justice. Decisions given upon such principles do not alarm the public so much as they ought, because the consequence and tendency of each particu- lar instance is not observed or regarded. In the mean time the practice gains ground ; the Court of King's Bench becomes a court of equity, and the judge, instead of con- sulting strictly the law of the land, refers only to the wisdom of the court, and to the purity of his own conscience. The name of Mr justice Yates will naturally revive in your mind some of those emotions of fear and detestation, with which you always beheld him.^ That great lawyer, that respecting literarj' property : with respect to the latter point the House of Lords determined ac- cording to his opinion ; and he is universally thought by the profession to have been right with respect to the former. Lord Mansfield did not treat his opinions on these subjects with the respect to which they were entitled, nor with the decorum that judicial etiquette usually dictates. 5*Ir Justice Yates, under these unpleasant cir- cumstances, chose, though senior puisne judge of the King's Bench, to take the junior judgeship of the Common Pleas, then vacant, on the pro- motion of the other judges, in consequence of the resignation of sir Edward Clive. 'J'his removal took place May 4, 1770, and sir Joseph Yates died on the succeeding 7th of June. The following anecdote, if true, is worthy of record, and does hi-n immortal honour. In a LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 247 honest man, saw your whole conduct in the light that I do. After years of ineffectual resistance to the pernicious principles intro- duced by your Lordship, and uniformly supported by your humble friends upon the bench, he determined to quit a court, whose proceedings and decisions he could neither assent to with honour, nor oppose with success. The injustice done to an individual is sometimes of service to the public. 1 Facts are apt to alarm us more than the most dangerous principles. The sufferings and firmness of a printer have roused the public attention.* You knew and felt that your conduct would not bear a parhamentary inquiry, and you hoped to escape it by the meanest, the basest sacrifice of dignity and debate which took place in the House of Com- mons, Dec. 6, 1770, on Mr serjeant Glynn's motion, as noticed in p. 118, Mr alderman Towns- hend, after other arguments urged in support of it, said, ' I am afraid then that there is too great a vicinity between Westminster-hail and St James's. I suspect, and the people suspect, that their correspondence is too close and intimate. But why do I say it is suspected ? it is a known, avowed fact. A late judge, equally remarkable for his knowledge and integrity, was tampered with by administration. He w.is solicited to favour the crown in certain trials, which were then depending between it and the subject. 1 hear some desiring me to name the judge, but there is no necessity for it. The fact is known to several members of this House, and if I do not speak truth, let those who can, contradict me. I call upon them to rise, that the public may not be abused — but all are silent, and can as little invalidate what I have said as what I am going to say. This great, this honest judge, being thus solicited in vain, what was now to be done '. what was the last resource of baffled in- justice ? That was learned from a short con- versation which passed between him and some friends a little before his death. The last and most powerful engine was applied. A letter was sent him directly from a Great Personage ; but as he suspected it to contain something dishon- ourable, he sent it back unopened. Is not this a subject that deserves enquiry? Ought we not to trace out the adviser of such a daring step, and upon proper conviction bring him to the block? The excellent person who was thus tempted to disgrace and perjure himself, and to betray and ruin his countrj', could not die in peace, till he had disclosed this scene of iniquity, and warned his fellow-citizens of their danger.' The above extract from Mr alderman Towns- hend's speech is taken from a report of the de- bate published in the year 1771, by the late consistency, that ever was made by a great magistrate. Where wa.s your firmness, where was that vindictive spirit, of which we have seen so many examples, when a man, so inconsiderable as Bingley, could force you to confess, in the face of this country, that, for two years together, you h.id illegally deprived an English subject of his liberty, and that he had triumphed ove r ' you at last? Yet I own, my Lord, that ' yours is not an uncommon character. Women, and men like women, are timid, | vindictive, and irresolute. Their passions counteract each other, and make the same creature, at one moment hateful, at another contemptible. I fancy, my Lord, some time will elapse before you venture to com- mit another Englishman for refusing to answer interrogatories. 2 celebrated and much respected Mi W. Woodfall, who added to the speech itself the following N. B. ' Sir Joseph Yates, as will appear in a succeeding speech, was the judge meant by the alderman. When the letter from a Great Person- age was mentioned, lord North and the. rest of the Treasury-bench stared at one anctner, but did not utter a single sentence by way of contra- diction.' — Edit. ' The oppression of an obscure individual gave birth to the famous Habeas Corpus Act of 31 Car. II., which is frequently considered as another Magna Charta of the kingdom. Blackstoiw, 3, 135. ^ ' Bingley was committed for contempt in not submitting to be e.\amined. He lay in prison two years, until the Crown thought the matter might occasion some serious complaint, and therefore he was let out, in the same contu- macious state he had been put in, with all his sins about him, unanointed and unannealed. — There was much coquetry between the court and the attorney-general, about who should undergo the ridicule of letting him escape.' — Vide another Letter to Almo.v, p. 189. — Au- thor. To give the reader a better idea of the fact alluded to, we shall continue the quotation a few lines further than the author, at the period in which he wrote, thought necessary. 'Mr Attorney tried to put it oft' upon the court, by telling them, upon his being brought up, he had nothing to pray against him. '1 he sagacious and noble lord who presided, smelling a rat, or knowing there was one, was not to be so taken in, and therefore asked, what it was -Mr Attorney had to ask of the court; to wliich Mr Attorney said again, he had merely informed them, that the defendant Bingley was there, and that he should move nothing further about him. After a little pause and a recovery from K* 2 248 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. The doctrine you have constantly de- livered, in cases of libel, is another power- ful evidence of a settled plan to contract the legal power of juries, and to draw questions, inseparable from fact, within the arbitriuvi of the court. Here, my Lord, you have fortune of your side. When you invade the province of the juiy in matter of libel, you, in effect, attack the liberty of the press, and with a single stroke wound two of your greatest enemies. — In some instances you have succeeded, because jurymen are too often ignorant of their own rights, and too apt to be awed by the authority of a chief justice. In other crimi- nal prosecutions, the malice of the design the inertness of this answer, the chief at last let him know, Uiat if he moved nothing, nothing could be acre, and every thing would remain as it was, the consequence of which was, that the defendant would still be in custody ; the court never acted from itself, but upon motion from without. Mr Attorney, finding it was in vain to he wasting more time about who should do what was agreed to be done, in a very manly manner, took the thing tipon himself, and said, then I move that he may be discharged. And thus ended, in this pitiful manner, this paltry busi- ness.' For a further account of this transaction, see note, p. 145. — Edit. ^ The declaratory act upon this subject brought forwards and carried through the legislature by the indefatigable exertions of the late Mr Fox, and which, were there no other monument to immortalize his memory', would alone be suffi- cient to transmit it to the latest posterity, has at length completely settled this point, and given to the jury beyond all controversy on the part of the court, the full power of judging of the law as well as of the fact ; of the intention as well as of the exterior act. The full value of this interference of Mr Fox's can only be known by comparing it with the result of a similar attempt made by Mr Dowdes- well in 1771, as extracted from the Public Ad- vertiser for March 13. ' The following is the motion made by Mr Dowdeswell in a great assembly and rejected : "Whereas doubts and controversies have arisen at various times concerning the right of jurors to try the whole matter laid in indictments and informations for seditious and other libels ; and whereas trials by juries would be of none or im- perfect effect, if the jurors were not held to be competent to try the whole matter aforesaid ; For settling and clearing such doubts and con- troversies, and for securing to the subject the effectual and complete benefit of trial by juries in such indictments and informations : Be it enacted, S:c. 'I hat jurors duly inipannclled and swcrn to try tlie issue between the king and the is confessedly as much the subject of con- sideration to a jury, as the certainty of the fact. If a different doctrine prevails in the case of libels, why should it not extend to all criminal cases? — Why not to capital offences? I see no reason (and I dare say you will agree with me that there is no good one) why the hfe of the subject should be better protected against you than his liberty or property. Why should you enjoy the full power of pillory, fine, and imprisonment, and not be indulged with hanging or transportation? With your Lordship's fertile genius and merciful dis- position, I can conceive such an e.Kercise of the power you have, as could hardly be aggravated by that which you have not.^ defendant upon any indictment or information for a seditious libel, or a libel under any other denomination or description, shall be held and reputed competent to all intents and purposes, in law and in right, to try every part of the matter laid or charged in said indictment or information, comprehending the criminal intention of the de- fendant and the civil tendency of the libel charged, as well as the mere fact of the public- ation thereof, and the application by innuendo of blanks, initial letters, pictures, and other devices ; any opinion, question, ambiguity, or doubt to the contrary notwithstanding." * Mr Dowdeswell observed that as doubts had arose in the people's minds respecting the power of juries in the cases of libels ; to remove those doubts, he should propose an Enacting Bill, to give to juries a power to x.\y the whole matter in issue ; that is, to determine whether the paper or book charged with being a libel be so or not : but that if gentlemen liked a Declnratory Bill better, he "had left the matter open. He paid some compliments to lord Mansfield, and read his Enacting Bill. Mr Burke spoke in support of the Enacting Bill. [His speech is given at length in Vol. X. p. 109 of the 8vo edition of his works. In a letter w hich follows the speech, and intended for the Public Advertiser, he denies, as stated in that paper, having praised lord Mans- field.] ' Mr James Grenville, jun. spoke for a declara- tory bill ; as did Mr Calcraft, Mr Aubrey, and Colonel Barre. Sir George Savile, Mr T. Townshend, Mr R. H. Coxe, and Mr Di^nning spoke in favour of the motion. ' These last gentlemen severally urged the necessity of settling this matter beyond doubt or controversy ; because it did appear, from a late paper given by lord Mansfield to the House ci i Lords, that it was the opinion of all the juc_2e3 of the King's Bench, that the jury should dc- I termine only the FACT, and the law should be I left to the judges ; but this was not only the opinion of the judges, but that, in a former LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 249 But, my Lord, since you have laboured (and not unsuccessfully) to destroy the sub- stance of the trial, why should you suffer the form of the verdict to remain? Why force twelve honest men, in palpable viola- tion of their oaths, to pronounce their fellow-subject a guilty man, when, almost at the same moment, you forbid their en- quiring into the only circumstance which, in the eye of law and reason, constitutes guilt — the malignity or innocence of his in- tentions ? — But I understand your Lord- ship. — If you could succeed in making the trial by jury useless and ridiculous, you might then with greater safety introduce a bill into parliament for enlarging the juris- diction of the court, and extending 3'our debate, all the ministerial lawyers and leaders had supported the same ; that the doctrine was dangerous in the highest degree, as encroaching on the palladium of English liberty, the trial by jury, as leaving the essence of the cause to the determination of ititerested men, the judges ; that this doctrine, now adopted by the judges, was not of older date than the reign of Queen Anne. In Queen Elizabeth's reign there was a remarkable case, which showed the contrary to be the opinion then (an indictment of a grand jury at Lincoln, which found a ^r7<^ .5/// as to the fact, but no true Bill as to the malice, &c. This the judges, at that time, determined to be no true Bill ; by which they determined, that the jury were judges of the law, as well as the fact' ; that in the famous case of the bishops, in the reign of James the Second, the judges, though made for the purpose, unanimously concurred in directing the jury to judge of the ivhoL' of the inforinaliun, as well the la-M as \\\c fact ; that whenever tlie jury had thought proper to dispute the affair with the judges, the jury had always got the better ; and that a law establishing this doctrine would put an end to this dispute. ' The ministry did not say one single word in the dispute, but the debate was taken up by the gentlemen of the minority. Capt. Phipps spoke very well, and with great spirit. Sir William Meredith spoke extremely well ; Mr James Gren- ville.jun., spoke inimitably well for his first essay; Mr Popham, and others. There was not one of them who did not establish the doctrine that juries are judges of law as well us fact, but dis- approved of the present motion for various reasons. ' That the doctrine, being established on the foundation of the common law, did not require the assistance of the statute law to defend it. That if a bill of this nature was brought into tiie House, and afterwards rejected, it might have very bad effects on the minds of the people, as it might be supposed that the doctrine was dojibt- fiit. I'hat an enacting law would make it ap- fa\ourite trial by ini.errogatories to every question, in which the life or liberty of an Englishman is concerned. 1 Your charge to the jury, in the prosecu- tion against Almon and Woodfall, contra- dicts the highest legal authorities, as well as the plainest dictates of reason.^ In Miller's cause, and still more expressly in that of Baldwin, 3 you have proceeded a step further, and grossly contradicted your- self. — You may know perhaps, though I do not mean to insult you by an appeal to your experience, that the language of truth is uniform and consistent. To depart from it safely, requires memory and discretion. In the two last trials, your charge to the jury began, as usual, with assuring them pear, that this was a novel doctrine, which few in the House could concur in ; and that if made declaratory only, the judges who had acted on principles contrary to such declaration, would be liable to condign punishment, which the friends of the motion did not seem to wish. ' For these reasons the numbers were, 218 for adjourning, 72 against it.' I^Ir Fox himself was not fortunate in his first attempt : but he determined to persevere till he had succeeded. He lost his bill in the Upper House in 1791, but accomplished his purpose in the spring of the ensuing year, notwithstanding the joint opposition of the law lords, Thurlow, Kenj'on, and Bathurst. The venerable Camden supported the bill with an animation and energy well worthy of his own honest heart, and of the importance of the principle it endeavoured to establish, and maybe said to have finished the glorious career of his political life, with the vote he gave on this illustrious occasion ; seldom pos- sessing sufficient health to attend parliament afterwards, and expiring on April 18, 1794. — Edit. ^ ' The philosophical poet doth notably de- scribe the damnable and damned proceedings of the Judge of Hell : 'Gnossius hie Rhadamanthus habct durisslina rcgna, ' Castigatque, auditque dolos, subigitqiiefateri. First he punisheth, and then he heareth ; and lastly compelleth to confess, and makes and mars laws at his pleasure; like as the Centurion, in the holy history, did to St Paul, for the te.\t saith, Ceutiirio cipprchendi Panluntjiissit, et se catenis iigxri, et tunc ir<'TERROGABAT, quis fjiisset, et qiciii fecisset ; but good judges and justices abhor these courses.' Coke ■?.. Inst. 55. ^ See this subject further enlarged upon in the Preface, p. 117. — Edit. 3 All the persons here named were prosecuted for publishing the Letter to the King, No. XXXV.— Edit. 250 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. that they had nothing to do with the law, — that they were to find the Ijaie fact, and not concern themselves about the legal inferences drawn from it, or the degree of the defendant's guilt. — Thus far you were consistent with your former practice. — But how will you account for the conclusion ? You told the jury that, ' if, after all, they would take upon themselves to determine the law, they might do it, but they must be very sure that they determined according to law, for it touched their consciences, and they acted at their peril. '--If I understand your first proposition, you meant to affirm, that the jury were not competent judges of the law in the criminal case of a libel— i that it did not foil within ///^/z- jurisdiction ; i and that, with respect to them, the malice or innocence of the defendant's intentions would be a question coram noti judice. — But the second proposition clears away your own difficulties, and restores the jury to all tlieir judicial capacities. You make the competence of the court to depend upon the legality of the decision. i In the first instance, you deny the power abso- lutely. In the second, you admit the l"."»thurst, and sir Richard Aston ; while lord you know is universally odious, and which, on some occasions, you yourself speak of with contempt. You would fain be thought to take no share in government, while, in reality, you are the main-spring of the machine. — Here too we trace the lifi/c, prudential pohcy of a Scotchman. — Instead of acting that open, generous part, which becomes your rank and station, you meanly skulk into the closet, and give your sove- reign such advice, as you have not spirit to avow or defend. You secretly engross the power, while you decline the title of minis- ter ; and though you dare not be chancel- lor, you know how to secure the emolu- ments of the office. — Are the seals to be for ever in commission, that you may enjoy five thousand pounds a year ? — 1 beg par- don, my Lord ; 2 — your fears have inter- posed at last, and forced you to resign. — The odium of continuing speaker of the House of Lords, upon such terms, was too formidable to be resisted. What a multi- tude of bad passions are forced to submit to a constitutional infirmity ! But though you have relinquished the salary, you still assume the rights of a minister. — Your conduct, it seems, must be defended m par- liament. — For what other purpose is your wretched friend, that miserable serjeant, posted to the House of Commons? Is it in the abilities of Mr Leigh to defend the great lord Mansfield ?— Or is he only the punch of the puppet-show, to speak as he is prompted by the chief juggler behind the curtain? 3 In public affairs, my Lord, cunning, let it be ever so well wrought, will not conduct a man honourably through life.** Like bad money, it may be current for a time, but it ' will soon be cried down. It cannot consist | with a liberal spirit, though it be sometimes Mansfield was appointed speaker of the L'pper House, and received the fees attached to that important situation. Lord Apsley, about the date of this letter, succeeded to both offices. — Edit. 3 This paragraph gagged poor Leigh. I really am concerned for the man, and wish it were pos- sible to open his mouth. — He is a very pretty orator. 4 See Private Letter, No. 44. — Edit, 252 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. united with extraordinary qualifications. When I acknowledge your abilities, you may believe I am sincere. I feel for human nature, when I see a man, so gifted as you are, descend to such vile practice. — Yet do not suffer your vanity to console you too soon. Believe me, my good Lord, you are not admired in the same degree in which you are detested. It is only the partiality of your friends, that balances the defects of your heart with the superiority of your understanding. No learned man, even among your own tribe, thinks you qualified to preside in a court of common law. Yet it is confessed that, under yustiiiian, you might have made an incomparable Prcstor. — It is remarkable enough, but I hope not ominous, that the laws you understand best, and the judges you affect to admire most, flourished in the decline of a great empire, and are supposed to have contri- buted to its fall. Here, my Lord, it may be proper for us to pause together. — It is not for my ov;n sake that I wish you to consider the de- licacy of your situation. Beware how you indulge the first emotions of your resent- ment. This paper is deUvered to the world, and cannot be recalled ! The persecution of an innocent printer cannot alter facts, nor refute arguments. — Do not furnish me with farther materials against yourself. — An honest man, hke the true religion, appeals J to the understanding, or modestly confides ' in the internal evidence of his conscience. The impostor employs force instead of argument, imposes silence where he cannot convince, and propagates his character by the sword. JUNIUS. LETTER XLII.i TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, January 30, 1771. If v;?. racollect in what manner ^ ' This paper is extremely well printed, and has a great etTect.' Private Letter, No. 29. Date, Jan. 31, 1771. — Edit. the Kings friends have been constantly employed, we shall have no reason to be surprised at any condition of disgrace, to which the once respected name of English- men may be degraded. His Majesty has no cares, but such as concern the laws and constitution of this country. In his royal breast there is no room left for resentment, no place for hostile sentiments against the natural enemies of his crown. The system of government is uniform. — Violence and oppression at home can only be supported by treachery and submission abroad. When the civil rights of the people are daringly invaded on one side, what have we to ex- pect, but that their political rights should be deserted and betrayed, in the same pro- portion, on the other? The plan of do- mestic policy, which has been invariably pursued, from the moment of his present Majesty's accession, engrosses all the at- tention of his servants. They know that the security of their places depends upon their maintaining, at any hazard, the secret system of the closet. A foreign war might embarrass, an unfavourable event might ruin the minister, and defeat the deep-laid scheme of policy, to which he and his as- sociates owe their employments. Rather than suffer the execution of that scheme to be delayed or interrupted, the king has been advised to make a public surrender, a solemn sacrifice, in the face of all Europe, not only of the interests of his subjects, bat of his own personal reputation, and of the dignity of that crown, which his predeces- sors have worn with honour. These are strong terms. Sir, but they are supported by fact and argument. The king of Great Britain had been for some years in possession of an island, 2 to which, as the ministry themselves have re- peatedly asserted, the Spaniards had no claim of right. The importance of the place is not in question. If it were, a better judgment might be formed of it " Falkland, or the Great INIalouine Island. See a brief statement of the whole dispute in a note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. LXXXVIII. —Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 253 from the opinions of lord Anson and lord Egmont, and from the anxiety of the Span- iards, than from any fallacious insinuations thrown out by men, whose interest it is to undervalue that property, which they are determined to rehnquish. The pretensions of Spain were a subject of negotiation be- tween the two courts. They had been dis- cussed, but not admitted. The king of Spain, in these circumstances, bids adieu to amicable negotiation, and appeals di- rectly to the sword. The expedition against Port Egmont does not appear to have been a sudden ill-concerted enterprise. It seems to have been conducted not only with the usual military precautions, but in all the forms and ceremonies of war. A frigate was first employed to examine the strength of the place. A message was then sent, demanding immediate possession, in the Catholic king's name, and ordering our people to depart. At last a military force appears, and compels the garrison to sur- render. A formal capitulation ensues, and his Majesty's ship, which might at least have been permitted to bring home his troops immediately, is detained in port twenty days, and her rudder forcibly taken away. This train of facts carries no ap- pearance of the rashness or violence of a Spanish governor. On the contrary, the whole plan seems to have been formed and I executed, in consequence of deliberate orders, and a regular instruction from the Spanish court. Mr Bucarelli is not a pirate, nor has he been treated as such by those who employed him .1 I feel for the honour of a gentleman, when I affirm that our king owes him a signal reparation. — Where will the humiliation of this country end ! A king of Great Britain, not contented with placing himself upon a level with a Spanish governor, descends so low as to do a no- torious injustice to that governor. As a salvo for his cwn reputation, he has been ' The governor of Buenos Ayrcs, under whose directions the expedition, sent to take possession of Port Egmont, was forwarded ; and who, it was well known, did not act without authority. — Edit. advised to traduce the character of a brave officer, and to treat him as a common rob- ber, when he knew with certainty that Mr Bucarelli had acted in obedience to his orders, and had done no more than his duty. Thus it happens in private hfe, with a man who has no spirit nor sense of hon- our. — One of his equals orders a servant to strike him. — Instead of returning the blow to the master, his courage is contented with throwing an aspersion, equally false and public, upon the character of the servant. This short recapitulation was necessary to introduce the consideration of his Ma- jesty's speech, of 13th November, 1770, and the subsequent measures of govern- ment. The excessive caution with which the speech was drawn up, had impressed upon me an early conviction, that no serious resentment was thought of, and that the conclusion of the business, whenever it happened, must, in some degree, be dis- honourable to England. There appears through the whole speech, a guard and reserve in the choice of expression, which shows how careful the ministry were not to embarrass their future projects by any firm or spirited declaration from the throne. When all hopes of peace are lost, his Majesty tells his parliament, that he is pre- paring,— not for barbarous war, but (with all his mother's softness'-) for a different situation.— Kxi open act of hostility, author- ized by the Catholic king, is called an act of a governor. This act, to avoid the men- tion of a regular siege and surrender, passes under the piratical description of seizing by force; and the thing taken is described, not as a part of the king's territory or pro- per dominion, but merely as a possession, a word expressly chosen in contradistinction to, and exclusion of, the idea cf right, and to prepare us for a future surrender both of the right and of the possession. Yet this speech. Sir, cautious and equivocal as it is, cannot, by any sophistry, be accommodated to the measures which have since been - Alluding to the vulgar report of the day, that the Princess Dowager of Wales had inter- fered in the Spanish negotiation. — Edit. 254 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. adopted. It seemed to promise, that what- ever might be given up by secret stipula- tion, some care would be taken to save appearances to the public. The event shows us, that to depart, in the minutest article, from the nicety and strictness of punctilio, is as dangerous to national hon- our as to female virtue. The woman who admits of one familiarity, seldom knows where to stop, or what to refuse ; and when the counsels of a great country give way in a single instance, — when once they are in- clined to submission, — every step accelerates the rapidity of the descent. The ministry themselves, when they framed the speech, did not foresee that they should ever ac- cede to such an accommodation as they have since advised their master to accept of. The king says. The honour of my crown and the rights of my people are deeply affect- ed. The Spaniard, in his reply, says, / give you back possession, but I adhere to my claim of prior right, reserving the assertion of it for a more favourable opportunity. The speech says, / made an immediate demand of satisfaction, and, if that fails, I am prepared to do myself justice. This immediate demand must have been sent to Madrid on the 12th of September, or in a few days after. It was certainly refused, or evaded, and the king has not done him- self justice. — When the first magistrate speaks to the nation, some care should be taken of his apparent veracity. The speech proceeds to say, / shall not discontinue my preparations until I have received proper reparation for the injury. If this assurance may be relied on, what an enormous expense is entailed, sine die, upon this unhappy country ! Restitution of a possession and reparation of an injury are as different in substance as they are in lan- guage. The very act of restitution may contain, as in this instance it palpably does, a shameful aggravation of the injury. A man of spirit does not measure the degree of an injury by the mere positive damage he has sustained. He considers the prin- ciple on which it is founded ; he resents the superiority asserted over him ; and re- jects with indignation the claim of right, which his adversary endeavours to establish, and would force him to acknowledge. The motives, on which the Catholic king makes restitution, are, if possible, more insolent and disgraceful to our sovereign, than even the declaratory condition annex- ed to it. After taking four months to con- sider whether the expedition was under- taken by his own orders or not, he condescends to disavow the enterprise, and to restore tlie island ; — not from any regard to justice, — not from any regard he bears to his Britannic Majesty, but merely //vw the persuasion, in which he is, of the pacific sentiments of the king of Great Britain. — At this rate, if our king had discovered the spirit of a man, — if he had made a per- emptory demand of satisfaction, the king of Spain would have given him a peremp- tory refusal. But why this unseasonable, this ridiculous mention of the king of Great Britain's pacific intentions ? Have they ever been in question? Was he the aggressor? Does he attack foreign powers without pro- vocation ? Does he even resist, when he is insulted ? No, Sir, if any ideas of strife or hostility have entered his royal mind, they have a very different direction. The ene- mies of England have nothing to fear from them. After all, Sir, to what kind of disavowal has the king of Spain at last consented ? Supposing it made in proper time, it should have been accompanied with instant restitua- tion ; and if Mr Bucarelli acted without orders, he deserved death. Now, Sir, instead of immediate restitution, we have a four months' negotiation, and the officer, whose act is disavowed, returns to court, and is loaded with honours. If the actual situation of Europe be con- sidered, the treachery of the king's servants, particularly of lord North, who takes the whole upon himself, will appear in the strongest colours of aggravation. Our allies were masters of the Mediterranean. The king of France's present aversion from war and the distraction of his affairs are no- torious. He is now in a state of war with LETTERS OF J UNI U his people. In vain did the CathoHc king I solicit him to take part in the quarrel against us. His finances were in the last disorder, and it was probable that his troops might find sufficient employment at home. In these circumstances, we might liave dictated the law to Spain. There are no terms to which she might not have been compelled to submit. At the worst, a war with Spain alone carries the fairest promise of advantage. One good effect at least would have been immediately produced by it. The desertion of France would have irritated her ally, and in all probability have dissolved the family compact. The scene is now fiitally changed. The advan- tage is thrown away. The most favourable opportunity is lost. — Hereafter we shall know the value of it. \\'iien the French king is reconciled to his subjects ; — when Spain has completed her preparations ; — when the collected strength of the house of Bourbon attacks us at once, the king him- self will be able to determine upon the wis- dom or imprudence of his present conduct. i As far as the probability of argument extends, we may safely pronounce, that a conjuncture, which threatens the very being of this country, has been wilfully prepared and forwarded by our own ministry. How far the people may be animated to resist- ance under the present administration, I know not ; but this I know with certainty, tliat, under the present administration, or if any thing like it should continue, it is of very little moment whether we are a con- quered nation or not.- Having travelled thus far in the high road of matter of fact, I may now be per- mitted to wander a little into the field of ' This prediction was but too fatally verified, in the aid subsequently afforded by those powers to America. — Edit. - The king's acceptance of the Spanish am- bassador's declaration is drawn up in barbarous French, and signed by the earl of Rochford. This diplomatic lord has spent his life in the study and practice oi etiquettes, and is supposed to be a profound master of the ceremonies. I will not insult him by any reference to grammar or common sense. If he were even acquainted with the common forms of his office, I should think imagination. Let us banish from our minds the persuasion that these events have really happened in the reign of the best of princes. Let us consider them as nothing more than the materials of a fable, in which we may conceive the sovereign of some other country to be concerned. I mean to violate all the laws of probability, when I suppose that this imaginary king, after having voluntarily disgraced himself in the eyes of his subjects, might return to a sense of his dishonour ! — that he might perceive the snare laid for him by his ministers, and feel a spark of shame kindling in his breast. — The part he must then be obliged to act, would overwhelm him with confu- sion. To his parliament he must say, / called you together to receive your advice, and have never asked your opitiion. — To the merchant, — I have distressed your com- merce ; I have dragged your seamen out of ' your ships, I have loaded you voith a griev- j ous weight of insurances. — To the land- holder, — / told you rear was too probable, when I 'toas determined to submit to any terms of accommodation ; I extorted ?tew . taxes from you before it was possible they I could be wanted, and am now unable to 1 account for the applicatio7i of them. — To the public creditor, — / have delivered vp ' your fortunes a prey to foreigners, and to the vilest of your fcllo7u-subjccts. Perhaps this repenting piince might conclude with one general acknowledgment to them all, — / have involved every rank of my sub- jects in anxiety and distress, a7id have nothing to offer you in return., but the certainty of national dishonour, an armed truce, and peace without security. If these accounts were settled, there him as well qualified for it as any man in his Majesty's service. — The reader is requested to observe lord Rochford's method of authenticating a public instrument. ' En foi de quoi, vtoi soussigne, un des principau.x secretaires d'etat de S. M.B. rt/ signe la presente de ma signature ordinaire, et^ icelle fait apposer le cachet de iios amies.' In three lines there are no less than seven false concords. But the man does not even know the style of his office ; — if he had known it, he would have said, ' nous, soussign^, secretaire d'etat de S. M. B. avoiis sign6,' «S»f. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. would still remain an apology to be made to his navy and to his army. To the first he would say, You were once the terror of the world. But go back to your harbours. A man dishonou7-ed, as I atn, has no 7isc for your service. It is not probable that he would appear again before his soldiers, even in the pacific ceremony of a review. ^ But wherever he appeared, the humiliating confession would be extorted from him : / have received a blow, — and had not spirit to resent it. I demanded satisfaction, and have accepted a declaration, in which the right to strike me again is asserted and confirmed. His countenance at least would speak this language, and even his guards would blush for him. But to return to our argument. — ^Tlie ministry, it seems, are labouring to draw a line of distinction between the honour of the ^ A mistake. He appears before them every day, with the mark of a blow upon his face. — Froh pjidor ! - It was against this letter that Dr Johnson wns engaged by the ministry to muster the whole of his political and argumentative powers. His answer, published in 1771, is entitled, 'Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands ; ' from which the following is worth transcribing : ' To considerations such as these, it is reason- able to impute that anxiety of the Spaniards, from which the importance of this island is in- ferred by Junius, one of the few writers of his 1 despicable faction whose name does not disgrace the page of an opponent. The value of the j ihing disputed may be very different to him that \ gains and him that loses it. The Spaniards, by j yielding Falkland's Island, have admitted a precedent of what they think encroachment, have suffered a breach to be made in the out- works of their empire, and, notwithstanding the reserve of prior right, have suffered a dangerous exception to the prescriptive tenure of their American territories. ' An unsuccessful war would undoubtedly have had the efiect which the enemies of the ministry so earnestly desire ; for who could have sustained the disgrace of folly ending in misfortune? but had wanton invasion ur. 'iservedly prospered, had Falkland's Island been yielded uncondi- tionally with every right prior and posterior, though the rabble might have shouted, and the windows have blazed, yet those who know the value of life, and the uncertainty of public credit, would have murmured, perhaps unheard, at the increase of our debt, and the loss of our people. ' This thirst of blood, however the visible pro- moters of sedition may think it convenient to crown and the rights of the people. This new idea has yet been only started in discourse, for in effect both objects have been equally sacrificed. I neither understand the distinc- tion, nor what use the ministry propose to make of it. The king's honour is that of his people. Their real honour and real inter- est are the same. — I am not contending for a vain punctilio. A clear, unblemished character comprehends not only the in- tegrity that will not offer, but the spirit that will not submit to, an injury ; and whether it belongs to an individual or to a community, it is the foundation of peace, of independence, and of safety. Private credit is ^\ ealth ; — public honour is se- curity. — The feather that adorns the royal bird, supports its flight. Strip him of his plumage, and you fi.K him to the earth. 2 JUNIUS. shrink from the accusation, is loudly avowed by Junius, the writer to whom his party owes much of its pride, and some of its popularity : Of Junius it cannot be said, as of Ulysses, that lie scatters ambiguous e.xpressions among the vulgar ; for he cries havock without reser\'e, and endeavours to let slip the dogs of foreign and of civil war, ig- norant whither they are going, and careless what may be their prey. Junius has sometimes made his satire felt, but let not injudicious admiration mistake the venom of the shaft for the vigour of the bow. He has sometimes sported with lucky malice ; but to him that knows his company, it is not hard to be sarcastic in a mask. While he walks like Jack the Giant Killer in a coat of darkness, he may do much mischief with little strength. Novelty captivates the superficial and thoughtless ; vehemence delights the discon- tented and turbulent. He that contradicts acknowledged truth will always have an audi- ence ; he that vilifies established authoritj' will always find abettors. ' Junius burst into notice with a blaze of im- pudence which has rarely glared upon the world before, and drew the rabble after him as a mon- ster makes a show. When he had once pro- vided for his safety by impenetrable secrecy, he had nothing to combat but truth and justice, enemies whom he knows to be feeble in the dark. Being then at liberty to indulge himself in all the immunities of invisibility ; out of the reach of danger, he has been bold ; out of the reach of shame, he has been confident. As a rhetorician, he has the art of persuading when he seconded desire ; as a reasoner, he has convinced those who had no doubt before ; as a moralist, he has taught that virtue may disgrace ; and as a patriot, he has gratified the mean by insults on the high. Finding sedition ascendant, he has LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XLIIL TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 6//z Feb. 1771. I HOPE your correspondent Junius is better employed than in answering or been able to advance it ; finding the nation com- bustible, he has been able to inflame it. Let us abstract from his wit the vivacity of insolence, and withdraw from his efficacy the sympathetic favour of plebeian malignity ; I do not say that we shall leave him nothing ; the cause that I defend scorns the help of falsehood ; but if we leave him only his merit, what will be his praise ? ' It is not by his liveliness of imagery, his pungency of periods, or his fertility of allusion, that he detains the cits of London and the boors of Middlesex. Of style and sewtiment they take no cognizance. They admire him for virtues like their own, for contemptoforder and violence of outrage, for rage of defamation and audacity of falsehood. The supporters of the Bill of Rights feel no niceties of composition, nor dex- terities of sophistry ; their faculties are better proportioned to the bawl of Bellas or barbarity of Beckford ; but they are told that Jlt.ntjs is on their side, and they are therefore sure that Jl'.n'ius is infallible. Those who know not whither he would lead them, resolve to follow him ; and those who cannot find his meaning, hope he means rebellion. ' Junius is an unusual phsenomenon, on which some have gazed with wonder, and some with terror, but wonder and terror are transitory pas- sions. He will soon be more closely viewed, or more attentively examined, and what folly has taken for a comet that, from its flaming hair, shook pestilence and war, enquiry will find to be only a meteor formed by the vapours of putrefy- ing democracy, and kindled into flame by the efferx'escence of interest struggling with convic- tion, which, after having plunged its followers in a bog, will leave us enquiring why we re- garded it. ' Yet though I cannot think the style of Junus secure from criticism, though his expressions are often trite, and his periods feeble, I should never have stationed him where he has placed himself, had I not rated him by his morals rather than his faculties. ' What,' says Pope, ' must be the priest, where the monkey is a god ? ' What must be the drudge of a party of which the heads are Wilkes and Crosby, Sawbridge and Townshend ? 'Junius knows his own meaning, and can therefore tell it. He is an enemy to the ministry, he sees them hourly growing stronger. He knows that a war at once unjust and unsuccess- ful would have certainly displaced them, and is therefore, in his zeal for his country, angry that war was not unjustly made, and unsuccessfully conducted ; but there are others whose thoughts reading the criticisms of a newspaper. This is a task, from which, if he were in- clined to submit to it, his friends ought to relieve him. Upon this principle, I shall undertake to answer Aiiti Ju;tius, more, I beheve, to his conviction than to his satis- faction. Not daring to attack the main are less clearly expressed, and whose schemes perhaps are less consequentially digested, who declare that they do not wish for a rupture, yet condemn the ministry for not doing that from which a rupture would naturally have followed.' Of this pamphlet the ministry were not a little proud; and especially as they made no doubt that Junius would hereby be drawn into a paper contest with Johnson, and that hence they would possess a greater facility of detecting him. Junius seems to have been aware of the trap laid for him, and made no direct reply whatever. How far the Doctor was correct in asking the question, what must be the drudge of a party of which the heads are Wilkes and Crosby, Saw- bridge and Townshend ? may be seen by refer- ring to the protest entered on the Lords' journals against the address voted in consequence of the communications made to both Houses of parlia- ment on the conclusion of the Spa..ish conven- tion, which adopts most of the sentiments here so ably expressed, and which will be fo ind in a note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. LXXXYHI., p. 467. In effect the Doctor did not fairly meet his argument ; and a reply was not altogether necessary. \yith one part of this celebrated pamphlet the minister himself was displeased, and actuallj' suppressed the sale till his own correction was substituted for the obnoxious passage. The reader shall receive the account from the follow- ing letter inserted in the Public Advertiser, which is sufficiently explicit, and was incapable of contradiction. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sin, April ■2, 1771. Some little time ago there was pub- lished a pamphlet, intitled, ' Thoughts on the late transactions respecting Falkland's Islands,' said, upon good grounds, to have been written by the learned Dr Johnson, under the special direction of the minister-apparent. Scarce were a few copies got abroad, before the sale of the edition, which had been advertised, was stopped, by order of the minister, for the sake of an alteration, which was made (as there is reason to believe) without the consent of the Doctor hav- ing been asked or had; after which it was set a-going again, and the public is now happily once more in possession of it. But as some may be curious to know in what it was that the alteration particularly consisted, and may not have by them both the first published and the LETTERS OF JUNIUS. body of JUNiUs's last letter, he triumphs in having, as he thinks, surprised an out- post, and cut off a detached argument, a mere straggling proposition. But even in this petty warfare, he shall find himself de- feated. Junius does not speak of the Spanish nation as the natural enemies of England. He applies that description, with the strict- est truth and justice, to the Spanish Court. From the moment when a prince of the House of Bourbon ascended that throne, their whole system of government was in- verted and became hostile to this country. Unity of possession introduced a unity of politics and Le\\is the Fourteenth had reason when he said to his grandson, ' The Pyrenees are removed.' The history of the present century is one continued confirma- tion of the prophecy. The assertion ' That violence and op- pression at home can only be supported by treachery and submission abroad,' is applied to a free people, whose rights are invaded, not to the government of a country, where despotic or absolute power is confessedly vested in the prince ; and with this applica- tion, the assertion is true. An absolute monarch having no points to carry at home. altered pamphlet to compare, the following ac- count will solve the question : In thejlrst publication, pages 67 and 68, you have the following paragraph : ' The Manilla ransom has, I think, been most mentioned by the inferior bellowers of sedition. Those who lead the faction know that it cannot ba remembered much to their advantage. The followers of lord Rockingham remember that his ministry begun and ended without obtaining it: the adherents to Grenville would be told that he could never be brought to understand our claim. The law of nations made little of his know- ledge. Let him not, however, be depreciated in his grave ; he had powers not universally pos- sessed : i/-he could liavc got the money Jic could have COUNTED it.' Upon calling in the pamphlet, this sarcastic pretty epigram, at the close of the paragraph, was struck out, the two pages being cancelled, and a carton substituted, with the following alteration after the word ' possessed : ' ' Avd if he soviet inies erred, he luas likewise sometimes right.' And thus it 7io'w stands in the second publica- tion. And here the exquisite stupidity of the will naturally maintain the honour of his crown in all his transactions with foreign powers. But if we could suppose the sove- reign of a free nation possessed with a design to make himself absolute, he would be inconsistent with himself if he suffered his projects to be interrupted or embarrass- ed by a foreign war ; unless that war tended, as in some cases it might, to pro- mote his principal design. Of the three exceptions to this general rule of conduct (quoted by Anti yunius), that of Oliver Cromwell is the only one in point. Harry the Eighth, by the submission of his parlia- ment, was as absolute a prince as Lewis the Fourteenth. Queen Elizabeth's govern- ment was not oppressive to the people ; and as to her foreign wars, it ought to be considered that they were unavoidable. The national honour was not in question. She was compelled to fight in defence of her own person and of her title to the crown. In the common course of selfish policy, Oliver Cromwell should have cul- tivated the friendship of foreign powers, or at least have avoided disputes with them, the better to establish his tyranny at home. Had he been only a bad man, he would have sacrificed the honour of the nation to words which were substituted to the words ex- punged, would not be worth remarking, as if it was very possible to name that personage in the world of whom it was not predicable, that 'if he soijzetimes erred, he was also sometimes right; ' but that there occurs upon it a not uncurious question, to which of the two motives of the minister this notable alteration was most probably owing ; a question which it is left to the candour of the reader to decide with himself. Whether was it owing to the premier's scrupul- ous delicacy of not wounding the memory of the dead (a man who with a knowledge of the laws, and of the finances, infinitely superior to his, had however, if possible, as little of the genius for managing affairs as himself), that he caused the close of the paragraph in the first publication to be cancelled, to make way for foisting into the second an alteration that mended nothing, being manifestly an exquisite chip of nonsense ? Or, was it that those unlucky words in the first, relative to the coutiiittg oi money, struck the con- scious premier, in the light of the obvious danger of the public's being reminded by them of that rich story of a high character's having, upon a time, been observed busily employed in the noble act of COUNTING money at church? — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS 259 ! the success of his domestic policy. But, with all his crimes, he had the spirit of an Englishman. The conduct of such a man must always be an exception to vulgar rules. He had abilities sufficient to recon- cile contradictions, and to make a great nation at the same moment unhappy and formidable. If it were not for the respect I bear the minister, I could name a man, who, without one grain of understanding, can do half as much as Oliver Cromwell. Whether or no there be a secret system in the closet, and what may be the object of it, are questions which can only be de- termined by appearances, and on which every m.an must decide for himself. The whole plan of Juxius's letter proves that he himself makes no distinction be- tween the real honour of the crown and the real interest of the people. In the climax, to which your correspondent objects, JU- NIUS adopts the language of the court, and by that conformity gives strength to his argument. He says that ' the king has not only sacrificed the interests of his people, but (what was likely to touch him more nearly) his personal reputation, and the dignity of his crown.' The queries, put by Anti Junius, can only be answered by the ministry. 1 Aban- doned as they are, I fancy they will not confess that they have, for so many years, j maintained possession of another man's I property. After admitting the assertion of ! the ministr}- — viz. that the Spaniards had I no rightful claim, and after justifying them for saying so, — it is his business, not mine, to give us some good reasori for their suffering the pretensions of Spain to be a subject of negotiation. He admits the facts ; — let him reconcile them if \\z can. The last paragraph brings us back to the original question, whether the Spanish de- claration contains such a satisfaction as the king of Great Britain ought to have accept- ed. This was the field upon which he ought to have encountered Junius openly and fairly. But here he leaves the argu- ment, as no longer defensible. I shall therefore conclude with one general ad- monition to my fellow-subjects ; — that, when they hear these matters debated, they should not suffer themselves to be misled by general declamations upon the conveni- ences of peace, or the miseries of war. Between peace and war, abstractedly, there is not, there cannot be, a question in the mind of a rational being. The real ques- tions are. Have we any security that the peace we have so dearly purchased will last a twelvemonth f and if not, — have we, or have we not, sacrificed the fairest oppor- tunity of making war with advantage f PHILO JUNIUS.2 * A writer, subscribing himself Anti yuniits, attacked the preceding letter of Junius in three successive numbers of the Public Advertiser, in February 1771 ; but, after the extracts inserted from Dr Johnson, his letters are hardly entitled to further notice. — Edit. ^ On the seventh of February' appeared the folfowing letter : to the printer of the public advertiser. Sir, The lirst letter of Anti Jiniiics did not promise a second, or at least it escaped me. I shall re- LETTER XLIV.3 TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 22 April, 1771. To write for profit without taxing the press ;•* — to write for fame and to be un- I known ; to support the intrigues of faction and to be disowned, as a dangerous aux- ; iliary, by every party in the kingdom, are contradictions which the minister must reconcile, before I forfeit my credit with serve my observations on his second till I see the whole. In the third paragraph of my letter (line 29) it should have been printed common course, not common cause. PHILO JUNIUS.' The error is corrected in this edition. — Edit. ■^ On this letter, respecting privilege, Junius makes the following" remark to Mr Wilkes. 'The pains I took with that paper, were greater than I can express to you.' Private Letter, No. 70. — Edit. ■^ See Private Letter, No. 59.— Edit. 26o LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the public. I may quit the service, but it would be absurd to suspect me of desertion. The reputation of these papers is an hon- ourable pledge for my attachment to the people. To sacrifice a respected character, und to renounce the esteem of society, requires more than Mr Wedderburne'si re- solution ; and though, in him, it was rather a profession than a desertion of his principles [I speak tenderly of this gentleman, for when treachery is in question, I think we should make allowances for a Scotchman], yet we have seen him in the House of Com- mons overwhelmed with confusion, and almost bereft of his faculties. — But in truth, i Sir, I have left no room for an accommo- '' dation with the piety of St James's. My offences are not to be redeemed by re- ( cantation or repentance. On one side, our warmest patriots would disclaim me as a burthen to their honest ambition. On the other, the vilest prostitution, if Junius could descend to it, would lose its natural merit and influence in the cabinet, and treachery be no longer a reconmiendation to the royal favour. The persons who, till within these few years, have been most distinguished by their zeal for high church and prerogative, are now, it seems, the great assertors of the privileges of the House of Commons. This sudden alteration of their sentiments or language carries with it a suspicious ap- pearance. When I hear the undefined privileges of the popular branch of the legislature exalted by Tories and Jacobites, at the expense of those strict rights, which are known to the subject, and limited by the laws, I cannot but suspect, that some mischievous scheme is in agitation, to de- stroy both law and privilege, by opposing them to each other. They who have ^ Mr Wedderburne, progressively baron Loughborough and earl of Rosslyn, had, on the i2th of January preceding the date of this letter, been promoted to the offices of solicitor-general, and cofferer to the queen. His politics may, therefore, be ascertained without trouble ; yet he had been Inducted into public life, under the auspices of George Grenville, after the latter had professed the principles of Whiggism, and while he was a partisan of lord Rockingham : and it is uniformly denied the power of the whale legislature to alter the descent of the crown, and M'hose ancestors, in rebellion against his Majesty's family, have defended that doctrine at the hazard of their lives, now tell us that privilege of parliament is the only rule of right, and the chief security of the public freedom. — I fear. Sir, that, while forms remain, there has been some material change in the substance of our constitution. The opinions of these men were too absurd to be so easily renounced. Liberal minds are open to conviction. — Liberal doctrines are capable of improvement. — There are proselytes from atheism, but none from superstition. — If their present professions were sincere, I think they could not but be highly offended at seeing a question, con- cerning parliamentary privilege, unneces- sarily started at a season so unfavourable to the House of Commons, and by so very mean and insignificant a person as the minor Onslozu.^ They knew that the pre- sent House of Commons, having com- menced hostiUties with the people, and degraded the authority of the laws by their o\v'n example, were likely enough to be re- sisted, per fas et ncfas. If they were really friends to privilege, they would have thought the question of right too dangerous to be hazarded at this season, and without the formality of a convention, would have left it undecided. I have been silent hitherto, though not from that shameful indifference about the interests of society, which too many of us profess, and call moderation. I confess, Sir, that I felt the prejudices of my educa- tion, in favour of a House of Commons, still hanging about me. I thought that a question, between law and privilege,^ could to this defection from the tenets Mr Wedder- burne avowed till this period, that our author here alludes. — Edit. - It was this gentleman, now lord Onslow, who moved the resolution against the printers already noticed ; and who com.menced a prosecution ftr defamation against Home, in which he was not | successful ; and of which the reader will find an account in note B. to Private Letter, No. 5, p. 62. — Edit. 2 The transaction referred to is the resistance LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 261 never be brought to a formal decision, without inconvenience to the pubHc service, or a manifest diminution of legal liberty ; — that it ought therefore to be carefully avoided : and when I saw that the violence of tlie House of Commons had carried them too far to retreat, I determined not to de- liver a hasty opinion upon a matter of so much delicacy and importance. The state of things is much altered in , this countr)', since it was necessaiy to pro- 1 tect our representatives against the direct power of the crown. We have nothing to I apprehend from prerogative, but every thing from undue influence. Formerly it ; was the interest of the people, that the privileges of parliament should be left un- I limited and undefined. At present it is j not only their interest, but I hold it to be | essenfially necessary to the preservation of I the constitution, that the privileges of par- [ liament should be strictly ascertained, and confined within the narrowest bounds the \ nature of their institution will admit of. I Upon the same principle, on which I would have resisted prerogative in the last cen- tury, I now resist privilege. It is indifferent to me, whether the crown, by its own im- mediate act, imposes new and dispenses j with old laws, or whether the same arbi- trary power produces the same effects through the medium of the House of Com- mons. We trusted our representatives with privileges for their own defence and ours. We cannot hinder their desertion, but we can prevent their carrying over their arms to the service of the enemy. — It will be said, that I begin with endeavouring to reduce the argument concerning privilege to a mere question of convenience ; — that I deny at one moment what I would allow at another ; and that to resist the power of a prostituted House of Commons may estab- lish a precedent injurious to all future par- liaments. — To this I answer generally, that human affairs are in no instance governed of the authority of a mere royal proclamation, and a mere order of the House of Commons, by the magistrates of the city ; the arrests and counter-arrests th.at followed ; and the commit- by strict positive right. If change of cir- cumstances were to have no weight in directing our conduct and opinions, the mutual intercourse of mankind would be nothing more than a contention between positive and equitable right. Society would be a state of war, and law itself would be injustice. On this general ground, it is highly reasonable, that the degree of our submission to privileges, which have never been defined by any positive law, should be considered as a question of con- venience, and proportioned to the con- fidence we repose in the integrity of our representatives. As to the injury we may do to any future and more respectable House of Commons, I own I am not now sanguine enough to e.xpect a more plentiful harvest of parliamentary virtue in one year than another. Our pohtical climate is severely altered ; and without dwelling upon the depravity of modern times, I think no reasonable man will e.Kpect that, as human nature is constituted, the enor- mous influence of the crown should cease to prevail over the virtue of individuals. The mischief lies too deep to be cured by any remedy less than some great con- vulsion, which may either carry back the constitution to its original principles, or utterly destroy it. I do not doubt that, in the first session after the ne.xt election, some popular measures may be adopted. The present House of Commons have in- jured themselves by a too early and public profession of their principles, and if a strain of prostitution, which had no example, were within the reach of emulation, it might be imprudent to hazard the experiment too soon. But after all. Sir, it is very im- material whether a House of Commons shall preserve their virtue for a week, a month, or a year. The influence which makes a septennial parliament dependent upon the pleasure of the crown, has a per- manent operation, and cannot fail of suc- cess. — My premises, I know, will be denied ment of the lord mayor and aldermen to the Tcvver. See note to ISIiscellaneous Letter, No. XCII.— Edit. 262 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. necessary for the performance of the duty they are employed in, and also that it has been uniformly allowed. From the first part of this description it follows clearly, that whatever privilege does of right belong to the present House of Commons, did equally belong to the first assembly of their pre- decessors, was as completely vested in them, and might have been exercised in the same extent. From the second we must infer that privileges, which, for seve- ral centuries, were not only never allowed, but never even claimed by the House of m argument, but every man's conscience tolls him they are true. It remains then to be considered, whether it be for the interest of the people that privilege of parliament (which, 1 ill respect to the purposes for which it has hitherto been acquiesced un- der, is merely nominal) should be con- tracted within some certain limits, or whether the subject shall be left at the mercy of a power, arbitrary upon the face of it, and notoriously under the direction of the crown. I do not mean to decline the question of rii^ht. On the contrary, Sir, I join issue | Commons, must be founded upon usurpa- with the advocates for privilege, and affirm, tion. The constitutional duties of a House that, ' excepting the cases, wherein the | of Commons are not very complicated nor mysterious. They are to propose or assent to wholesome laws for the benefit of the nation. They are to grant the necessary aids to the king ; — petition for the redress of grievances, and prosecute treason or high crimes against the state. If unlimited privilege be necessary to the performance of these duties, we have reason to conclude that, for many centuries after the institution of the House of Commons, they were never performed. I am not bound to prove a negative, but I appeal to the English his- toiy when I affirm that, with the excep- tions already stated (which yet I might safely relinquish), there is no precedent, from the year 1265 to the death of queen EUzabeth, of the House of Commons hav- ing imprisoned any man (not a member of their House) for contempt or breach of privilege. In the most flagrant cases, and when their acknowledged privileges were most grossly violated, the poor Cotnmotis, as they then styled themselves, never took House of Commons are a court of judica- ture, [to which, from the nature of their 1 office, a coercive power must belong,] and j excepting such contempts as immediately | interrupt their proceedings, they have no legal authority to imprison any man for any supposed violation of privilege whatsoever.' — It is not pretended that privilege, as now claimed, has ever been defined or confirmed by statute ; neither can it be said, with any colour of truth, to be a part of the common law of England, which had grown into prescription long before we knew any thing of the existence of a House of Com- mons. As for the law of parliament, it is only another name for the privilege in question ; and since the power of creating new privileges has been formally renounced by both Houses, — since there is no code, in which we can study the law of parliament, we have but one way left to make ourselves acquainted with it ; — that is, to compare the nature of the institution of a House of Commons with the facts upon record. To ! the power of punishment into their own establish a claim ofprivilegein either House, ! hands. They either sought redress by pe- and to distinguish original right from usurpa- : tition to the king, or, what is more remark- tion, it must appear that it is indispensably ' able, applied for justice to the House of ^ 'The necessity of securing the House of Commons against the King's power, so that no interruption might be given either to the attend- ance of the members in parHament, or to the freedom of debate, was the foundation of par- liamentary privilege ; and we may observe, in all the addresses of new appointed speakers to the sovereign, the utmost privilege they demand is liberty of speech and freedom from arrests. The very word privilege means no more than immunity, or a safeguard to the party who pos- sesses it, and can never be construed into an active power of invading the rights of others.' — Author. This and some of the following notes form part of a letter signed a Whig, and will be found in the Miscellaneous Collection numbered XCV.— Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 263 1 .ords ; and when satisfaction was denied tliem or delayed, their only remedy was to refuse proceeding upon the king's business. So little conception had our ancestors of the monstrous doctrines now maintained concerning privilege, that, in the reign of Elizabeth, even liberty of speech, the \-ital principle of a deliberate assembly, was re- strained, by the Queen's authority, to a simple aye or no, and this restriction, though imposed upon three successive par- liaments, 1 was never once disputed by the House of Commons. I know there are many precedents of arbitrary commitments for contempt. But, besides that they are of too modern a date to warrant a presumption that such a power was originally vested in the House of Com- mons, — Fact alone does not constitute Right. If it does, general warrants were lawful. — An ordinance of the two Houses has a force equal to law ; and the criminal jurisdiction assumed by the Commons in 1621, in the case of Edward Lloyd, 2 is a good precedent, to warrant the like pro- ceedings against any man, who shall unad- visedly mention the folly of a king, 01 the ambition of a princess. — The truth is, Sir, that the greatest and most exceptionable part of the privileges now contended for, were introduced and asserted by a House of Commons which abolished both mon- archy and peerage, and whose proceedings, although they ended in one glorious act of substantial justice, could no way be recon ciled to the forms of the constitution Their successors profited by the example, and confirmed their power by a moderate or a popular use of it. Thus it grew by degrees, from a notorious innovation at one ^ In the years 1593 — 1597 — and 1601. ^ Lloyd, while a prisoner in the Fleet, had ridiculed the daughter of James the First, and her consort, for which complaint was made to the House of Commons, who, on investigation, chose to think the words sufficiently proved, and sen- tenced him to be ' set on the pillory at West- minster for two hours, to ride backward upon a horse without a saddle, with the horse's tail in his hand, to have labels affixed on his head, in- dicating that he had been found guilty of using " false, malicious, and despiteful speeches against period, to be tacitly admitted as the privi- lege of parhament at another. If however it could be proved, from con- siderations of necessity or convenience, that an unlimited power of con^.mitment ought to be intrusted to the House of Commons, and that hi fact they have exercised it without opposition, still, in contemplation of law, the presumption is strongly against them. It is a leading maxim of the laws of England (and with- out it, all laws are nugatory) that there is no right without a remedy, nor any legal power without a legal course to carry it into effect. Let the power, now in question, be tried by this rule. — The speaker issues his wan-ant of attachment. The party attached either resists force with force, or appeals to a magistrate, who declares the warrant illegal, and discharges the prisoner. Does the law provide no legal means for enforc- ing a legal warrant ? Is there no regular proceeding pointed out in our law books to assert and vindicate the authority of so high a court as the House of Commons? The question is answered directly by the fact. Their unlawful commands are resist- ed, and they have no remedy. The impri- sonment of their own members is revenge indeed, but it is no assertion of the privilege they contend for.^ Their whole proceeding stops, and there, they stand, ashamed to retreat, and unable to advance. Sir, these ignorant men should be informed that the execution of the laws of England is not left in this uncertain, defenceless condition. If the process of the courts of Westminster- hall be resisted, they have a direct course, sufficient to enforce submission. The court of King's Bench commands the sheriff to the king's daughter and her husband," to be again pilloried in Cheapside, and to be fined ;^iooo.'— Edit. , , . , 3 Upon their own pnnciples, they should nave committed Mr Wilkes, who had been guilty of 1 a greater off"ence than even the lord mayor or ^ alderman Oliver. But after repeatedly ordering : liim to attend, they at last adjourned beyond the day appointed for his attendance, and by this mean, pitiful evasion, gave up the point. — Such I is the force of conscious guilt ! — Author. I See note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. XCII. — Edit. 264 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. raise the fosse comitatus. The courts of Chancery and Exchequer issue ?l writ of re- bellion, which must also be supported, if necessar)^ by the power of the county. — To whom will our honest representatives direct their writ of rebellion ? The guards, I doubt not, are willing enough to be em- ployed, but they know nothing of the doctrine of writs, and may think it neces- sary to wait for a letter from lord Barring- ton. 1 It may now be objected to me, that my arguments prove too much ; for that cer- tainly there may be instances of contempt and insult to the House of Commons, which do not fall within rsy own excep- tions, yet, in regard to the dignity of the House, ought not to pass unpunished. Be it so. — The courts of criminal jurisdiction are open to prosecutions, which the attorney- general may commence by information- or indictment. A libel, tending to asperse or vihfy the House of Commons, or any of their members, may be as severely punished * In allusion to his letter of thanks to the guards for their conduct in St George's Fields. See the letter and the subject more particularly touched upon in the Miscellaneous Collection, No. XXIV.— Edit. ^ ' If it be demanded, in case a subject should be committed by either House, for a matter mani- festly out of their jurisdiction, what remedy can he have ? I answer, that it cannot well be imagined that the law, which favours nothing more than the liberty of the subject, should give us a remedy against commitments by the king himself, appearing to be illegal, and yet give us no manner of redress against a commitment by our fellow-subjects, equally appearing to be un- warranted. But as this is a case which I am persuaded will never happen, it seems needless over nicely to examine it.' Haivkins 2, no. — *V. B. He ivas a good lawyer, bttt no prophet. 3 That their practice might be every way con- formable to their principles, the House proceeded to advise the crown to publish a proclamation universally acknowledged to be illegal. Mr Moreton publicly protested against it before it was issued ; and lord Mansfield, though not .scrupulous to an e.xtreme, speaks of it with hor- ror. It is remarkable enough, that the very men who advised the proclamation, and who hear it arraigned every day both within doors and with- out, are not daring enough to utter one word in its defence, nor have they ventured to take the least notice of Mr Wilkes for discharging the persons apprehended under it. ^ Our author refers to the erasure of the Irans- in the court of King's Bench, as a libel upon the king. Mr De Grey thought so, when he drew up the information upon my Letter to his Majesty, or he had no meaning in charging it to be a scandalous libel upon the House of Commons. In my opinion, they would consult their real dignity much better by appealing to the laws when they are offended, thc-a by violating the first principle of natural justice, which forbids us to be judges, when we are parties to tlie cause. - I do not mean to pursue them through the remainder of their proceedings. In their first resolutions, it is possible they might have been deceived by ill-considered precedents. For the rest there is no colour of palliation or excuse. They have advised the king to resume a power of dispensing with the laws by royal proclamation ; 3 and kings, we see, are ready enough to follow such advice. — By mere violence, and with- out the shadow of right, they have expung- ed the record * of a judicial proceeding. ^ actions of the sitting aldermen from the book of recognizances, as stated in note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. XCII.— Edit. 5 Lord Chatham ver^' properly called this the act of a mob, not of a senate. — Author. In a speech made in support of the following motion submitted to the House of Lords, April 30, 1771 :— The duke of Richmond moved, * That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, most dutifully and earnestly beseeching his Ma- jesty, that, under the late violations of the rights I of the electors of Great Britain, in the election j for Middlesex, still unredressed, and in the pre- sent conflict which has so unhappily arisen be- ' tween the claims of privilege of the House of ! Commons on one side, and those of magistracy on the other, his Majesty will, in his paternal I wisdom, deign to open the way to compose this alarming warfare ; and that, in order to prevent \ the said House and the nation from being in- volved in intemperate discussions of undefined powers, which, in the e.xtreme, may endanger I the constitution, and tend to shake the tranquil- lity of the kingdom, his Majesty will be graciously pleased to recur to the recent sense of his people, by dissolving, after the end of this session, the I present parliament, and calling, with convenient I dispatch, a new parliament.' Lord Chatham, in supporting this motion, entered largely into the consideration of the ' melancholy state of the country ; — the depraved I system of government, which had, in a very few years, reduced us from a most flourishing to a LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 265 Nothing remained, out to attribute to their own vote a power of stopping the whole distribution of criminal and civil justice. The public virtues of the chief magistrate have long since ceased to be in question. But it is said that he has private good qualities, and I myself have been ready to acknowledge them. They are now brought to the test. If he loves his people, he will dissolve a parliament, which they can never confide in or respect. — If he has any regard for his own honour, he will disdain to be any longer connected with such abandoned prostitution. But if it were conceivable, that a king of this country had lost all sense of most miserable condition. He went through the %vhole proceedings of the House of Commons in the late business of the printers, and arraigned every part of it in the strongest terms. He warmly defended the magistrates in the con- scientious discharge of their duty ; — that the House, in committing them to prison without hearing their defence upon the point of privilege, had been guilty of a gross and palpable act of tyranny ; — that they had heard the prostituted electors of Shoreham in defence of an agreement to sell a borough by auction, and had refused to hear the lord mayor of London, in defence of the laws of England ;— that their expunging, by mere force, the entry of the rircognizance, was the act of a mob, not of a parliament ; — but that their daring to assume a power of stopping all prosecutions by their vote, struck at once at the whole system of the laws ; — that it was solely to the measures of government, equally violent and absurd, that Mr Wilkes owed all his import- ance ; — that the king's ministers, supported by the slavish concurrence of the House of Com- mons, had once made him a person of the greatest consequence in the kingdom ; — that they in effect had made him an alderman of London, and representative of the county of Middlesex ; and now, it seems, they intend to make him .sheriff, and, in due course, lord mayor of Lon- don ; — that the proceedings of the House of Com- mons, in regard to this gentleman, made the very name of parliament ridiculous ; — that after re- peated resolutions, by which they had declared him amenable to their jurisdiction, they had shamefully given up the point at last, and, in the face of the world, acknowledged him to be their lord and master. — That there remained but one possible remedy for the disorders, with which the government of this country was universally in- fected ; — that to save the name and institution of parliaments from contempt, this House of Commons must be dissolved. This he hoped might restore good government on one side, — good humour and tranquillity on the other ; — yet that this was rather a hope in him than any sanguine expectation. He feared that it might prove only personal honour, and all concern for the welfare of his subjects, I confess. Sir, I should be contented to renounce the forms of the constitution once more, if there were no other way to obtain substantial justice for the people. 1 JUNIUS. LETTER XL\\ TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 1 May, 1771. They, who object to detached a temporary and partial remedy ; — that to resist the enormous influence of the crown, some stronger barriers must be erected in defence of the constitution. That formerly the inconveni- ences of shortening the duration of parhaments had had great weight with him, but that now it was no longer a question of convenience, the smniiia rermn is at stake, — your whole constitu- tion is giving way ;— and therefore, with the most deliberate and solemn conviction to his understanding, he now declared himself a con- vert TO TKIENNIAL PAKLIA.MENTS.' — EdIT. * When Mr Wilkes was to be punished, they made no scruple about the privileges of parlia- ment ; and although it was well known as any matter of public record and uninterrupted custom could be, that the tneinbers of either House are privileged, except in case 0/ treason, felony, or breach of peace, they declared without hesitation that privilege of parliavient did not extend to the case of a seditious libel ; and undoubtedly they would have done the same if Mr Wilkes had been prosecuted for any other misdemeanour whatsoever. The ministry are of a sudden grown wonderfully careful of privileges, which their predecessors were as ready to invade. The known laws of the land, the rights of the subject, the sanctity of charters, and the reverence due to our magistrates, must all give way, without question or resistance, to a privilege of which no man knows either the origin or the extent. The House of Commons judge of their own privileges without appeal : — they may take offence at the most innocent action, and imprison the person who offends them, during their arbitrary will and pleasure. The party has no remedy ; — he can- not appeal from their jurisdiction : and if he questions the privilege, which he is supposed to have violated, it becomes an aggravation of his offence. Surely this doctrine is not to be found in Magna Charta. If it be admitted without limitation, I affirm that there is neither law nor liberty in this kingdom. We are the slaves of the House of Commons, and, through them, we are the slaves of the king and his ministers. — Ano- NY.MOUS. 266 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. parts of JUNIUS'S last letter, either do not mean him fairly, or have not considered the general scope and course of his argu- ment.— There are degrees in all the private vices.— Why not in public prostitution ?— The influence of the crown naturally makes a septennial parliament dependent. — Docs it follow that every Plouse of Commons will plunge at once into the lo7oest depths of prostitution?— Junius supposes that the present House of Commons, in going such enormous lengths, have been imprudent to themselves, as well as wicked to the public ; — that their example is 7!ot zvithin the reach 0/ emulation ; — and that, in the first session after the next election, some popular mea- sures may probably be adopted. He does not expect that a dissolution of parliament will destroy corruption, but that at least it will be a check and terror to their successors, who will have seen that, in flagrant cases, theirconstituents ^a// and Ti'/V/ interpose with effect. — After all. Sir, will you not endeav- our to remove or alleviate the most danger- ous symptoms, because you cannot eradicate the disease? Will you not punish treason or parricide, because the sight of a gib- bet does not prevent highway robberies? Wlien the main argument of Junius is ad- mitted to be unanswerable, I think it would become the minor critic, who hunts for blemishes, to be a little more distrustful of his own sagacity. — The other objection is hardly worth an answer. When Junius observes that kings are ready enough to follow such advice, he does not mean to insinuate that, if the advice of parliament were good, the king would be so ready to follow it. PHILO JUNIUS. LETTER XLVI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 22 May, 1771. Very early in th« debate upon the decision of the Middlesex election, it was well observed by JUNIUS, that the House of Commons had not cnly exceeded their boasted precedent of the expulsion and subsequent incapacitation of IMr Walpole, but that they had not even adhered to it strictly as far as it went. After convicting Mr Dyson of giving a false quotation from the journals, 1 and having explained tlie purpose which that contemptible fraud was intended to answer, he proceeds to state the vote itself, by which Mr Walpole's sup- posed incapacity was declared, — v:z. ' Re- solved, That Robert Walpole, Esq. having been this session of parliament committed a prisoner to the Tower, and expelled this House for a higli breach of trust in the exe- cution of his office, and notorious corrup- tion when secretary at war, was, and is, in- capable of being elected a member to serve in this present parliament : ' — and then observes that, from the terms of the vote, we have no right to annex the incapacita- tion to the expulsion only, for that, as the proposition stands, it must arise equally from the expulsion and the commitment to the Tower. I believe. Sir, no man, who knows any thing of dialectics, or who un- derstands English, will dispute the truth and fairness of this construction. But Ju- nius has a great authority to support him, which, to speak with the duke of Grafton, I accidentally met with this morning in the course of my reading. It contains an admonition, which cannot be repeated too often. Lord Somers, in his excellent tract upon the rights of the people, after reciting the vote of the convention, of the 28th of January, 1689, viz. — 'That king James the Second, having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of this kingdom by breaking the original contract between king and people ; and by the ad\ice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, hath abdicated the government, Sec' — makes this observa- tion upon it. ' The word abdicated relates to all the clauses aforegoing, as well as to his deserting the kingdom, or else they would have been wholly in vain.' And that See Letter XX., p. 183, note.— Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 267 there might be no pretence for confining the abdication merely to the zuithdraiuing, Lord Somers farther observes, That king James, by refusijig to govern us according to that law by luhich he held the crown, did implicitly renounce his title to it. If JUNics's construction of the vote against Mr Walpole be now admitted (and indeed I cannot comprehend how it can honestly be disputed), the advocates of the House of Commons must either give up their precedent entirely, or be reduced to the necessity of maintaining one of the grossest absurdities imaginable, viz. 'That ' Mr Wilkes having been again returned as one of the members for the county of Middle- sex, in the parliaments of 1774 and 1780, made various fruitless efforts to get the decision of the House of Commons on this most interesting con- troversy erased from their journals, which he at length effected, on the dissolution of the admin- istration of which lord North had been at the head from the time of the resignation of the duke of Grafton, in the year 1770. This occurred May 3, 1782. Mr Wilkes prefaced his motion in the follow- ing address to the House. 'Mr Speaker, ' I think myself peculiarly happy at the present moment, that I have the honour of sub- mitting to the House an important national ques- tion, respecting the rights of election, when the friends and favourites of the people enjoy, with the smiles of our sovereign, the offices of trust and power in the state, accompanied with that fair influence, which is necessarily created by great ability, perfect integrity, the purest political virtue, and the remembrance of their former up- right conduct in the cause of the people. If the people of England, Sir, have at any period ex- plicitly and fully declared an opinion on a momentous constitutional question, it has been in regard to the Middlesex election in 1768, and the subsequent most profligate proceedings of an ad- ministration, hostile, by system, to the rights of this country, and every part of the British empire. An instance cannot be found in our history of a more general concurrence of sentiment among the freeholders of England, and they were joined by almost every borough and corporation in the southern part of the island- I am satisfied, therefore, that I now shall find the real friends of the people determined and zealous in the support of their just claims and undoubted privileges. ' Hitherto, Sir, every attempt for the recovery of this invaluable franchise has been rendered fruitless by the arts and machinations of power in the hands of wicked men : and I may with truth assert, that the body of the people long I addressed, petitioned, and remonstrated with L . a commitment to the Tower is a constitu- ent part of, and contributes half, at least, to the incapacitation of the person who suffers it.' I need not make you any excuse for en- deavouring to keep alive the attention of the public to the decision of the Middlese.v election. The more I consider it, the more I am convinced that, as a fact, it is indeed highly injurious to the rights of the people ; but that, as a precedent, it is one of the most dangerous that ever was estab- lished against those who are to come after us.i Yet I am so far a moderate man, that manly firmness and perseverance, without the least effect, or even impression. The full redress . demanded by this injured nation, seems reserved to distinguish the present propitious asra of pub- he liberty among the early and blooming hon- ours of an administration, which possesses the confidence, and daily conciliates the affections, of a brave and sensible people. Their voice was never heard in a more clear and distinct manner, than on this p,:ii.t of the first magnitude for all the electors of this kingdom ; and I trust will now be heard favourably. The general resent- ment and indignation ran so high against the House of Commons, which committed the out- rage, that their immediate dissolution became the prayer of numberless petitions to the throne. No man scrupled to declare them unworthy to exist in their political capacity. The public pronounced them guilty of sacrificing and be- traying the rights which they were called upon by every tie of justice and duty to defend. The noble spirit of the freeholders of Middlesex, persevering in the best of causes, luidaunted by all the menaces of power, was the subject of the most general applause and admiration. The voice of the people was then in the harsh and sharp tone of passion and anger against ministers. It will, I am persuaded, soon be in the soft and pleasing accents of joy and thankfulness to our deliverers. ' It is scarcely possible, Sir, to state a question in which the people of this free country are more materially interested, than in the right of elec- tion ; for it is the share which they have reser\'ed to themselves in the legislature. When it was wrested from them by violence, the constitution was torn up by the roots. ' I have now the happiness of seeing the Trea- sury bench filled with the friends of the constitu- j tion, the guardians and lovers of liberty, who have been unwearied and uniform in the defence of all our rights, and in particular of this invalu- able franchise. I hail the present auspicious moment, and with impatience expect the com- pletion of what I have long and fervently desired for my friends and country, for the present age, and a free posterity. The former conduct of 263 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. I verily believe the majority of the House of Commons, when they passed this dan- gerous vote, neitlier understood the ques- tion, nor knew the consequence of what those now in power, affords me the most sanguine hopes of this day seeing justice done to a people, to whom they have so frequently appealed, who now look up to them with ardent expectation, with pleasure and esteem. Consistency, Sir, has drawn the right line of their political conduct to this period. It will now point out the same path of public virtue and honour. May I be indulged in a hint, which I mean to extend much beyond i the business of the day, when I say that consist- ' ency will be attended with that stability and ! perfect security, which are the objects of every ! good man's wishes for them ? They have given us a fair earnest of their reverence for the con- stitution, by their support of two bills, essentially necessary to restore the purity and independ- ency of parliament ; / mean the bill for preve7it- ing contractors from sitting in the House of\ Commons, nfui the bill /or (lisr.bling oncers of [ the rer'euue from voting at elections.' Mr Wilkes was here interrupted with a message by Sir Francis Molyneux, gentleman usher of the black rod, desiring the immediate attendance of the House of Commons in the House of Lords. The Speaker then went up to the House of Peers ; and after his return and report of what had passed, Mr Wilkes said : ' Mr Spe.^ker, ' I return my thanks to the black rod for so luckily interposing in favour of this House, when I might possibly have again tired them with the important, however stale, case of the Middlesex electio>t, which their patient ear has for several years, with much good nature, suf- fered, I will now make some return to their indulgence, in profiting by the circumstance of this happy interruption, and not saying a single word about Walpole or IVollaston, Coke or Blackstone. I will not detain the House longer, than by observing the parliamentary form of de- siring the clerk to read the resolution of the 17th of February, 1769.' Which having been com- plied with, he then moved, 'That the entry of the resolution of the 17th of Feb. 1769, "That John Wilkes, Esq., having been in this session of parliament expelled this House, was, and is, incapable of being elected a member to serve in this present parliament," might be expunged from their journals, it being subversive of the rights of the whole body of the electors of this j kingdom.' This motion was (after some op- 1 position from the late Mr Fox, then secretary | of state, and from the late lord Melville, then j lord advocate for Scotland, the former ofi whom had strenuously supported the whole of the resolutions passed by the House of Com- mons, in respect to the Middlesex election) carried on a division, 185 to 47. Mr Wilkes, as soon as this question was disposed of, moved, | 'That all the declarations, orders, and resolu- 1 tions of the House, respecting his election for the county of Middlesex, as a void election, the due and legal election of Mr Luttrell into parliament for the said county, and his own incapacity to be elected a member to serve in the said parliament, be expunged ; ' which motion was, for the rea- sons before given, carried without a division. Thus terminated one of the most severe, and on the part of the servants of the crown most unconstitutional, political contests, that ever agitated the people of this country ; not leaving a 7-ack behind, to constitute, as our author em- phatically terms it, 'a precedent the most dan- gerous that ever was established against those who are to come after us.' As the merit of the erasure of these obnoxious resolutions from the journals of the House of Commons, is solely due to the talents and perseverance of Mr Wilkes, it will not be unfair to defend his motives and pre- tensions as a patriot, from the detraction of contemporary adversaries, as well as from his more modern opponents. The first political offence of which he appears to have been guilty, * was the severity with which he attacked the ad- I ministration of lord Bute, and which was justly characterized for being as deficient in ability as ' it was odiously unconstitutional. For this attack a general warrant was issued, his papers were seized, and himself committed a close prisoner to the Tower. He was afterwards prosecuted for the republication of the North Briton, No. 45, the vehicle of his political lucubrations, and for the Essay on Woman, which had been sur- reptitiously stolen from him by a man of the name of Curry, employed in printing it at his private press, at the instigation of, and under the promise of ample reward and protection from, Philip Carteret Webb, the solicitor to the Trea- sury. Previous to the trial, Wilkes fled to France, where he remained for some years ; in the mean time he had been found guilty in the King's Bench of printing and publishing both libels ; and not appearing in due time to receive the judgment of the court, he was out- lawed. A short time previous to the dissolution of parliament in tlie year 1768, he returned to this country, and was elected member for the county of Middlesex. In the mean while, he surrendered himself to the King's Bench, and having claimed the benefit of certain errors in the writ of outlawry, the same were, after solemn argument, admitted by the court, and the out- lawry was reversed. A few days subsequent to this determination, the judgment of the court was pronounced on himfor publishing the libels ; for the former he was sentenced to pay a fine of ;^5oo to the king, and to be imprisoned ten months ; and for the latter, he was fined in the like sum, and sentenced to twelve months' im- prisonment ; and was further ordered to find security for his good behaviour for seven years, himself in ^1000 and two sureties in ;^500 each. His expulsion from the House of Commons, and the consequences of it, are the subject of several ! LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 269 they were doing. Their motives were rather despicable than criminal, in the extreme. One effect they certainly did not foresee. They are now reduced to such a situation, that if a member of the present House of Commons were to conduct him- self ever so improperly, and in reality de- serve to be sent back to his constituents with a mark of disgrace, they would not dare to expel him ; because they know that the people, in order to try again the great question of right, or to thwart an odious House of Commons, would probably over- look his immediate unworthiness, and re- 1 turn the same person to parliament. — But, in time, the precedent will gain strength. A future House of Commons will have no such apprehensions, consequently will not scruple to follow a precedent, which they did not establish. The miser himself sel- 1 dom lives to enjoy the fruit of his e.xtortion ; but his heir succeeds to him of course, and takes possession without censure. No man expects him to make restitution, and no matter for his title, he lives quietly upon the estate. PHILO JUNIUS. LETTER XLVII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 25 May, 1771. I CONFESS my partiahty to JU- NIUS, and feel a considerable pleasure in being able to communicate any thing to the public, in support of his opinions. The doctrine laid down in his last letter, con- cerning the power of th.e Plouse of Com- mons to commit for contempt, is not so new as it appeared to many people, who, dazzled with the name of privilege, had never suffered themselves to examine the question fairly. In the course of tiiy read- ing this morning, I met with the following passage in the journals of the House of Commons. (Vol. ist, page 603.) Upon of the Letters of this volume, as well as of the notes which have been added to them. Not long previous to his release from prison, he was elected Alderman of Farringdon Without; shvtly afterwards one of the Sheriffs of London, r.'^d in due course Lord Mayor; and on the d.jith of Mr Hopkins, Chamberlain. At a su'/^equent period of Mr Wilkes's life, when the violence of the politics which had raised him to these several respectable situations had altogether subsided, he was attacked, more than once, on the annual election of Chamberlain, and other city officers, with a demand of the previous resignation of his gown as an alderman of London, which he always most resolutely refused, declaring that no consideration on earth should induce him to forego the honour which he felt had been con- ferred upon him by his election to the magistracy of the city of London, and by which determina- tion he ran considerable risk of losing his elec- tion to the former lucrative situation ; an in- stance of disinterestedness not often to be met with in those who most confidently lay claim to patriotism, which certainly places his character in a higher point of view than many have been willing to allow to it: and, in so far as the motives which actuated his political conduct can be called in question, adds to the value of the obligations conferred upon us, by his able and successful opposition to general warrants ; by the aid and assistance afforded the printers in resist- ing the violence of their representatives, on the subject of reporting the debates in parliament ; and by his perseverance in vindicating the rights of the electors of Great Britain, in procuring the erasure from the journals of the House of Com- mons, of their most unconstitutional determina- tion on the much agitated question of the Mid- dlese.x election. With respect to the private ' character of Mr Wilkes in early life, the writer of this note will not venture to make any defence, ■ though he trusts to be excused if he quotes the apology which was made for him by a friend, in the year 1769. 'As to his private foibles, I shall only add, that he may apply what a very eccen- tric genius of this age has said of himself: My own passions, and the passions and interests of other people still more, have led me aside. I launched into the deep before I had loaded ballast enough. If the ship did not sink, the cargo was thrown overboard. The storm itself threw me into port.' Mr Wilkes, after he lost his election for the county of Middlesex, in the year 1790, lived in considerable retirement, and much respected. His literary attainments were of the higher order, and as a political (ontrover- ' sialist, few men were equal to him. Not many years before his death, he was applied to by the late Mr H. S. Woodfall to write some explana- \ tory notes for a new edition of these Letters, which by some have been erroneously attributed to his pen, but declined it, on the ground, as he stated, of not wishing to pay a second visit to 1^ the prison of the King's Bench. ^Ir Wilkes died Dec. 26, 1797, in the 71st year of his age, A fac-simile of his hand-writing will be found at the beginning of this work. — Edit. T. 270 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. occasion of a jurisdiction unlawfully as- sumed by the House in the year 1621, Mr attorney-general Noye gave his opinion as follows. ' No doubt but, in some cases, this House may give judgment ;— in mat- ters of returns, and concerning members of our House, or falling out in our view in parliament ; but, for foreign matters, know- eth not how we can judge it. — Knoweth not that we have been used to give judg- ment in any case, but those before-men- tioned.' Sir Edward Coke, upon the same sub- ject, says (page 604), 'No question but this is a House of record, and that it hath power of judicature in some cases — have power to judge of returns and members of our House ; one, no member, offending out of the parliament, ix;hen he came hither and justified it, was censured for it.' Now, Sir, if you will compare the opinion of these great sages of the law w ith Juxius's doctrine, you will find they tally exactly. — He allows the pow er of the House to com- mit their own members (which however they may grossly abuse). He allows their power in cases where they are acting as a court of judicature, viz. elections, returns, &c. — and he allows it in such contempts as immediately interrupt their proceedings, or, as Mr Noye expresses it, falling out in their view in parliament. They, who would carry the privileges of parliament farther than Juxius, either do not mean well to the public, or know not what they are doing. The government of England is a government of law. We be- tray ourselves, we contradict the spirit of our laws, and we shake the whole system of English jurisprudence, whenever we in- trust a discretionar>' power over the life, liberty, or fortune of the subject, to any man, or set of men, whatsoever, upon a presumption that it will not be abused. rillLO JUNIUS. LETTER XLVIII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 28 May, 1771. Any man, who takes the trouble of perusing the journals of the House of Commons, will soon be convinced, that very little, if any regard at all, ought to be paid to the resolutions of one branch of tlie legislature, declaratory of the law of the land, or even of what they call the law of parliament. It ^vill appear that these resolutions have no one of the properties, by which, in this country particularly, laio is distinguished from mere loill and plea- sure ; but that, on the contrary, they bear every mark of a power arbitrarily assumed and capriciously applied : — That they are usually made in times of contest, and to serve some unworthy purpose of passion or party ;— that the law is seldom declared until after the fact, by which it is supposed to be violated ; — that legislation and juris- diction are united in the same persons, and exercised at the same moment ; — and that a court from which there is no appeal, assumes an original jurisdiction in a crim- inal case ; — in short. Sir, to collect a thou- sand absurdities into one mass, 'we have a law, which cannot be known because it is ex post facto, the party is both legislator and judge, and the jurisdiction is without appeal' Well might the judges say. The lata of parliament is ato-ve vs. You will not wonder, Sir, that, with these qualifications, the declaratory resolutions of the House of Commons should appear to be in perpetual contradiction, not only to common sense and to the laws we are acquainted with (and which alone we can obey), but even to one another. I was led to trouble you with these observations by a passage, which, to speak in lute-string, / met with this morning in the course of my reading, and upon which I mean to put a question to the advocates for privilege.— On the 8th of March, 1704 (vide Journals, Vol. 14, p. 565), the House thought pro- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 271 per to come to the following resolutions. — I. 'That no commoner of England, com- mitted by the House of Commons for breach of privilege or contempt of that House, ought to be, by any writ of Hab^is Corpus, made to appear in any other place, or be- fore any oiher judicature, during that ses- sion of parliament, wherein such person was so committed." 2. ' That the serjeant at arms, attending this House, do make no return of, or yield any obedience to, the said writs of Habeas Corpus, and for such his refusal, that he have the protection of tlie House of Com- mons.' 1 W'clbore Ellis, What say you ? Is this tl.e law of parliament, or is it not ? I am a j plain man, Sir, and cannot follow you through the phlegmatic forms of an ora- tion. Speak out, Grildrig,^ — say yes, or no. — If you sayjjrj, I shall then enquire by what authority Mr De Grey, the honest lord Mansfield, and the barons of the E.xchequer, dared to grant a writ of Habeas Corpus for bringing the bodies of the lord mayor and Mr Oliver before them, and why the lieutenant of the Tower made any return to a writ, which the House of Com- mons had, in a similar instance, declared to be unlawful.— If you say ;/aid and brought down to Guildford for thdii ptir/>ose, and who had lodgings taken for him there, and who was fa- miliarly conversant with a gentleman, whose name I shall not mention now, lest it should seem to proceed from resentment in me, for an account I have to settle with him next week : However, one circumstance I ought to tell you ; This gen- tleman was foreman of the grand jury.' Mr Kelly, in the address prefixed to his play, which you and other advocates for the frccdmn of the press so basely drove from the theatre, after saying some civil things relative to the character which he had heard of your disposition, and which your perfidy to that true friend of the constitution, Mr Wilkes, has clearly proved you never merited, thus expresses himself : ' But thougli Mr Kelly readily makes this con- cession in favour of Mr Home's private charac- ter, he must observe that the constitution of this country, for the purity of which Mr Home is so strenuous an advocate, does not allow the mere belief oi any man to be positive evidence ; nor compliment his simple conjecture with the force o{ ^fact — For this reason Mr Home should be extremely cautious how he asserts any thing to the prejudice of another's reputation : Hearsay autliority is not enough for this purpose ; he should know of his own knowledge what he as- serts upon his own «/«7ri/; and be certain in his proof \\\\^XQ he is peremptory in his accusation.^ Honestly now, Mr Home, had you not t.his paragraph either in your head, or your heart, at the time you were writing the following passage to Junius? _.' You are bound to reftite,' &c. WHIPCORD. To this letter Mr Home did not return any answer. — Edit. ■^ B. Jonson, of whose writings Mr Home Tooke was remarkably fond. The Sad Shepherd of that author is called his favourite poem in the ' Diversions of Parley.' The present quotation is from his Underwoods : vide an epistle to sir LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 279 LETTER LIL TO THE REVEREND MR HORXE. SiK, 24 J Illy, 1771- I CANNOT descend to an alterca- tion v.iih you in the newspapers. But since I have attacked your character, and you complain of injustice, I think you have some right to an explanation. You defy me to prove, that you ever solicited a vote, or wrote a word in support of the ministerial aldermen. Sir, I did never suspect you of such gross folly. It would have been im- possible for Mr Home to have solicited votes, and very difficult to have written for the newspapers in defence of that cause, without being detected and brought to shame. Neither do I pretend to any in- telligence concerning you, or to know more of your conduct, than you yourself have thought proper to communicate to the pub- Uc. It is from your own letters I conclude that you have sold yourself to the ininis- try : ^ or, if that charge be too severe, and supposing it possible to be deceived by ap- pearances so very strongly against you, what are your friends to say in your de- fence? Must they not confess that, to gratify your personal hatred of Mr Wilkes, you sacrificed, as far as depended upon your interest and abilities, the cause of the country? I can make allowance for the violence of the passions, and if ever I Edward Sackvile, now earl of Dorset. Folio i6q2, p. 553. — Edit. The letters written by Mr Home in the dispute with Mr Wilkes. See the subsequent note as well as one appended to Private Letter, No. 35. — Edit. ^ The facts here alluded to were as follow : — The late Mr Tooke, then Mr Home, while travelling on the continent was introduced to Mr Wilkes, at that time resident in Paris, which led to a subsequent intimacy, and apparently warm friendship. Mr Home, on leaving that gay metropolis, left behind him, in the care of Mr Wilkes, several suits of clothes of the most fashionable Parisian manufacture, being ill adapted to the clerical profession, as well as ill calculated to please the taste or suit the manners of the people of this country. In a political quarrel which occurred between these gentlemen, should be convinced that you had no mo- tive but to destroy Wilkes, I shall then be ready to do justice to your character, and to declare to the world, that I despise you somewhat less than I do at present. — But a.s a public man, I must for ever condemn you. You cannot but know, — nay, you dare not pretend to be ignorant, that the highest gratification of which the most de- testable * * * in this nation is capable, would have been the defeat of Wilkes. I know that man much better than any of you. Nature intended him only for a good-humoured fool. A systematical edu- cation, with long practice, has made him a consummate hypocrite. Yet this man, to say nothing of his worthy ministers, you have most assiduously laboured to gratify. To exclude Wilkes, it was not necessary you should solicit votes for his opponents. We incline the balance as eftectually by lessening the weight in one scale, as by in- creasing it in the other. The mode of your attack upon Wilkes (though I am far from thinking meanly of your abilities) convinces me, that you either want judgment extremely, or that you are blinded by your resentment. You ought to have foreseen, that the charges you urged against Wilkes could never do him any mischief. After all, when we expected discoveries highly interesting to the com- munity, what a pitiful detail did it end in ! — Some old clothes — a Welch pony, — a French footman, and a hamper of claret.2 shortly previous to the date of this letter, and which was the subject of a long and acrimonious altercation in the Public Advertiser, Mr Home accused Mr Wilkes with having, in the midst of his distress, pawned the clothes entrusted to his custody; with commissioning Mr H.'s brother- in-law to purchase a pony which he never paid for ; with drinking claret while detained in the King's Bench prison ; with endeavouring to make his brother chamberlain of London ; and with retaining in his service six domestics, three of whom were French. As these, with several other charges, were detailed to the public by Mr Home in thirteen or fourteen very long letters, the editor will not here transcribe them, but content himself with inserting several detached parts of Mr Wilkes's defence against these accusations, as they contain some curious facts, and are illustrative of the subject more particu- 28o LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Indeed, Mr Home, the public should and will forgive him his claret and his footmen, larly adverted to in the text by the author: I For the Public Advertiser. ' TO THE REV. MR HOKNE. I Sir, Prince's Court, Saturday, Rlay 18. YoviX first letter of May 14, told me that you 'blamed my public conduct,' and 'would not open any account with me on the score of private character.' A third letter is this day addressed to me. Not a word hitherto ' of my public conduct,' but many false and malignant attacks about Mr Wildman, your brother-in-law, who forr^erly kept the Bedford Head in South- ampton Street, Covent Garden, and your old clothes. The public will impute the impertinence of such a dispute to its author, and pardon my calling their attention for a few moments to scenes of so trifling a nature, because it is in jus- tification of an innocent man. When you left Paris in May 1767, you desired me to take care of your old clothes, for j-ou meant to return in a few months, and thej' coidd be of no use to you in England. The morning of your departure you sent me the following letter. Dear Sir, According to your permission I leave with you I Suit of scarlet and gold ) _j„fU I Suit of white and silver jT I Suit of blue and silver camblet. 1 Suit of flowered silk. I Suit of black silk. And 1 Ijlack velvet surtout. If you have any fellow-feeling you cannot but be kind to them ; .since they too as well as your- self are outlawed in England ; and on the same account — their superior worth. I am. Dear Sir, Your very affectionate, humble Servant, JOHN HORNE. Paris, May 25, 1767. This letter I returned to you at the King's Bench, and at the bottom of it the following memorandum in my own hand-writing, 'Nov. 21, 1767, sent to Mr Panchaud's in the Rue St Sauveur.' I left Paris Nov. 22, 1767, and there- fore thought it proper the day before to send your clothes where I was sure they would be perfectly safe, to Mr Panchaud's, the great English banker's. They remained in my house. Rue des Saints Peres, only from May till the November following, nor was any demand, or request, made to me about them by Mr Wild- man, or any one else. You are forced to own ' I have received a letter within the last three months from Mr Panchaud, informing me that they [the clothes) have lo>i^ been in his posses- sion.' Examine the banker's books. You will find the date is Nov. 21, 1767. You say, 'for my own part I never made the least inquiry after my clothes.' I suppose for the plainest reason in the world. You knew where they were, and and even the ambition of making his brother chamberlain of London, as long as he that they could be no part of a clergyman's dress in England, but that you were sure of so rich a wardrobe on your next tour to France or Italy, as Paris would probably be your route. This is all I know of the vestimenta pretiosa of Eittrapelus. I hope. Sir, the putting them on will not have the same eff'ect on you as they formerly had on his acquaintance. Cum pulcris tunicis sumet nova consilia etspes; Dormiet in lucem ; scorto postponet honestum Officium ; fiuiiiiiios alieuos pascct. Your charge about your brother-in-law, Mr Wildman, is equally unjust. When I was in England in October, 1766, I lodged at Mr Wild- man's house in Argyle Jjuildings, on his own pressing invitation. I had long known him, and for several years belonged to a club, which met once a week at the Bedford Head. Mr Wild- man desired to be considered at this time as the warm partisan of Mr Wilkes. He begged that he might be useful as far as he could to me and my friends. I asked him to buy a little Welch horse for a lady in France, to whom I was de- sirous of paying a compliment. I fixed the price, and insisted on paying him at that very time, which I did. About a year afterwards Mr SVildman fulfilled my commission, purchased me a Welch pony, and sent it to Calais. This was the single transactiun of my own with your brother-in-law at that time. I gave him two or three trifling commissions from Monsieur Saint Foy for arrack, &c., which were to be forwarded to Paris. I believe they were sent, but they never passed through my hands, nor do I know whether Mr W'jidman has yet been paid for those trifles, the whole of which amounted only, as he told me, to about thirty pounds. Your endeavours to create a coolness between Mr Cotes and me are clearly seen through, and will prove ineffectual. You made the same at- tempt on the late Mr Sterne and me with the same success. In your letter to me at Paris, dated Jan. 3, 1766, you say, 'I passed a week with Sterne at Lyons, and am to meet him again at Sienna in the summer — Forgive my question, and do not answer it, if it is impertinent. Is there any cause of coldness between you and Sterne ; he speaks very handsomely of you, when it is absolutely necessary to speak at all ; but not with that wannth and enthusiasm, that I expect ixom. every one that knows you. Do not let me cause a coldness between you if there is none. I am sensible my question is at least imprudent, and my jealousy blameable.' In your second letter you say, 'the nature of our intercourse, for it cannot be called a r^^ww^jr- io>i,^ and afterwards, ' in my return from Italy to England in the year 1767, I saw reasons suf- ficient never more to trust you with a single line ; ' and in your third letter you pretend that you had even in 1767 ' infinite contempt for the very name of Mr Wilkes.' However, on the 17th of last May, you write me another letter ou LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 281 stands forth against a ministry and parlia- ment, who are doing every thing they can my going to Fulham, while my house here was repairing, to recommend six tradesmen to me, to tell me how Jtiost sincerely you were mine, &C. You add, ' I could not forbear showing my friendship to you by letting you know your friends.' You will find, Sir, that it requires more memory as well as wit than falls to one man's share to support a long chain of falsehoods. You are lost and bewildered in the intricacies of error. The path of truth you would find more easy and honourable. You assert, ' I found that all the private letters of your friends were regularly pasted in a book, and read over indiscriminately, not only to your friends and acquaintance, but to every visitor.' I glory. Sir, in having four large volumes of manuscript letters, many of them written by the first men of this age. f esteem them my most valuable possession. Why is the pleasure of an elegant and instructive epistle to perish with the hour it is received ? To the care and attention of Cicero's friends in preserving that great Roman's letters we owe the best history of Rome for a most interesting period of about forty years. You mistake when you talk of all the private letters cf your friends. My care has extended only to letters of particular friends on particular occasions, or to letters of business, taste, or literature. The originals of such I have preserved ; never any copies of my own letters, unless when I wrote to a secretary of state, to a Talbot, a Martin, or a Home. When you add, ' that they are read over indiscriminately, not onlj' to your friends and acquaintance, but to every visitor,' you knowingly advance a falsehood. So much of your time has passed with me, that you are sensible very few of my friends have ever heard of the volumes I mentioned. The preservation of a letter is surely a compliment to the writer. Cut although I approve the pre- servation in general, I highly disapprove the publication of any private letters. However, there are cases which justly call them forth to light. Mr Onslow's first letter was after great importunity from you printed by me, to justify what you had said at Epsom. The second you printed, without my consent, from a copy I suf- fered you tc take. '\\\t. f>a.ripklet you mention has not yet been published. I have now before me the copy, cor- rected with your own hand, which you gave me at Paris. The following passage I am sure you will read at this time with particular satisfaction, and I reserve it iox yaw pour la bonne bouche. ' We have seen, by Mr Wilkes's treatment, that no man who is not, and who has not always been, absolutely perfect himself, must dare to arraign the measures of a minister. ' It is not sufficient that he pay an inviolable I regard to the laws ; that he be a man of the j strictest and most unimpeached honour ; that he be endowed with superior abilities and qualifica- ' tions ; that he be blessed with a benevolent, j generous, noble, free soul ; that he be infle.xible, 1 to enslave the countr}', and as long as he is a thorn in the king's side. You will not incorruptible, and brave ; that he prefer infinitely the public welfare to his own interest, peace, and safety ; that his life be ever in his hand, ready to be paid down chearfully for the liberty of his country ; and that he be dauntless and unwea- ried in her service. — All this avails him nothing. ' If it can be proved (though by the base means of treachery and theft) that in some un- guarded, wanton hour he has uttered an inde- cent word, or penned a loose expression^ — Away with such a fellow from the earth ; it is not fit that he should live.' ♦ • » • * » After a variety of accusations of /r/i'rt/^ crimes you affect to cover the whole with the veil of hypocrisy. You say, ' I have mentioned these circumstances not as any charges against you, though no doubt they will operate as such.' Had your turn, Sir, been to divinity, in the subtleties of the schools you would have outshone Thomas Aquinas or Duns Scotus, in treachery even the priest Malagrida. You have in your late letters to me accused me of almost ez'ery crime, of which the most diabolical heart is capable. When you wrote the letters to sir William Beauchamp Proctor, I had only one crime, of which I own I have not re- pented. ' Mr ]Vilkcs's crime is well known to have been his opposing and exposing the mea- sures of lord Bute. ' The two Humes, Johnson, Murphj', Ralph, Smollett, Shcbbeare, &:c. 6cc., all authors pen- sioned, or promised, had been let loose on him in vain. The lord steward of his Majesty's household (who has theirfore continued in that post through every revolution of ministry), and the treasurer to the Princess Dowager of Wales who together with that office has a pension for himself and a reversion for his son , had separ- ately endeavoured to commit a murder on his body, with as little success as others Juid at- tempted his 7-eputation : For they foimd him tam Mai-te quam Mercuric. ' The intended assassination of him hy Forbes and Dun had miscarried. ' I'he secretaries of state had seized his papers, and confined his person to close imprisonment. They had trifled with and eluded the Habeas Corpus. But still he rose superior to them all, and baffled alone the insatiable malice of all his persecutors ; for though they had in a man- ner ruined his private fortunes, his public cha.- racter remained entire. They had spilt his blood indeed ; but they had not taken his life, and with it still were left The unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame. It remained then to make one general attack upon him at once of every power of the state, each in its separate capacity. The reverend name of Majesty itself was misapplied to this business. The House of Lords, the House of Commons, and the Court of King's Bench, through the little 282 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. suspect me of setting up Wilkes for a per- fect character. The question to the public, is, where shall we find a man, who, with purer principles, will go tlie lengths and run the hazards that he has done ? the sea- son calls for such a man, and he ought to be supported. What would have been the triumph' of that odious hypocrite and his minions, if Wilkes had been defeated ! It was not your fault, reverend Sir, that he did not enjoy it completely. — But now I agency of Carrington, Kidgell, Curry, Webb, Faden, Sandwich, made one general assault.' As you mention a promise you had obtained of being one of the chaplaitis to his Majesty, I shall conclude my present extracts with the fol- lowing passage, which will show how peculiarly fitted you are to be a domestic chaplain to our present Sovereign. ' Sheridan is at Blois, by order o/ his Majesty , and with a pension ; inventing a method to give the proper pronunciation of the EngHsh language to strangers, by means of sounds borrowed from their own. And he begins with the French. ' I remember a few years ago wiien an attempt was made to prove lord Harborough an idiot. The counsel on both sides produced the same instance ; one of his wit, the other of his folly. His servants were puzzled once to unpack a large box, and his Lordship advised them to do with it as they did with oysters — put it in the fire, and it would gape. ' This commission of Sheridan appears to me equally equivocal. And should ri similar statute be at any time attempted against his Majesty, they who do not know him may be apt to sus- pect that he cmpU)yed Sheridan in this maimer, not so much for the sake of foreigners as of his own subjects ; and liad permitted him to amuse himself abroad, to prevent his spoiling our pro- nunciation at home.' »♦»♦«♦ Am I to answer your impertinence about claret and French servants? It shall be in one word. I have not purchased a bottle of claret since I left the King's Bench. Only two French serv- i ants are in my family. An old woman, who has many years attended my daughter, and a foot- man, whom I esteem, as I liave often told you, not as a Frenchman, but fo: his singular Jidelity to an Englishman during a course of .several years, when I had the honour of being exiled. I have reason to believe that from hence originated your hatred to him. »«•»♦♦ You assert, 'though I knew not the person of any one man in opposition, I quitted all my friends and connexions when I joined the public cause ; and with my eyes open, exchanged ease and fair fame for labour and reproach.' I desire to know what one friend, and what single con- nexion, you have quitted for the /■'■' ^c cause. promise you, you have so little power to do mischief, that I much question whether the ministry will adhere to the promises they have made you. It will be in vain to say that / am a partisan of Mr Wilkes, or per- sonally jiv/^r enemy. You will convince no man, for you do not believe it yourself. Yet, I confess, I am a little offended at the low rate, at which you seem to value my understanding. I beg, Mr Home, you will hereafter believe that I measure the in- Yowx fair fame at Eton and Cambridge survived a very short time j-our abode at either of these places. Will you call an Italian gentleman now in town, your confident during your whole re- sidence at Genoa, to testify the morality of your conduct in Italy ? — But I will not write the life of Jonathan Wild, nor of Orator Henley. You declare ' jninisterial and cou7-t /avour T know I can never have, and for public fazwur I will never be a candidate : I chuse to tell them that, as far as it aflects myself, / laugh at the dis- pleasure of both' You well know that no minister will ever dare openly to give you any mark of court faz'our, at least in the church; many secret favours you may, you do expect, and some I believe actually receive, 'i'hc public you have abandoned in despair, after an assiduous courtship of near four years, but remember, Sir, when you say, that you laugh at their displea- sure, the force of truth has extorted even from lord Mansfield the following declaration : ' the people are almost always in the right ; the great may sometimes be in tiie wrong, but the body of the people are always in the right.' In your jirst letter you declare ' it is necessary to give a short history of the coiiimencetncnt, progress, and conclusion of the intercourse be- tween us.' In your second you say the nature of our intercourse (for it cannot be called a con- nexion) will best appear from the situation of each of us at its commencement.'' Vuur situation j,hall be explained by yourself from the words of I the first letter you ever wrote to me. ' ' You are entering into a correspondence with '. a parson, and I am a little apprehensive lest that title should disgust you : But give me leave to assure you I am not ordained a hypocrite. ' It is true, I have suffered the infectious hand of a bishop to be waved over me ; whose impo- sition, like the sop given to Judas, is only a signal for the devil to entc;r. It is true that ! usually at that touch fugiunt pudor,verumque, I fidesque. In quorum subeunt locum fraudcs, I dolique, insidia;que, &c. &c. ; but I hope I have escaped the contagion : And if I have not, if you should at any time discover the hi.ack spot ! under the tongue, assist me kindly to conquer j the prejudices of education and profession.' I am, Sir, 6v:c. JOHN WILKES.— Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS 233 tegrity of men, by their conduct, not by their professions. Such tales may entertain Mr Oliver, or your grandmother, but trust me, they are thrown away upon Junius. You say you are a man. Was it gener- ous, was it manly, repeatedly to introduce into a newspaper the name of a young lady,^ with whom you must heretofore have lived on terms of politeness and good hu- mour? — but I have done with you. In my opinion, your credit is irrecoverably ruined. Mr Tcnviishoid, I think, is nearly in the same predicament. — Poor Oliver has been shamefully duped by you. You have made him sacrifice all the honour he got by his imprisonment. — As for Mr Sazvbridge,' whose character I really respect, I am as- tonished he does not see through your duplicity. Never was so base a design so poorly conducted. — This letter, you see, is not intended for the public, but if you think it will do you any service, you are at liberty to publish it. JUNIUS.3 LETTER LI 1 1. FROM THE RCVERtlND MR IIUKNE TO JUNIUS. Sir, 31 yiiiv, 1771. You have disappointed me. When I told you that surmise and general abuse, in however elegant language, ought not to pass for proofs, I evidently hinted at the reply which I expected : but you have dropped your usual elegance, and seem willing to try what will be the effect of sur- mise and general abuse in very coarse lan- guage. Your answer to my letter (which I hope was cool and temperate and modest) has convinced me that my idea of a man is ^ Home had taken liberties with the name of Miss Wilkes in his public letters in some of the newspapers — and liberties which no miscon- duct of hers had entitled him to take. — Edit. ^ I'ownshend and Sawbridge had been per- suaded by Home to unite in supporting Oliver against Wilkes ; and both, in consequence hereof, forfeited much of their popularity from this moment, and were accused of gross want of understanding, and by some of tergiversation. — Edit. much superior to yours of a gentleman. Of your former letters I have always said ma- terlem siiperabat opus : I do not think so of the present ; the principles are more detest- able than the expressions are mean and illiberal. I am contented that all those who adopt the one should for ever load ine with the other. I appeal to the common sense of the public, to which I have ever directed my- self : I believe they have it ; though I am • sometimes half inclined to suspect that Mr Wilkes has formed a truer judgment of mankind than I have. However, of this I am sure, that there is nothing else upon which to place a steady reliance. Trick, and low cunning, and addressing their pre- judices and passions, may be the fittest means to carry a particular point ; but if they have not common sense, there is no prospect of gaining for them any real per- manent good. The same passions which have been artfully used by an honest man for their advantage, may be more artfully employed by a dishonest man for their destruction. I desire them to apply their common sen^o to this letter of Junius, not for my sake, but their own ; it concerns them most nearly, for the principles it contains lead to disgrace and ruin, and are inconsistent with every notion of civil society. The charges which Junius has brought against me are made ridiculous by his own inconsistency and self-contradiction. He charges me positively w ith ' a new zeal in support of administration ; ' and with ' en- deavours in support of the ministerial nomination of sheriffs.' And he assigns two inconsistent motives for my conduct : either that I have ' sold myself to the minis- try ;' or am instigated ' by the solitary, 3 This letter was transmitted privately by the printer to Mr Home, by Junil's's request. Mr Home returned it to the printer, with directions to publish it. — Author. The reason for such private transmission was that it was not Jl"nius"s wish to increase those divisions which Home and Oliver had so unwisely provoked in the Bill of Rights Societ}-, by an open contest between himself and any '.-ac cf its members. — Edit. 284 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. vindictive vtalicc of a monk : ' either that I am influenced by a sordid desire of gain ; or am hurried on by ' personal hatred and blinded by resent ment.' In his letter to the duke of Grafton he supposes me actuated by both : in his letter to me he at first doubts \\hich of the two, whethej- interest or revenge, is my motive : however, at last he determines for the former, and * In one of the letters addressed to Mr Wilkes ' by Mr Home, during the altercation spoken of in the preceding notes, he, the latter, thus ex- plains himself with respect to his support of the former, as well as to the motives which induced him to withdraw it. In this extract he also gives us a general outline of his political opinions, from which he does not appear to have materially varied to the day of his death. ' I was your friend only for the sake of the public cause : that reason does in certain matters remain ; as far as it remains, so far I am still your friend ; and therefore, I said in my first letter, " the public shoiild know how far they ought, and how far they ought not, to support you." To bring to punishment the great delinquents who have cor- rupted the parliament and the seats of justice; who have encouraged, pardoned, and rewarded murder ; to heal the breaches made in the con- stitution, and by salutary provisions to prevent them for the future ; to replace once more, not the admijiistration and execution, for which they are very unfit, but the checks of government rcatly in the hands of the governed ; ' For these purposes, if it were possible to suppose that the great enemy of mankind could be rendered instrumental to their happiness, so far the devil himself should be supported by the people. For a human instrument they should go farther, he should not only be supported, but thanked and rewarded for the good which per- haps he did not intend, as an encouragement to others to follow his example. But if the foul fiend, having gained their support, should endea- vour to delude the weaker part, and intice them to an idolatrous worship of himself, by persuad- ing them that what he suggested was their voice, and their voice the voice of God : if he should attempt to obstruct every thing that leads to their security and happiness, and to promote every wickedness that tends only tu his own emolument : if when — the cause — the cause — reverberates on their eais, he should divert them from the original sound, and direct them towards the opposite unfaithful echo : if confusion should be all his aim, and mischief his sole enjoyment, would not he act the part of a faithful monitor to the people, who should save them from their snares, by reminding them of the true object of their constitutional w-orship, expressed in those words of holy writ (for to me it is so) Rex, Lex loqueiis ; Lex, Rex iinitus. This is — the cause — the cause — To make this union indissoluble is the only cause I acknowledge. As far as the again positively asserts that ' the mitiistry have made me promises ; ' yet he produces no instance of corruption, nor pretends to Vv\ve any intelligence of a ministerial con- nexion : he mentions no cause of personal hatred to Mr Wilkes, nor any reason for my resentment, or revenge ; nor has Mr Wilkes himself ever hinted any, though repeatedly pressed. i When Junius is support of Mr Wilkes tends to this point I am as warm as the warmest : But all the lines of your projects are drawn towards a different cen- ter — yourself; and if with a good intenlicn I have been diligent to gain your powers which may be perverted to mischief, I am bound to be doubly diligent to prevent their being so em- ployed. ' The diligence I have used for two years past, and the success I have had in defeating all j-our shameful schemes, is the true cause of the dissen- sion between us. I have never had any private pique or quarrel with you. It was your policy in paragraphs and anonymous letters to pretend it ; but j'ou cannot mention any private cause of pique or quarrel. ' To prevent the mischief of division to a popu- lar opposition, those who saw both your bad in- tentions and your actions were silent ; and whilst they defeated all your projects, they were cautious to conceal your defeats. They studied so much the more to satisfy your voracious prodigality, and thought, as I should have done if a minister, that if feeding it would keep you from mischief, a i^w thousands would be well employed by the public for that purpose. But I can never, merely for the sake of strengthen- ing opposition, join in those actions which would prevent all the good effects to be hoped for from opposition, and for the sake of which alone any opposition to government can be justifiable. Such a practice would very well suit those who wish a change of ministers. For my part I wish no such thing ; bad as the present are, I am afraid the next will not be better, though I am sure they cannot be worse. I care not under whose administration good comes. But the people must owe it to themselves, nor ought they to receive the restoration of their rights as a favour from any set of men, minister, or king. The moment they accept it as a grant, a fa^'our, an act of grace, the people have not the prospect of a right left. They will from that time become like the mere possessors of an estate without a title, and of which they may be dispossessed at pleasure. If the people are not powerful enough to make a bad administration or a bad king do them justice, they will not often have a good one. Would to God tlie time were come, which I am afraid is very distant beyond the period of my life, when an honest man could not be in opposition ; I declare I should rejoice to find the patronage of a minister in the smallest degree my honour and interest. I never have pretended J LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 28: called upon to justify his accusation, he answers, ' he cannot descend to an alter- cation with me in the newspapers." Ju- nius, who exists only in the newspapers, who acknowledges ' he has attacked my character ' there, and ' thinks I have some right to an explanation ; ' yet this JUNIUS ' cannot descend to an altercation in the newspapers ! ' and because he cannot de- scend to an altercation with me in the newspapers, he sends a letter of abuse by the printer, which he finishes with telling me — ' I am at liberty \.o publish it." This, to be sure, is a most excellent method to avoid an altercation in the newspapers ! T\\Q proofs of his positive charges are as extraordinary. ' He does not pretend to any intelligence concerning me, or to know more of my conduct than I myself have thought proper to communicate to the pub- lic' He does not suspect me of such gross folly as to have solicited votes, or to have written anonymously in the newspapers ; to any more than to prefer the former to the latter. But it is not upon me alone that you have poured forth your abuse, but upon every man of honour who has deserved well of the public ; and if you were permitted to proceed without interruption, there would shortly not be found one honest man who would not shudder to deserve well of the people. ' The true reason of our dissension being made public, is, that you could not get on a step with- out it ; and you trust that the popularity of your name, and your diligence in paragraphing the papers, will outweigh with the people the most essential services of others ; and that you shall get rid of all control by takmg away from those who mean well, the confidence of the people. If you can once get them affronted by the pub- lic, whom they have faithfully served, you flat- ter yourself that disgust will make them retire from a scene where such a man as you are, covered with infamy like yourr., has the disposal of honour and disgrace, and the characters of honest men at his mercy. John Horne.' To t'.ie second paragraph of this extract Mr Wilkes makes the following reply : ' I thank you for the entertainment of j'our sixth letter. The idea of an unfaithful echo, although not quite new and original, is perfectly amusing ; but, like Bayes, you love to elevate and surprise. I wish you would give the list of echoes of this kind, which you have heard in your travels through France and Italy. I have read of only one such in a neighbouring kingdom. If you ask, Hozo do yoii doi it an- becausc it is impossible to do either of these without being detected and brought to shame. Junius says this ! who yet imagines that he has himself written two years under that signature (and more imder others) without being detected ! — his warmest admirers will not hereafter add, without being brought to shame. But though he did never suspect me of such gross folly as to run the hazai'd of being detected and brought to shame by arion- ytnous writing, he insists that I have been guilty of a much grosser folly of incurring the certainty of shame and detection by writings sig-iicd with my name ! But this is a small flight for the towering Junius : ' He is FAR from thinking meanly of my abili- ties,' though he is ' convinced that I want judgment extremely," and can 'really re- spect Mr Sawbridge's character,' though he declares ^ him to be so poor a creature as not to be able to ' see through the basest design conducted in the poorest manner ! ' swers, Fretty ivcll I thank you. The sound of your unfaithful echo can only be paralleled by Jack Home's silence with a stilly sound, in the tragedy of Douglas. The torrent rushing o'er its pebbly banks, Infuses silence with a stilly sound. I have heard of the babbling, the mimic, the shrill echo. The discovery of an unfaithful echo was reserved for Mr Horne. Really, Sir, 1 should have thought, notwithstanding all your rage, you might have suffered an echo to be faithful. I did not expect novelty, or variety, much less infidelity, from an echo.' — Edit. ^ I beg leave to introduce Mr Horne to the character of the Double Dealer. I thought they had been better acquainted. — 'Another very wrong objection has been made by some, who have not taken leisure to distinguish the charac- ters. 'J'he hero of the play (meaning I\[elle/o>it) is a gull, and made a fool, and cheated. — Is every man a gull and a fool that is deceived ? — At that rate, I am afraid the two classes of men will be reduced to one, and the knaves themselves be at a loss to justify their title. But if an open, honest hearted man, who has an entire confid- ence in one, whom he takes to be his friend, and who (to confirm hi;n in his opinion) in all appearance and upon several trials has been so ; if this man be deceived by the treachery of the other, must he of necessity commence fool im- mediately, only because the other has proved a villain ? ' — Yes, says parson Home. No, saj'S Cottgreve, and he, I think, is allowed to have known something of \ uman nature. 286 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. And this most base design is conducted in the poorest manner, by a man whom he does not suspect of gross folly, and of whose abihties he is far from thinking meanly ! Should we ask Junius to reconcile these contradictions, and explain this nonsense, the answer is ready ; ' he cannot descend to an altercation in the newspapers.' He feels no reluctance to attack the character of any man : the throne is not too high, nor the cottage too low : his mighty malice can grasp both extremes : he hints not his accusations as opinion, conjecture, ox inference ; but delivers i\\c\w7\.% positive assertions. Do the accused complain of in- justice ? He acknowledges they have some sort of right to an explanation ; but if they ask for proofs and facts, he begs to be excused : and though he is no where else to be encountered — ' he cannot descend to an altercation in the newspapers.' And this perhaps Junius may think ' the liberal resentment of a gentleman : ' this skulking assassination he may call courage. In all things as in this I hoj^e we differ : ' I thought that fortitude had been a mean 'Twixt fear and rashness ; not a hist obscene. Or appetite of offending ; but a skill And nice discernment between good and ill. Her ends are honesty and pubhcgood. And witliout these she is not understood.' * Of two things ho\\ever he has conde- scended to give proof. He very properly produces a yonn,:^ lady to prove that I am not a man : and a good old zuonian, my grandmother, to prove Mr Oliver a fool. Poor old soul ! she read her Bible far other- wise than Junius! she often found there that the sins of the fathers had been visited on the children ; and therefore was cau- tious that herself and her immediate de- scendants should leave no reproach on her posterity : and they left none : how little could she foresee this reverse of Junius, who visits my political sins upon my gran d- ' This quotation is also from the epistle to Sackvile. Mr Home here made some slight alterations : perhaps he quoted from memory. For B. Jonson's ' Or science of a discerning good and ill,' he prints, mother ! I do not charge this to the score of malice in him, it proceeded entirely from his propensity to blunder ; that whilst he was reproaching me for introducing in the most harmless manner the name of one female, he might himself, at the same instant, introduce two. I am represented alternately, as it suits JUNius's purpose, under the opposite cha- racters of a gloomy monk, and a man of politeness and good humour. I am called *rt solitary monk,' in order to confirm the notion given of me in Mr Wilkes's anon- ymous paragraphs, that I never laugh : and the terms oi politeness and good humour on which I am said to have hved heretofore with "(hQ. young lady, are intended to con- firm other paragraphs of Mr Wilkes, in which he is supposed to have offended me by refusing his daughter. Ridiculous ! Yet I cannot deny but that Junius lias proved me unmanly and ungenerous as clearly as he has shown me corrupt and vindictive : and I will tell him more ; I have paid the present ministry as many visits and compliments as ever I paid to the young lady, and shall all my life treat them with the same politeness and good humour. But Junius 'begs ir.e to believe that he j measures the integrity of men by their con- '\ duct, not by their professions.' Surely this ' Junius must imagine his readers as void i of understanding, as he is of modesty ! Where shall we find the standard of llis in- tegrity? By what are we to measure the conduct of this lurking assassin? — And he says this to me, whose conduct, wherever I could personally appear, has been as direct and open and public as my words ; I have not, like him, concealed myself in my chamber to shoot my arrows out of the window ; ncr contented myself to view the battle front afar ; but publicly mixed in the A}id 7iice discernment betiveen. Sec. For ' And where they want she is not understood,' A7id ivitlioiit these, Sic. One of his alterations disturbs, however .-iston- ishing, the grammatical construction : a skill h^- \.\\ ccw good ^wA ill ii not English. — Eui r. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 287 whom have I, hke him, refused my name upon complaint of injury ? 1 what printer have I desired to conceal me ? in the infi- nite variety of business in which I have been concerned, where it is not so easy to be fauhless, which of my actions can he arraign ? to what danger has any man been exposed, which I have not faced ? infonnation, action, imprisonment, or death f what labour have I refused ? what expense have I declined? what pleasure have I not renounced? — But Junius, to whom no conduct belongs, ' measures the integrity of men by their conduct, not by their professions ; ' himself all tlie while being nothing but professions, and those too anonymous ! The political ignorance or wilful falsehood of this dcclaimer is ex- treme : his own former letters justify both my conduct and those whom his last letter abuses : for the public measures, which Ju- nius has been all along defending, were ours, whom he attacks ; and the uniform opposer of those measures has been Mr Wilkes, whose bad actions and intentions he endeavours to screen. Let Junius now, if he pleases, change his abuse ; and quitting his loose hold of interest and rcienge, accuse me of vanity, and call this defence boasting. I own I have a pride to see statues decreed and the liighest honours conferred fur measures and actions which all men have approved : whilst those who counselled and caused them are execrated and insulted. The darkness in which Junius thinks himself shrouded has not concealed him ; nor the artifice of only attacking under that signa- ture those he would pull down (whilst he recommends by other ways those he would have promoted) disguised from me whose partisan he is. When lord Chatham can forgive the awkward situation in which for the sake of the public he was designedly placed by the thanks to liim from the city ; - and when Wilkes's 71a me ceases to be ^ Alluding to sir Wm. Draper's call upon J Li NIL'S for his name. See the conclusion cf Letter XXIV.— Edit. * See note ', p. 290. — Edit. necessary to lord Rockingham to keep up a clamour against i\\Q persons of the ministr}', without obliging the different factions now in opposition to bind themselves before- hand to some certain points, and to stipu- late some precise advantages to the public ; then, and not till then, may those whom he now abuses expect the approbation of Junius. The approbation of the public for our faithful attention to their interest by endeavours for those stipulations, which have made us as obnoxious to the factions in opposition as to tho.se in administration, is not perhaps to be expected till some years hence ; when the public will look back and see how shamefully they have been deluded ; and by what arts they were made to lose the golden opportunity of preventing what they will surely experience, — a change of ministers, without a material change of measures, and without any security for a tottering constitution. But what cares Junius for the security of the constitution ? He hiis now unfolded to us his diabolical principles. As a pub- lic man he must ei'er condemn any measure which may tend even accidentally io gratify the sovereign : and Mr Wilkes is to be sup- ported and assisted in all his attempts (no matter how ridiculous or miscliievous his projects) as long as he continues to be a thorn in the king's side! — The cause of the country it seems, in the opinion of Junius, is merely to vex the king: and any rascal is to be supported in any roguery, provided he can only thereby plant a thorn in the king's side. — This is the very ex- tremity of faction, and the last degree of political wickedness. Because lord Chat- ham has been ill-treated by the king, and treacherously betrayed by the duke of Grafton, the latter is to be 'the pillow on which Junius will rest his resentment!' and the public are to oppose the measures of government from mere motives of per- sonal enmity to the sovereign ! — These are tlie avowed principles of the man who in the same letter says, ' if ever he should be convinced that I had no motive but to de- stroy Wilkes, he shall then be ready to do 238 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. justice to my character, and to declare to the world that he despises me somewhat less than he does at present ! ' Had I ever acted from personal affection or enmity to Mr Wilkes, I should justly be despised : but what does he deserve whose avowed motive"is personal enmity to the sovereign? the contempt which I should otherwise feel for the absurdity and glaring inconsistency of Junius, is here swallowed up in my ab- horrence of his principle. The right divine and saa-edness of kings is to me a senseless jargon. It was thought a daring expression of Oliver Cromwell in the time of Charles the First, that if he found himself placed opposite to the king in battle, he would dis- * Mr Home was charged with having stolen this idea from a note of Air Wilkes, annexed to that passage in Clarendon, to which the writer here more particularly alludes. The letter is short, and, as it also explains a subsequent fact, it ought not to be omitted. FOR THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. TO THE KEV. MR HOKNE. Sir, ^^ig- 6. 1771. Ygi: declare in your letter to Ji;nius, that Mr Wilkes told the Rockingham adminis- tration, ' it cost mc a year and an half to write down the last administration.' Unluckily for Mr Home the administration said to be wrote down by Mr Wilkes did not last one year, and Mr Wilkes is certainly too well informed to have made so gross a mistake. Lord LJute was made fitst commissioner of the Treasury, May 29, 1762, and resigned April 8, 1763. The North Briton made its first appearance June 5, 1762. The paper war therefore did not last quite one j-ear before the enemy abandoned the capital post he had seized. Mr Home, when he invents, should be careful not to give absurd fictions. I am ac- quainted both with Mr Wilkes and Mr Home. It is amusing to observe how the parson has, on a variety of occasions, purloined from the alder- man, ftlany of their former common friends liave been amused with the instances. The late passage about Cromwell is curious. Mr Home says, ' it was thought a daring expression of Oliver Cromwell,' &c. Mr Wilkes has probably forgot the little anecdote ; but I breakfasted with liim at the King's Bench with Mr Home, who copied in my presence the following note from Mr Wilkes's Clarendon, which I likewise pre- served. ' Cromwell ought to have declared, that he would rather chuse to single out the king, and discharge his pistol upon him, as the first author of the guilt of a civil war, and whose death then might probably extinguish it.' The whole pass- age of Clarendon is so curious, your readers will not be displeased to find it in your paper. charge his piece into his bosom as soon as into any other man's. I go farther : had I lived in those days, I would not have wait- ed for chance to give me an opportunity of doing my duty ; I would have sought him through the ranks, and without the least personal enmity, have discharged my piece into his bosom rather than into any other man's. ^ The king whose actions justify rebellion to his government, deserves death from the hand of every subject. And should such a time arrive, I shall be as free to act as to say. But till then, my attach- ment to the person and family of the sove- reign shall ever be found more zealous and sincere than that of his flatterers. I would 'Cromwell, though the greatest dissembler liv- ing, always made his hypocrisy of singular use and benefit to him, and never did anything, how ungracious or imprudent soever it seemed to be, but what was necessary to the design ; even his roughness and unpolishedness, which, in the beginning of the parliament, he affected contrary to the smoothness and complacency which his cousin, and bosom friend, Mr Hambden, prac- tised towards all men, was necessary ; and his first public declaration, in the beginning of the war, to his troop when it was first mustered, that he would not deceive or cozen them by the per- plexed and involved expressions in his commis- sion, to fight for king and parliament ; and therefore told them, that if the king chanced to be in the body of the enemy that he was to charge, he would as soon discharge his pistol upon him, as any other pri%ate person ; and if their conscience would not permit them to do the like, he advised them not to list themselves in his troop, or under his command, which was gener- ally looked upon as imprudent and malicious, and might, by the professions the parliament then made, have proved dangerous to him, yet served his turn, and severed from others, and i united among themselves, all the furious and in- j censed men against the government, whether ecclesiastical or civil, to look upon hini as a man for their turn, upon whom they might depend, as one who would go through the work that he j undertook.' The passage I have quoted from IMr Home's I letter appears to me in tlat contradiction to what ! he says at the end of the same letter, ' whoever i or whatever is sovereign, demands the respect I and support of the people.' Is it possible that I the last paragraph could be written by the same ; person, who printed in all the papers lliat the king's smiling when the city reinonstrance was presented, reminded him, that ' Nero fiddled, while Rome was burning? ' W. B. For an explanation of the last quotation, see note, p. 232. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ofTend the sovereign with as much reluct- ance OS the parent ; but if the happiness and security of the whole faniily made it necessary, so far and no farther, I would offend him without remorse. But let us consider a little whither these principles of Junius would lead us. Should Mr Wilkes once more commission Mr Thomas Walpole to procure for him a pen- sion oi one thousand pounds upon the Irish establishment for thirty years ; he must be supported in the demand by the public — because it would mortify the king ! Should lie wish to see Lord Rockingham and his friends once more in administration, nnch^gcd by any stipulations /or the people, that he might again enjoy a pension of one thousand and forty pounds a year, viz. from the first lord of the Treasury £-yx>< front the lords of the Treasury ^60 each, from the lords of trade £^0 each.i &c., the public must give up their attention to points of national benefit, and assist Mr Wilkes in his attempt — because it would mortify the king ! Should he demand the government of Canada, or of Jamaica, or the embassy to Constantinople ; and in case of refusal threaten to write them down, as he had before served another administration, in a year and a half ; he must be supported in his pretensions, and upheld in his insolence — because it would mortify the king ! Junius may chuse to suppose that these things cannot happen ! But that they have happened, notwithstanding Mr Wilkes's denial, I do aver. I maintain that Mr Wilkes did commission Mr Thomas Wal- pole to solicit for him a pension of one thousand pounds on the Irish establishment for thirty years ; with which, and a par- don, he declared he would be satisfied : and that, notwithstanding his letter to Mr Onslow, he did accept a clatidestine, pre- * The Rockingham party had consented to unite with the Bedford administration on the ex- press stipulation of a reversal of the proceedings against Wilkes. They were not, however, able to obtain this stipulation at last ; and, as some indemnification to Wilkes for the promise they had made to him in this respect, they granted carious, and eleemosynary pension from the Rockingham administration ;- which they paid in proportion to and out of their sal- aries ; and so entirely was it ministerial, that as any of them went out of the min- istry, their names were scratched out of the list, and they contributed no longer. I say, he did solicit the governments and the embassy, and threatened their refusal nearly in these words — ' It cost me a year and an half to write down the last administration, should I employ as much time upon you, very few of you v.ould be in at the death." When these threats did not prevail, he came over to England to embarrass them by his presence ; and when he found that lord Rockingham was something firmer and more manly than he expected, and refused to be bullied into what he could not perform, Mr Wilkes declared that he could not leave England without money ; and the duke of Portland and lord Rock- ingham purchased his absence with one hundred pounds a piece : with which he returned to Paris. And for the truth of what I here advance, I appeal to the duke of Portland, to lord Rockingham, to lord John Cavendish, to Mr Walpole, &c. — I appeal to the hand-writing of Mr Wilkes, which is still extant. Should Mr Wilkes afterwards (failing in this wholesale trade) chuse to dole out his popularity by the pound, and expose the city offices to sale to his brother, his attor- ney, &c., Junius will tell us, it is only an ambition that he has to make them cham- berlain, toiun-clcrk. Sec, and he must not be opposed in thus robbing the ancient citizens of their birthright because any defeat of Mr Wilkes would gratify the king ! Should he, after consuming the whole of his own fortune and that of his wife, and incurring a debt of twenty thousand pounds merely by his own private extravagance. him a pension out of their own salaries, upon the proportions stated above, with which, at their entreaty, he again returned to the conti- nent. — Edit. * See the last note, which stales the pension referred to.— Edit. 290 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. without fi single service or exertion all this time for the public, whilst his estate re- mained ; should he, at length, being un- done, commence patriot, have the good fortune to be illegally persecuted, and in consideration of that illegahty be espoused by a few gentlemen of the piuest public principles ; should his debts (though none of them were contracted for the public) and all his other incumbrances be discharg- ed ; should he be offered ^600 or ;/^iooo a year to make him independent for the future ; and should he, after all, instead of gratitude for these services, insolently for- bid his benefactors to bestow their own money upon any other object but himself,^ and revile them for setting any bounds to their supplies ; Junius (who, any more than lord Chatham, never contributed one farthing to these enormous expenses) will tell them, that if they think of converting the supplies of Mr Wilkes's private ex- travagance to the support of public mea- sures they are as great fools as my grandmother ; and that Mr Wilkes ought to hold the strings of their purses— d'j long as he coKtiiiues to be a thorn in the king's side I Upon these principles I never have acted, and I never will act. In my opinion, it is less dishonourable to be the creature of a court than the tool of a faction. I will not be either. I understand the two great leaders of opposition to be lord Rocking- ham and lord Chatham ; under one of whose banners all the opposing members of both Houses, who desire to get places, enlist. I can place no confidence in either of them, or in any others, unless they will now engage, whilst they arr*. OUT, to grant certain essential advantages for the security of the public when they shall be in administration. These points they refuse to stipulate, because they are fearful lest * The quarrel between Mr Wilkes and Mr Home originated in the mode of appropriating the contributions to the Bill of Rights Society, the funds of which were professedly subscribed for the purpose of paying the debts of the former. — Edit. * On the 22nd of March, 1770, at which forty- they should prevent any future overtures from the court. To force them to these stipulations has been the uniform endea- vour of Mr Sawbridge, Mr Townshend, Mr Oliver, &c., and therefore they are abused by Junius. I know no reason but my zeal and industry in the same cause that should entitle me to the honour of being ranked by his abuse with persons of their fortune and station. It is a duty I owe to the memory of the late Mr Beckford to say, that he had no other aim than this when he provided that sumptuous enter- tainment at the Mansion-house for the members of both Houses in opposition. 2 .•\t that time he drew up the heads of an engagement, which he gave to me with a request that I would couch it in terms so cautious and precise, as to leave no room for future quibble and evasion ; but to oblige them either to fulfil the intent of the obligation, or to sign their own infamy, and leave it on record ; and this engage- ment he was determined to propose to them at the Mansion-liouse, that either by their refusal they might forfeit the confid- ence of the pubhc, or by the engagement lay a foundation for confidence. When they were informed of the intention, lord Rockingham and his friends flatly refused any engagement ; and Mr Beckford as flatly swore, they should then — 'eat none of his broth ; ' and he was determined to put off the entertainment : But Mr Beck- ford was prevailed upon by to indulge them in the ridiculous parade of a popular procession through the city, and to give them the foolish pleasure of an imaginary consequence, for the real benefit only of the cooks and purveyors. It was the same motive which dictated the thanks of the city to lord Chatham ; which were expressed to be given for his declaration in iayonr oi short parliaments ; ' five noblemen, besides a great number of mem- bers of parliament, and other persons of dis- tinction, were present. — Edit. 3 The vote of thanks and answer were as fol- low : At a Common Council holden on the 14th of May, 1770, it was resolved, ' That the grateful LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 2QI I in order thereby to fix lord Chatham at least to that one constitutional remedy, without which all others can afford no security. The embarrassment no doubt was cruel. He had his choice, either to offend the Rockingham party, who de- clared />/-/«^ the principles of Junius will suit no form of government. They are not to be tolerated under any constitution. Per- sonal enmity is a motive fit only for the devil. Whoever or whatever is sovereign, demands the respect and support of the people. The union is formed for their happiness, which cannot be had without mutual respect ; and he counsels malici- ously who would persuade either to a wanton breach of it. When it is banished by either party, and when every method has been tried in vain to restore it, there is submit my opinion to better judgment, if the wish for that measure shall become prevalent in the kingdom. Purity of parliament is the corner- stone in the common-wealth ; and as one obvious means towards this necessary end is to strengthen and extend the natural relation between the con- stituents and the elected, I have, in this view, publicly expressed my earnest wishes for a more full and equal representation, by the addition of one knight of the shire in a county, as a further balance to the mercenary boroughs. ' I have thrown out this idea with the just diffidence of a private man, when he presumes to suggest any thing new on a high matter. Ani- mated by your approbation, I shall with better hope continue humbly to submit it to the public wisdom, as an object most deliberately to be weighed, accurately examined, and maturely digested. ' Having many times, when in the service of ' the crown, and when retired from it, e.vperienced, ' with gratitude, the favour of my fellow-citizens, j I am now particularly fortunate, that, with their good liking, I can offer any thing towards up- I holding this wisely-combined frame of mixed I government against the decays of time, and the deviations incident to all human institutions ; I and I shall esteem my life honoured indeed, if the City of London can vouchsafe to think that i my endeavours have not been wanting to main- j tain the national honour, to defend the colonies, I and extend the commercial greatness of my country, as well as to preserve from violation the law of the land, and the essential rights of the constitution.' On the subject of triennial parliaments, lord Chatham appears subsequently to have changed his opinion, as will be seen by a reference to the editor's note to Letter XLIV., p. 264 — Edit. I 292 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. no remedy but a divorce ; but even then he must have a hard and a wicked heart indeed wlio punishes the greatest criminal merely for the sake of the punishment ; and who does not let fall a tear for every drop of blood that is shed in a pubhc struggle, however just the quarrel. JOHN liORNE. LETTER LIV.i TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, -^^Aug. 1771. I OUGHT to make an apology to the duke of Grafton, for suffering any part of rny attention to be diverted from his Grace to Mr Home. I am not justified by the similarity of their dispositions. Private vices, however detestable, have not dignity sufficient to attract the censure of the press, unless they are united with the power of doing some signal mischief to the com- munity. — Mr Home's situation does not correspond with his intentions. — In my own opinion (which I know will be attri- buted to my usual vanity and presumption), his letter to me does not deserve an answer. But I understand that the public are not satisfied with my silence ; — that an answer is expected from me, and that if I persist in refusing to plead, it will be taken for conviction. I should be inconsistent with the principles I profess, if I declined an appeal to the good sense of the people, or did not willingly submit myself to the judgment of my peers. If any coarse expressions have escaped me, I am ready to agree that they are unfit for J U.N' I us to make use of, but I see no reason to admit that they have been im- properly applied. Mr Home, it seems, is unable to compre- hend how an extreme want of conduct and discretion can consist with the abilities I have allowed him ; nor can he conceive that a ver>' honest man, with a very good * Junius, in Private Letter, No. 37, makes the following observation : ' If Mr H lorne an- understanding, may be deceived by a knave. His knowledge of human nature must be limited indeed. Had he never mixed with the world, one would think that even his books might have taught him better. Did he hear lord Mansfield, when he defended his doctrine concerning libels? — Or when he stated the law in prosecu- tions for criminal conversation? — Or when he delivered his reasons for calling the House of Lords together to receive a copy of his charge to the jury in Woodfalls trial ?- — Had he been present upon any of these occasions, he would have seen how possible it is for a man of the first talents, to confound himself in absurdities, which would disgrace the lips of an idiot. Per- haps the example might have taught him not to value liis own understanding so highly. Lord Littleton's integrity and judgment are unquestionable ; — yet he is known to admire that cunning Scotchman, and verily believes him an honest man. — I speak to facts with which all of us are con- versant. — I speak to men and to their experi- ence, and will not descend to answer the little sneering sophistries of a collegian. — Distinguished talents are not necessarily connected with discretion. If there be any thing remarkable in the character of Mr Home, it is that extreme want of judgment should be united with his very moderate capacity. Yet I have not forgotten the acknowledgment I made him. He owes it to my bounty ; and though his letter has lowered him in my opinion, I scorn to re- tract the charitable donation. I said it would be very difficult for Mr Home to write directly in defence of a ministerial measure, and not be detected ; and even that difficulty I confined to his particular situation. He changes the terms of the proposition, and supposes me to as- sert, that it would be impossible for any man to write for the newspapers and not be dis- covered. He repeatedly affirms, or intimates at swers this letter handsomely and in point, he shall be my great Apollo.' — Edit. ^ See the charge, p. 117, note.— Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 293 least, that he knows the author of these letters. — With what colour of truth then can he pretend that I am no where to be en- countered but in a neiuspaper f—\ shall leave him to his suspicions. It is not necessary that I should confide in the honour or discretion of a man, who already seems to hate me with as much rancour; as if I had formerly been his friend. — But he asserts that he has traced me through a variety of signatures. To make the dis- covery of any importance to his purpose, he should have proved, either that the fictitious character of Junius has not been consistently supported, or that the autlior has maintained different principles under different signatures. — I cannot recall to my memory the numberless trifles I have written ;— but I rely upon the consciousness of my own integrity, and defy him to fi.x any colourable charge of inconsistency upon me. I am not bound to assign the secret motives of his apparent hatred of Mr Wilkes : nor does it follow that I may not judge fairly of /i/j- conduct, though it were true, that I had no conduct of my own. — Mr Home enlarges, with rapture, upon the importance of his services ; — the dreadful battles which he might have been engaged in, and the dangers he has escaped. — In support of the formidable description, he quotes verses without mercy. The gentle- man deals in fiction, and naturally appeals to the evidence of the poets. — Taking him at his word, he cannot but admit the superiority of Mr Wilkes in this line of service. On one side we see nothing but imaginary distresses. On the other we see real prosecutions ; — real penalties ; — real imprisonment ;-^life repeatedly hazarded ; and, at one moment, almost the certainty of death. 1 Thanks are undoubtedly due to every man who does his duty in the engage- ment ; but it is the wounded soldier who deserves the reward, I did not mean to deny that Mr Home * For an explanation of the subjects here alluded to, see the editor's note to Letter XLVI., p. 267. — Edit. had been an active partisan. It would defeat my own pvu-pose not to allow him a degree of merit, which aggravates his guilt. The very charge of contributing his utmost efforts to support a ministerial measure, implies an acknowledgment of his former services. If he had not once been distin- guished by his apparent zeal in defence of the common cause, he could not now L^ distinguished by deserting it. — As for my- self, it is no longer a question whether I shall mix with the throng., arid take a single share in the danger. Whenever Junius appears, he must encounter a host of enemies. But is there no honourable way to serve the public, without engaging in personal quarrels with insignificant indi- viduals, or submitting to the drudgery of canvassing votes for an election ? Is there no merit in dedicating my life to the in- formation of my fellow-subjects? — What public question have I declined, what villain have I spared ? — Is tliere no labour in the composition of these letters ? Mr Home, I fear, is partial to me, and measures the facility of jny writings, by the fluency of his own. He talks to us, in high terms, of the gallant feats he would have performed, if he had hved in the last century. The unhappy Charles could hardly have escaped him. But hving princes have a claim to his attachment and respect. Upon these terms, there is no danger in being a patriot. If he means any thing more than a pompous rhapsody, let us try how well his argument holds together. — I presume he is not yet so much a courtier as to afifirm that the con- stitution has not been grossly and daringly violated under the present reign. He will not say, that the laws have not been shame- fully broken or perverted ; — that the rights of the subject have not been invaded, or that redress has not been repeatedly solicited and refused. — Grievances like these were the foundation of the rebelhon in the last century, and, if I understand Mr Home, they would, at that period, have justified him to his own mind, in dehberately attack- ing the life of his sovereign. I shall not 294 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ask him to what political constitution this doctrine can be reconciled. But, at least, it is incumbent upon him to show, that the present king has better excuses than Charles the First, for the errors of his government. He ought to demonstrate to us that the constitution was better under- stood a hundred years ago than it is at pre- sent ; — that the legal rights of the subject and the limits of the prerogative were more accurately defined, and more clearly com- prehended. If propositions hke these can- not be fairly maintained, I do not see how he can reconcile it to his conscience, not to act immediately with the same freedom with which he speaks. I reverence the character of Charles the First as little as Mr Home ; but I will not insult his misfortunes by a comparison that would degrade him. It is worth observing, by what gentle degrees, the furious persecuting zeal of Mr Home has softened into moderation. Men and measures were yesterday his object. What pains did he once take to bring that great state criminal MacQuirk to execu- tion ! — To-day he confines himself to meiisures only. — No penal example is to be left to the successors of the duke of Grafton. — To-morrow, I presume both men and measures will be forgiven. The flaming patriot, who so lately scorched us in the meridian, sinks temperately to the west, and is hardly felt as he descends. I comprehend the policy of endeavouring to communicate to Mr Oliver and Mr Saw- bridge a share in the reproaches, with which he supposes me to have loaded him. My memory fails me, if I have mentioned their names with disrespect ; — unless it be re- proachful to acknowledge a sincere respect for the character of Mr Sawbridge, and not to have questioned the innocence of Mr Oliver's intentions. It seems I am a partisan of the great leader of the opposition. If the charge had been a reproach, it should have been better supported. I did not intend to make a public declaration of the respect I bear lord Chatham. I well knew what unworthy conclusions would be drawn from it. But I am called upon to deliver my opinion, and surely it is not in the little censure of Mr Home to deter me from doing signal justice to a man, who, I confess, has grown upon my esteem.^ As for the common, sordid views of avarice, or any purpose of vulgar ambition, I question whether the applause of Junius would be of service to lord Chatham. My vote will hardly re- commend him to an increase of his pension, or to a seat in the cabinet. But if his am- bition be upon a level with his understand- ing ; — if he judges of what is truly honour- able for himself, with the same superior genius, which animates and directs him to eloquence in debate, to wisdom in decision, even the pen of Junius shall contribute to reward him. Recorded honours shall gather round his monument, and thicken over him. It is a solid fabric, and will sup- port the laurels that adorn it. — I am not conversant in the language of panegyric. — These praises are extorted from me ; but they will wear well, for they have been dearly earned. My detestation of the duke of Grafton is not founded upon his treachery to any in- dividual : though I am willing enough to suppose that, in public affairs, it would be impossible to desert or betray lord Chat- ham, without doing an essential injury to this country. My abhorrence of the duke arises from an intimate knowledge of his character, and from a thorough conviction that his baseness has been the cause of greater mischief to England, than even the unfortunate ambition of lord Bute. The shortening the duration of parlia- ments is a subject on wliich Mr Home cannot enlarge too warmly ; nor will I question his sincerity. If I did not profess I the same sentiments, I should be shame- fully inconsistent with myself. It is un- necessary to bind lord Chatham by the , written formality of an engagement. He has publicly declared himself a convert to ' See the author's opinion of lord Chatham in the year 1767, Miscellaneous Letters, No. I. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 29S triennial parliaments ; ^ and though I have long been convinced that this is the only possible resource we have left to preserve the substantial freedom of the constitution, I do not think we have a right to determine against the integrity of lord Rockingham or his friends. Other measures may un- doubtedly be supported in argument, as better adapted to the disorder, or more Ukely to be obtained. Mr Home is well assured, that 1 never was the champion of Mr Wilkes. But though I am not obliged to answer for the firmness of his future adherence to the principles he professes, I have no reason to presume that he will hereafter disgrace them. As for all those imaginary cases, which Mr Home so perpetually urges against me, I have one plain, honest an- swer to make to him. — Whenever Mr Wilkes shall be convicted of soliciting a pension, an embassy, or a government, he must depart from that situation, and re- nounce that character, which he assumes at present, and which, in /;// opinion, en- title him to the support of the public. By the same act, and at the same moment, he will forfeit his power of mortifying the king ; and though he can never be a favour- ite at St James's, his baseness may admin- ister a solid satisfaction to the royal mind. The man I speak of, has not a heart to feel for the frailties of his fellow-creatures. It is their virtues that afflict, it is their vices that console him. I give every possible advantage to Mr Home, when I take the facts he refers to for granted. That they are the produce of his invention, seems highly probable ; that they are exaggerated I have no doubt. At the worst, what do they amount to, but that Mr Wilkes, who never was thought of as a perfect pattern of morality, has not been at all times proof against the extremity of dis- tress ! - How shameful is it, in a man who ^ For lord Chatham's previous opinion of triennial parliaments, see editor's note to the pre- ceding Letter, p. 291 ; and for his declaration in favour of tLem, editor's note to Letter XLIV., p. 264.— Edit. has lived in friendship with him, to reproach him with failings, too naturally connected with despair ! Is no allowance to be made for banishment and ruin? Does a two years' imprisonment make no atonement for his crimes ? — The resentment of a priest is implacable. No sufferings can soften, no penitence can appease him.— Yet he himself, I think, upon his own system, has a multitude of political offences to atone for. I will not insist upon the nauseous detail, with which he so long disgusted the public. He seems to be ashamed of it. But what excuse will he make to the friends of the constitution for labouring to promote this co)isu7)imatdy bad man to a station of the highest national trust and importance ? Upon what honourable motives did he re- commend him to the livery of London for their representative ;-- to the ward of Far- ringdon for their alderman ; — to the county of Middlesex for their knight? Will he affirm that, at that time, he was ignorant of Mr Wilkes's solicitations to the min- istry? — That he should say so, is indeed \ very necessary for his own justification, I but where will he find credulity to believe | him ? In what school this gentleman learned his ethics I know not. His logic seems to have been studied under Mr Dyson. That miserable pamphleteer, by dividing the only precedent in point, and taking as much of it as suited his purpose, had re- duced his argument upon the Middlesex election to something like the shape of a syllogism. Mr Home has conducted him- self with the same ingenuity and candour. I had affirmed that Mr Wilkes would pre- serve the public favour, ' as long as he stood forth against a ministry and parlia- ment who were doing every thing they could to enslave the country, and as long as he was a thorn in the king's side.' Yet from the exulting triumph of Mr Home's reply, one would think that I had rested my expectation, that Mr Wilkes would be - For Mr Wilkes's defence of himself against the charges of Mr Home, see the note, p. 270. —Edit. 206 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. supported by the public, upon the single condition of his mortifying the king. This may be logic at Cambridge or at the Trea- sury, but among men of sense and honour it is folly or villany in the extreme. I see the pitiful advantage he has taken of a single unguarded expression, in a letter not intended for the public. Yet it is only the expression that is unguarded. I adhere to the true meaning of that member of the sentence, taken separately as he takes it, and now, upon the coolest deliberation, re- assert that, for the purposes I referred to, it may be highly meritorious to the public, to wound the personal feelings of the sove- reign. It is not a general proposition, nor is it generally applied to the chief magis- trate of this or any other constitution. Mr Home knows as well as I do, that the best of princes is not displeased with the abuse, which he sees thrown upon his ostensible ministers. It makes them, I presume, more properly the objects of his royal compassion ; neither does it escape his sagacity, that the lower they are de- graded in the public esteem, the more sub- missively they must depend upon his favour for protection. This, I affirm, upon the most solemn conviction, and the most cer- tain knowledge, is a leading maxim in the policy of the closet. — It is unnecessary to pursue the argument any farther. Mr Home is now a very loyal subject. He laments the wretched state of politics in this country, and sees, in a new hght, the weakness and folly of the opposition. Whoever or whatever is sovereign, demands the respect and support of the people ;^ it was not so, xohen Nero fiddled while Rome was burning.^ Our gracious sovereign has had wonderful success, in creating new attachments to his person and family. He owes it, I presume, to the regular system he has pursued in the mystery of conversion. He began with an experiment upon the Scotch, and concludes with converting Mr Home. — What a pity it is that the Jews ' The very soliloquy of lord Suffolk, before he passed the Rubicon. ^ This forms a sentence of Home's own should be condemned by Providence to wait for a Messiah of their own ! The priesthood are accused of misinter- preting the Scriptures. Mr Home has im- proved upon his profession. He alters the text, and creates a refutable doctrine of his own. Such artificae cannot long delude the understanding of the people ; and with- out meaning an indecent comparison, I may venture to foretell, that the Bible and Junius will be read, when the comment- aries of the Jesuits are forgotten. JUNIUS. LETTER LV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER, Sir, 26 Aug. 1771. The enemies of the people having now nothing better to object to my friend Junius, are at last obliged to quit his poli- tics and to rail at him for crimes he is not guilty of. His vanity and impiety are now the perpetual topics of their abuse. I do not mean to lessen the force of such charges (supposing they were true), but to show that they are not founded. If I admitted the premises, I should readily agree in all the consequences drawn from them. Van- ity indeed is a venial error, for it usually carries its own punishment with it ; — but if I thought J UNI us capable of uttering a dis- respectful word of the religion of his coun- try, I should be the first to renounce and give him up to the public contempt and in- dignation. As a man, I am satisfied that he is a Christian upon the most sincere conviction. As a writer, he Vfould be grossly inconsistent with his political prin- ciples, if he dared to attack a religion established by those laws, which it seems to be the purpose of his life to defend. — Now for the proofs. — Junius is accused of an impious allusion to the holy sacrament, w here he says that, if lord Weymouth be writing ; — and was one of his bitterest sarcasms against the king. But see editor's note, p. 232. —Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 297 denied the cup, there will be no keeping him within the pale of the ministry. Now, Sir, I affirm that this passage refers entirely to a ceremonial in the Roman CatlioHc church, which denies the cup to the laity. It has no manner of relation to the Protestant creed, and is in this country as fair an object of ridicule, as transubstantiation, or any other part of lord Peter's history in the Talc of the Tub. But Junius is charged with equal vanity and impiety, in comparing his writings to the Holy Scripture. — The formal protest he makes against any such comparison, avails him nothing. It becomes necessary then to show that the charge destroys itself. — If he be vain, he cannot be impious. A vain man does not usually compare himself to an object, which it is his design to under- value. On the other hand, if he be impious, he cannot be vain. For his impiety, if any, must consist in his endeavouring to degrade the Holy Scriptures by a comparison with his own contemptible writings. This would be folly indeed of the grossest nature, but where lies the vanity ? — I shall now be told, — ' Sir, what you say is plausible enough, but still you must allow that it is shamefully impudent in Junius to tell us that his works will live as long as the Bible.' My answer is, Agreed : but first prove that he has said so. Look at his words, and you will find that the utmost he expects is, that the Bible and Junius will survive the commentaries of the Jesuits, which may prove true in a foitnight. The most malignant sagacity cannot show that his works are, in his opinion, to live as long as the Bible. — Sup- pose I were to foretell that Jack and Tom would survive Harry. — 'Doq^ it follow that Jack must live as long as Tom ? I would only illustrate my meaning, and protest against the least idea of profaneness. Yet this is the way in which Junius is usually answered, arraigned, and convicted. These candid critics never remember any thing he says in honour of our holy religion ; though it is true that one of his leading arguments is made to rest upon the internal evidence which the purest of all religions carries with it. I quote his words, and conclude from them, that he is a true and hearty Christian, in substance, not in cere- mony ; though possibly he may not agree with my reverend lords the bishops, or with the Head of the Church, that prayers are morality, or that kneeling is religion. PHILO JUNIUS. LETTER LVI. FROM THE REV. MR HORNE TO JUNIUS. 16 August, 177 1. I coNGR.\TUL.\TE you. Sir, on the recovery of your wonted style, though it has cost you a fortnight. I compassion- ate your labour in the composition of your letters, and will communicate to you the secret of my fluency. — Truth needs no ornament, and, in my opinion, what she borrows of the pencil is deformity. You brought a positive charge against me of corruption. I denied the charge, and called for your proofs. You replied with abuse, and re-asserted your charge. I called again for proofs. You reply again with abuse only, and drop your accusation. In your fortnight's letter, there is not one word upon the subject of my corruption. I have no more to say, but to return thanks to you for your condescension, and to a ^ra/ty>// public and honest ministry for all the favours they have conferred upon me. The two latter, I am sure, will never refuse me any grace I shall solicit ; and since you have been pleased to acknowledge that you told a deliberate lie in my favour out of bounty, and as a charitable donation, why may I not expect that you will here- after (if you do not forget you ever men- tioned my name with disrespect) make the same acknowledgment for what you have said to my prejudice ? — This second recant- ation will perhaps be more abhorrent from your disposition ; but should you decline it, you will only aftbrd one more instance how much easier it is to be generous than just, and that men are sometimes bountiful who are not honest. 298 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. At all events I am as well satisfied with your panegyric as lord Chatham can be. Monument I shall have none ; but over my grave it will be said, in your own words, ' Home's situation did not correspond luith his intentions.' ^ JOHN HORXE. LETTER LVII.2 TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. ! My Lord, 28 Sept. 1771. The people of England are not apprized of the full extent of th'^ir obliga- tions to you. They have yet no adequate idea of the endless variety of your character. They have seen you distinguished and suc- cessful in the continued violation of those moral and political duties, by which the Httle, as well as the great, societies of life are collected and held together. Every colour, ever>'character became you. With a rate of abilities, which lord Weymouth very justly looks down upon with contempt, you have done as much mischief to the community as Cronnvcll would have done, if Cronnvell had been a coward, and as much as Machiavcl, if Machiavcl had not known, that an appearance of morals and religion are useful in society. — To a think- ing man, the influence of the crown will, in no view, appear so formidable, as when he observes to what enormous excesses it has safely conducted your Grace, without a ray of real understanding, without even the pretension to common decency or prin- ciple of any kind, or a single spark of per- sonal resolution. What must be the opera- tion of that pernicious influence (for which our kings have wisely exchanged the nugatory name of prerogative), that, in the highest stations, can so abundantly supply the absence of virtue, courage, and abihties, and qualify a man to be the minister of a great nation, whom a private gentleman would be ashamed and afraid to admit ' The epitaph would not be ill suited to the character. — At the best, it is but equivocal. ' ' The inclosed is of such importance, so very into his family ! Like the universal pass- port of an ambassador, it supersedes the prohibition of the laws, banishes the staple virtues of the country, and introduces vice and folly triumphantly into all the depart- ments of the state. Other princes, besides his Majesty, have had the means of corrup- tion within their reach, but they have used it with moderation. In former times, cor- ruption was considered as a foreign auxiliary to government, and only called in upon extraordinary emergencies. The unfeigned piety, the sanctified religion, of George the Third have taught him to new-model the civil forces of the state. The natural re- sources of the crown are no longer confided in. Corruption glitters in the van ;— col- lects and maintains a standing army of mercenaries, and, at the same moment, impoverishes and enslaves the country. — His Majesty's predecessors (excepting that worthy family from which you, my Lord, are unquestionably descended) had some generous qualities in their composition, with vices, I confess, or frailties in abund- ance. They were kings or gentlemen, not hypocrites or priests. They were at the head of the church, but did not know the value of their office. They said their prayers without ceremony, and had too little priestcraft in their understanding, to reconcile the sanctimonious forms of re- hgion with the utter destruction of the morality of their people. — My Lord, this is fact, not declamation. — With all your par- tiality to the house of Stuart, you must confess, that even Charles the Second \\o\i\d have blushed at that open encouragement, at those eager, meretricious caresses, with which every species of private vice and public prostitution is received at St James's. — The unfortunate house of Stuart has been treated with an asperity, which, if comparison be a defence, seems to border upon injustice. Neither Charles nor his brother were qualified to support such a system of measures, as would be necessary to change the government, and subvert the material, that it must be given to the public im- mediately.' Private Letter, No. 38.— EotT. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 299 constitution of England. One of them was too much in earnest in his pleasures, — the other in his religion. But the danger to this country would cease to be problemat- ical, if the crown should ever descend to a prince, whose apparent simplicity might throw his subjects off their guard, — who might be no libertine in behaviour, — who should have no sense of honour to restrain him, and who, with jus'' religion enough to impose upon the multitude, might have no scruples of conscience to interfere with his morality. With these honourable qualifi- cations, and the decisive advantage of situation, low craft and falsehood are all the abilities that are wanting to destroy the wisdom of ages, and to deface the noblest monument that human policy has erected — I know such a man ; — My Lord, I know you both ; and with the blessing of God (for I too am religious), the people of Eng- land shall know you as well as I do. I am not ver)^ sure, that greater abilities would not, in effect, be an impediment to a design, which seems at first sight to require a superior capacity. A better understanding might make him sensible of the wonderful beauty of that system he was endeavouring to corrupt. The danger of the attempt might alarm him. The meanness and intrinsic worthlessness of the object (sup- posing he could attain to it) would fill him with shame, repentance, and disgust. But these are sensations which find no entrance into a barbarous, contracted heart. In some men, there is a malignant passion to destroy the works of genius, literature, and freedom. The Vandal and the monk find equal gratification in it. Reflections like these, my Lord, have a general relation to your Grace, and insepar- ably attend you, in whatever company or situation your character occurs to us. They have no immediate connexion with the ' When the armament took place, in conse- quence of the dispute with Spain, respecting Falkland's Islands, the navy was found to be in a most deplorable state. By the exertions of the late earl of Sandwich, then, and for many years afterwards, first lord of the Admiralty, it was greatly renovated. It is however to later following recent fact, which I lay before the public, for the honour of the best of sove- reigns, and for the edification of his people. A prince (whose piety and self-denial, one would think, might secure him from such a multitude of worldly necessities), with an annual revenue of near a million sterling, unfortunately icanls money. — The navy of England, by an equally strange concurrence of unforesefn circumstances (though not quite so unfortunately for his Majesty), is in equal want of timber. The world knows in what a hopeful condition you delivered the navy to your successor, and in what a condition we found it in the moment of distress.^ You were determined it should continue in the situation in which you left it. It happened, however, very luckily for the privy purse, that one of the above wants promised fair to supply the other. Our religious, benevolent, generous sovereign has no objection io soWmg his own timber to his o^un Admiralty, to repair his ozcn ships, nor to putting the money into his o-wn pocket. People of a religious turn naturally adhere to the principles of tlie church. Whatever they acquire falls into mortmain. — Upon a representation from the Admiralty of the extraordinary want of timber, for the indispensable repairs of the navy, the surveyor-general was directed to make a survey of the timber in all the royal chases and forests in England. Having obeyed his orders with accuracy and atten- tion, he reported, that the finest timber he had any where met with, and the properest in every respect for the purposes of the navy, was in Whitllebury Forest, of which your Grace, I think, is hereditary ranger. In consequence of this report, the usual war- rant was prepared at the Treasury, and delivered to the surveyor, by which he or his deputy were authorized to cutdownany trees in Whittlcbury Forest, which should periods, to the superintendence of the present earl Spencer, and some of his very able success- ors, that we are to look for its true pinnacle of glory : — for the manifestation of that expert and chivalrous courage which has made it indeed the envy of an individual tyrant, but the admiration of the universe. — Edit, 300 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. appear to be proper for the purposes above- mentioned. The deputy being informed ' that the warrant was signed and delivered to his principal in London, crosses the country to Northamptonshire, and with an officious zeal for the pubhc service, begins to do his duty in the forest. Unfortunately for him he had not the warrant in his pocket. The oversight was enormous, and you have punished him for it accordingly. You have insisted that an active, useful officer should be dismissed from his place. You have ruined an innocent man and his family.— In what language shall I address so black, so cowardly a tyrant ; — thou worse than one of the Briinswicks, and all the Stuarts I — To them who know lord North, it is unnecessary to say, that he was mean and base enough to submit to you. — This however is but a small part of the fact. After ruining the surveyor's deputy, for act- ing without the warrant, you attacked the warrant itself. You declared it was illegal, and swore, in a fit of foaming, frantic passion, that it never should be executed. You assert- ed upon yourhonour, that in the grant of the rangership of Whittlcbury Forest, made by Charles the Second (whom, with a modesty that would do honour to Mr Rigby, you are pleased to call your ancestor) to one of his bastards (from whom I make no doubt of your descent), the property of the timber is vested in the ranger. — I have examined the original grant, and now, in the face of the pubhc, contradict you directly upon the fact. The very reverse of what you have asserted upon your honour is the truth. The grant, expressly, and by a particular clause, reserves the property of the timber for the use of the crown. — In spite of this evidence, — in defiance of the representa- tions of the Admiralty,— in perfect mockery of the notorious distresses of the English navy, and those equally pressing, and al- most equally notorious, necessities of your pious sovereign, — here the matter rests. — The lords of the Treasury recall their war- rant ; the deputy-surveyor is ruined for doing his duty ; — Mr John Pitt (whose name I suppose is offensive to you) submits to be brow-beaten and insulted ; — the oaks keep their ground ; — the king is defrauded, and the navy of England may perish for ■>\ant of the best and finest timber in the island. And all this is submitted to — to appease the duke of Grafton ! — To gratify the man who has involved the king and his kingdom in confusion and distress, and who, like a treacherous coward, deserted his sovereign in the midst of it ! There has been a strange alteration in your doctrines, since you thought it advis- able to rob the duke of Portland of his pro- perty, in order to strengthen the interest of lord Bute's son-in-law, before the last general election. ^ Nullum tempus occurrit I * Few persons have yet forgotten the commo- i tion into which the nation was thrown by this I outrageous attempt of the minister to enlarge the I royal prerogative. By the common law of Eng- land no man can be disturbed in his title who has been in quiet possession of an estate for sixty years ; but by an old obsolete law, a wretched remnant of ancient tyrannj^ it was asserted that iiullu7n tempus occurrit rcgi, and such \\'as the commencement of the law itself : in plain Eng- lish, that no term of possession, whether sixty or a hundred and sixty years, can defend against a claim of the crown. This lasv was attempted to be revived in the reign of James I. ; but the attempt was so effectually opposed in its outset by that sound constitutional lawyer, sir Edward Coke, that a Bill of a contrary tendency was suffered to pass in its stead, which expressly secured ev»ry estate of sixty years' possession, ' against all and every person having or pre- tending to have any estate, right, or title, byforce or (.olourof any letters patent, or grants, upon suggestion of concealment, or defective titles, of or for which said manors, lands, and tenements, no verdict, judgment, or decree, hath been had or given.' This extraordinary and unconstitutional pre- rogative of the crown, was attempted to be revived by the duke of Grafton in 1767; who, for the mere purpose of carrying an election for the county of Cumberland in favour of sir James Lowther against the duke of Portland, had ad- mitted the former to become a royal grantee of an enormous portion of what had formerly been crown lands — but which had been for upwards of seventy years in the different families of the actual possessors. This attempt introduced sir George Savile's famous Bill, which was called the Quieting Bill, and was intended to render more valid the Act of James I. in favour of the subject against the crown. The remainder shall be given to the reader in an extract from a writer in the Public Advertiser, who adopted the signa- LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 301 regi, was then your boasted motto, and the cry of all your hungry partisans. Now it tare of Ulysses, and addressed two Letters to lord North on this subject. ' The Bill was lost. Eut the perseverance of a good man in a good cause is not easily shaken. Sir George Savile revived the Bill in the suc- ceeding session ; and its success at last, notwith- standing all the efforts of your Lordship, and the rest of the administration, gave a signal proof of the constitutional spirit wiiich will break forth, when the struggle begins between libertj' and prerogative. — In the progress of the Bill, a clause was proposed by the friend.s of sir James Low- ther, which left to the grantees of the crown, twelve months from the ist of Jan. 1769, for the prosecutJcn of their suits. Ihe friends of the Bill, anxious to secure to the subject, if they could, so importarit a law, did not hesitate in admitting the clai:sc. They assented to the pro- position, that the case of sir James Lowther should remain untouched by the Bill then de- pending. ' Such was that consent of which Sir James's friends have talked so much : And what does it at last amount to ? We agree not to touch the case of sir James Lowther by this Bill. Does this important agreement if by the way such an agreement could be made by private parties, in restraint of the powers of parliament, never to interpose ? at no time, in no circumstances, undo: no provocations of the most flagrant abuse, or the most urgent necessity 't Does it mean to say, that all future parliaments shall to eternity be barred from interfering, though impelled to it by the clearest justice? Do the friends of the duke of Portland, does the whole legislature, mean to ratify, to confirm, and to sanctify that hateful grant? If these intentions neither can nor will be attributed to the consent given, the utmost construction of it can extend no farther, than I have contended that its true sense imports, a neutrality at that time and in that Bill towards the question. If the case should be found to re- quire future interposition, future parliaments will interpose. But till the conduct of sir James Lowther shall make it necessary for us to point at him personally, we will give him credit for those feelings of sense, of decency, and of remorse, that shall make it peevish to revive the memory of that odious transaction. ' Have these sensations operated upon sir James? What has been his conduct? On the last day of the year allowed him, he served above 400 ejectments. The county of Cumber- land, from one extremity of it to the other, was in the utmost confusion. Not a man who had voted against him within the described limits of the grant was to escape. The word was gone forth — The rebels must be sacrificed, the county must be crushed. But the alarm that was given by so extensive and unparalleled revenge, made it very soon prudent and necessary for sir James to abandon many of those suits : And they stood t.hen reduced to the moderate number of 15 bills in a Court of Equity, and 225 suits at law. seems a grant of Charles the Second to one of his bastards is to be held sacred and in- i * Your Lordship, perhaps, could see with plea- j sure the miseries of that devoted county. You I could, perhaps, contemplate with inward satis- faction, the glorious and exalted figure of sir James Lowther, while you beheld him, with an air of triumphant dignity, ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm. Other ideas filled the mind of sir William Meredith. He could not hear of the distress and confusion into which that unfor- tunate county was plunged by the clause alluded to, without immediately resolving to do that justice to Cumberland, which had been already shown to every other county in the king's do- minions. He therefore brought in the Bill to repeal that clause. ' I do not mean to enter into abstruse argu- ments upon the subject. In truth, it is a subject that the plain common sense of every moder- ate capacity, the natural and first feeUngs of every generous and honest heart, must instantly decide upon. A law is made for the general quilt of tlie subject. A clause improvidently admitted {upon a principle of delicacy which sub- sequent events have not justified) counteracts the intention of that law ; by perverting its bene- ficial purposes, and makmg it operate as a partial instrument of oppression, instead of securing to the whole kingdom the blessings it was intended to diffuse. Is not this a state of the fact ? Was not the whole kingdom, Cumberland excepted, in the full enjoyment of that security which the Bill of quiet was intended to procure? And was not Cumberland, and Cumberland alone, sacri- ficed by this clause ? For extraordinary as the fact is, it is a truth which ought to be known, and which I am sure nobody will dare to contro- vert, that sir James Lowther is the single grantee of the crown who has availed himself of this clause. There was not a man to be found, sir James Lowther excepted, who would suffer himself to be transmitted to posterity as the last Englishman who exercised over his fellow-sub- jects this expiring right of barbarity. 'Ashamed of proceedings which all men saw with concern, the Bill operated so far upon sir James, that he was at last induced to offer to abandon every other suit he had begun, provided only that he might be at full liberty to prosecute with effect the great delinquent, the duke of Portland. ' Your Lordship's notions of equal justice re- conciled you to the idea. You thought that his Grace's situation in life, and his fortune, ex- empted him from compassion ; and that he was therefore excluded from all claim or pretension to common justice. ' It is your duty, my Lord, to inform the public why that grant is acknowledged to be untenable against all but his Grace of Portland ? Why it is to be abandoned and renounced in every in- stance but in his? What there is in it, if sir James thought it shameful and unjustifiable to proceed against the 224, that should make it honourable or just to pursue the 225th? Sir M 302 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. violable ! It must not be q lestioncd by the king's servants, nor submit ed to any inter- pretation but your own.— My Lord, this was not the language you held, when it suited you to insult the memory of the glorious deliverer of England from that detested family, to which you are still more nearly allied in principle than in blood. - In the name of decency and common sense, what are your Grace's merits, either with king or ministry, that should entitle you to assume this domineering authority over both? — Is it the fortunate consanguinity you claim with the house of Stuart ?— Is it the secret correspondence you have for so many years carried on with lord Bute, by the assiduous assistance of your cream- coloured parasite 1 — Could not your gal- lantry find sufficient employment for him, in tliose c^ciitle offices by which he first acquired the tender friendship of lord Dar- rhigton f — Or is it only that wonderful sympathy of manners, which subsists be- tween your Grace and one of your supe- riors, and does so much lionour to you both ? — Is the union of Bl/'Jil and Black James Lowther and your Lordship have allowed that all traces of this detested grant should be , obliterated with respect to every suit commenced, ' one only excepted. Have you tried those suits? Have you heard their respective merits? Can you distinguish between them, and say this man should be quieted ; that man ought to be harassed and oppressed ? Vet you have said so ; — for the duke of Portland is an exception to all cases. He is not fit to have the benefit of that law (created by the severity of his particular case) which every other Englishman does actually enjoy. He ought to stand branded and exposed to all posterity : He shall be attainted byname : He must fall the single victim, and be made the only sacrifice for the peace and quiet of this country. ' Let us then hear no more of the objection of parliamentary interposition pendente lite, by an ex post facto law. Vour Lordship heard in the proper place, and could not refute, the many precedents of laws made ex post facto upon urgent occasions. Vour Lordship could not then, nor will now deny, that when parliaments have interfered to protect the subject against oppressive grants, they have always done it ; they must ever do it pendente lite. Till the grant is put in suit, no grievance can be said to exist. The prosecutions under it are the very grievance which parliament interposes to redress. Such was the view, and such was the effect of the Hill for the general quiet of the subject in king James's time, and which sir George Savile's n'as intended to pursue. — But, my Lord, you cannot avail yourself of the argument. The concession of sir James Lowther has alone de- feated it. ' A grant is passed, affecting in its consequences the rights of 225 persons. By a law that should be made ex post facto, pendente lite, you would deem it honourable and just to restrain sir James Lowther from proceedings in 224 of these suits. It remains for your Lordship to satisfy the world that it is honourable and just that he should proceed in the 225th. Vou must do more. — Vou must prove that it will not be both dishonourable and unjust if he do, or if he be suffered to pro- ceed in it.' In order to relieve the duke of Portland from the suit of sir James Lowther ; another explana- tory Bill was introduced into the House of Com- mons in Feb. 7, 1771, by which the clause in favour of sir James Lowther was to be repealed : the question was lost on the third reading by 164 in behalf of the clause, against 155 in opposition to it. The reader will nevertheless rejoice to hear that the crown, on the part of sir James Lowther, was nonsuited in the Court of Exchequer, though it had triumphed in the House of Commons. The following short statement of this celebrated trial is taken from the Public Advertiser, Nov. 22, 1771. ' \\'ednesday came on before the Barons of the Exchequer, at Westminster Hall, the great cause between sir James Lowther, Bart, plaintifi, and the duke of Portland, de- fendant, in consequence of a grant made to sir James Lowther of the forest of Ingle wood, in the year 1767, of lands being for upwards of seventy years in the possession of the duke of Portland. 'I'heir Lordships came into court about nine o'clock, and after waiting near an hour for baron Adams, the Chief Baron received a letter from his Lordship, informing him of the impossibility of his attending the court that day, on account of the death of lady Adams. The court then entered into the business of the day, and recited all the records and prerogatives of the crown, from Edward the First to the lease made to sir James Lowther ; when, after a full, candid, and most impartial examination of the said lease, it was found invalid, agreeable to the statute made in the first year of queen Anne, which recites ' that upon every grant, lease, or assurance, there be reserved a reasonable rent, not being under the third part of the clear yearly value of such of the said manors, mes- suages, lands, &c. &c. as shall be contained in such lease or grant.' Sir James Lowther's grant from the crown being only a quit rent of 13s. and 4d. for the whole forest of Inglewood, was immediately judged by the Court an inade- quate third proportio7i, and he was nonsuited accordingly.' See the whole transaction more fully expa- tiated upon in Miscellaneous Letters signed Mnomon, Nos. XIII. and XIV.— Edit. LETTERS OF JL'XIUS. 303 George no longer a roinaiice ? — From what- . men are unable to account for it. Religious ever origin your influence in this country men find exercise for their faith, and make arises, it is a phaenomenon in the history of j it the last effort of their piety, not to repine huT-an virtue and understanding.— Good , against Providence. msn cin. hardly believe the fact. Wise ^ To this Letter the following answer was returned, which, as it proves Jlnius to have been ir.ista!y the court. Lord Mansfield made a late opinion of the court very public, undoubtedly with a view that it should be taken up constitutionally in parlia- ment, by those who pretended to differ from him in opinion, by a bill, in the progress of which the matter might be discussed, with the assistance of the judges. It was in this light un- derstood ; and the most considerable part of those who differed from that opinion in the House of Commons being clear, that there was (which poor Zoio never heard of) is now formally admitted. When Mr Benson's no colour for a declaratory law, moved for a bill to make a law for the future, which was rejected. j The enormous crime trumped up by Junius and his party then is, that a judge tells the jury ! what, in his opinion, the law is, and leaves them , afterwards to do as they please, without interpo- J sition. If he thinks his opinion right, as he most ' certainly does, it is not in his power to do other- I wise ; and he fuust repeat the same conduct j whenever a similar case comes before him. I Junius next affirms, that ' to save the king's brother, lord Mansfield declared that, in a ver- { diet for criminal conversation, a man of the first quality is entitled to no greater damages than the 1 meanest mechanic' — I have talked with some who attended the trial, I have read the spurious accounts of it in print. We know how falsely and ignorantly such notes are taken, even when the ' writers mean no harm. They are generally un- intelligible till they are corrected by the persons concerned. But I suspect, that malice joined I issue with blunder, in what is made lord ^lans- field's opinion. It is full of nonsense, contradic- I tory, and manifestly imperfect. Much depends j upon a word or two, a restriction or a qualifica- , tion. ITie published opinion makes lord Mans- field tell the jury that the measure of damages must be formed, from all the circumstances of the case taken together. In another place, it makes him state many of the circumstances and say, I they are not at all material without any restric- I tion or qualification. But the scope and occa- sion of the direction are very plain, in whatever ; words the direction itself was expressed. j A very eminent and able counsel had, with a ; torrent of eloquence, applied to the passions of the jury. He laboured, with great art and ad- . dress, to carry them, it is impossible to say i where, merely on account of the rank and situ- ation of the parties. The duke of York, he in- formed the jurj-, recovered one hundred thousand pounds against a man for calling him a Papist, . which was no additional damage to his charac- ter, for all England knew him to be actually a ' Papist. If therefore, continued the counsel, the ! king's brother recovered so much, the rule should ' be reciprocal, and the defendant ought to pay much more, as the injury was greater. The learned counsel judiciously passed over the many cases in England — of a duke of Norfolk, a duke of Beaufort, a duke of Grafton, and many other peers, who had recovered moderate damages from men of fortune. But he rested on an Irish case, of which he stated no circumstances, where the rule was to give such damages as should ruin the defendant. He, therefore, contended for an exorbitant verdict, by way of punishment. It was the indispensable duty of the judge to extricate the matter from the passions of the jury, worked up and biassed by inflammatory eloquence, that powerful instrument of deceit, and to bring it back to their cool and sound judgments. They were, therefore, told that •^TO LETTERS OF JUNIUS. name was called, lord Mansfield was ob- served to flush in the face (a signal of guilt not uncommon with him), and cried out, pass him by. This I take to be something more than a peremptory challenge. It is an iniLni'/iil command, without any reason assigned. That the counsel did not resist, is true ; but this might happen either from inadvertence, or a criminal complaisance to lord Mansfield. — You Barristers are too apt to be civil to my Lord Chief Justice, at the expense of your clients. 2°. Junius did never say that lord Mans- field had destroyed the liberty of the press. ' That his Lordship has laboured to destroy, —that his doctrine is an attack upon the liberty of the press, — that it is an invasion of the right of juries," are the propositions maintained by Junius. His opponents never answer him in point, for they never meet him fairly upon his own ground. damages are by way of retribution or compensa- tion to the plaintiflT for the injury, and to be esti- mated from all circumstances. The rank and situation of the parties were not of themselves decisive. A peer, under some circumstances, may be entitled to less damages for this injury than a tradesman under otiier circumstances : That it might be just, in certain situations, to give small damages for this injury against a de- fendant of great wealth, and in other situations to give ten thousand pounds against a person of low degree. Even from the spurious opinion pub- lished, the case appears to have been left to the jury, upon all the circumstances, without a single remark on any of them, without a word of allevia- tion. No cases were mentioned where moderate damages had been given to peers of the highest rank for this injury against persons of great for- tune. The next charge of Junius and his party against the noble lord is, ' that he has changed the system of jurisprudence.' — The uncandid party do not recollect that lord Mansfield has had three assistants most eminent for knowledge and integrity. The only cliangc we of West- minster Hall either know or have heard of is, that the decisions inform and satisfy the bar : that hitherto no one has been reversed, and which is a main point to the suitor, and perhaps new, there is no delay. — Since lord Mansfield sat there, the business, which flows into that channel, and leaves every other almost dry, is increased beyond belief. I have been assured, that besides all the other business, there are not fewer than sez'e7i or eight liHndrcdca.u-~,G?, entered every year at the sittings before his Lordship for London and Middlesex. It is at once unjust and uncandid to take from him all merit, while he 3°. Lord Man field's policy, in endea- vouring to screen his unconstitutional doc- trines behind an act of the legislature, is easily understood. — Let every Englishman stand upon his guard ; theright of juries to return a general verdict, in all cases what- soever, is a part of our constitution. It stands in no need of a bill, either enacting or declaratory, to confirm it.i 4°. With regard to the Grosvenor cause, it is pleasant to observe that the doctrine attributed by Junius to lord Mansfield, is admitted by Zeno, and directly defended. The Barrister has not the assurance to deny it flatly, but he evades the charge, and softens the doctrine by such poor, contemptible quibbles, as cannot impose upon the meanest understanding. 5°. The quantity of business in the Court go-r; through the immense fatigue which arises from a high reputation. As to lord Chatham's cause, the malevolent writer has sat down to invent a lie, without giving himself the trouble to inquire into what passed in public upon that subject. \, as many more of the profession, attended that cause. Lord Mans- field moved the question, which was put to the judges, penned with a view to that point, upon which, it appeared afterwards, he thought the cause depended. Though it had been argued, both above and below, upon another point, the judges considered the point on which it had been argued. They were divided and prepared to give different opinions. Lord Mansfield, ap- prized of the disagreement among the judges, suggested that point upon which he thought the cause turned, be the other as it might. He pro- posed to the judges to consider it in that light. The House was adjourned expressly for this purpose ; and when the judges came to consider the cause on the point suggested by lord Mans- field, they were unanimous ; which terminated the cause, whatever the law might be upon the other point on which it was decided below. l"he allegation, that lord Mansfield made the decree for the commissioners, beari on its face the marks of a palpable falsehood. It is a mere invention of Junius ; never mentioned, never suspected by any other writer : I am convinced, both from the delicacy of the commissioners and that of his Lordship, that not a single word ever passed between them on the subject. Temple, Oct. i6. A B.vkrister at I-aw. EuiT. ^ This subject was agitated in the House of Commons, in the spring of the year 1771, on the motion of Mr Dowdeswell for leave to bring in an enacting bill ; which was rejected, for the reasons assigned in the note, p. 248. — Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. of King's Bench proves nothing but the litigious spirit of the people, arising from a great increase of wealth and commerce. These however are now upon the decline, and will soon leave nothing but law suits behind them. When Junius affirms that lonl Mansfield has laboured to alter the system of jurisprudence, in the court where his Lordship presides, he speaks to those, who are able to look a little further than the vulgar. Besides that the multitude are easily deceived by the imposing names of equity and substantial Justice, it does not follow that a judge, who introduces into his court new modes of proceeding, and new principles of law, intends, in every instance, to decide unjustly. Wh; shoL'.dhe, where he has no interest? — We say that lord Mansfield is a bad 7nan, and a worse Judge; — but we do not say that he is a 7nere devil. Our adversaries would fain reduce us to the difficulty of proving too much. — This arti- fice however shall not avail him. The truth of the matter is plainly this. When lord Ma)isfield has succeeded in his scheme of changing a court of common law to a court of equity, he will have it in his power to do injustice whenever hi thinks proper. This, though a wicked purpose, is neither absurd nor unattainable. (y". The last paragraph, relative to lord Chatham's cause, cannot be answered. It partly refers to facts, of too secret a nature to be ascertained, and partly is unintelligi- ble. ' Upon one point, the cause is decided against lord Chatham. — Upon another point, it is decided for him.' — Both the law and the language are well suited to a Bar- rister ! — If I have any guess at this honest gentleman's meaning, it is, that, ' whereas the commissioners of the great seal saw the question in a point of view unfavourable to lord Chatham, and decreed accordingly, — lord Mansfield, out of sheer love and kind- ness to lord Chatham, took the pains to place it in a point of view more favourable to the appellant.' — Credat JudcBus Apella. — So curious an assertion would stagger the faith of Mr Sylva. LETTER LXIV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 2 November, ijji. We are desired to make the fol- lowing declaration, in behalf of Junius, upon three material points, on which his opinion has been mistaken, or misrepre- sented. 1°. Junius considers the right of taxing the colonies, by an act of the British legis- lature, as a speculative right merely, never to be exerted, nor ever to be renounced. To his judgment it appears plain, ' That the general reasonings, which were em- ployed against that power, went directly to our whole legislative right, and that one part of it could not be yielded to such argu- ments, without a virtual surrender of all the rest.' 2°. That, with regard to press warrants, his argument should be taken in his own words, and answered strictly ; that com- parisons may sometimes illustrate, but prove nothing ; and that, in this case, an appeal to the passions is unfair and unne- cessary. Junius feels and acknowledges the evil in the most express terms, and will show himself ready to concur in any rational plan, that may provide for the liberty of the individual, without hazarding the safety of the community. At the same time, he expects that the evil, such as it is, be not exaggerated or misrepresented. In general, it is not unjust that, when the rich man contributes his wealth, ihe poor m3.n should serve the state in person ; — otherwise the latter contributes nothing to the defence of that law and constitution, from which he demands safety and protection. But the question does not lie between rich and poor. The laws of England make no such distinctions. Neither is it true that the poor man is torn from the care and support of a wife and family, nelpless without him. The single question is, whether ihesea7nan,^ ^ I confine myself strictly to seamen ; — if any others are pressed, it is a gross abuse, which the magistrates can and should correct. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. in tr.r.es of public danger, shall serve the merchant or the state, in that profession to which he was bred, and by the exercise of which alone he can honestly support him- self and his family. — General arguments against the doctrine of necessity, and the dangerous use that may be made of it, are of no weight in this particular case. Neces- sity includes the idea of inevitable. When- ever it is so, it creates a law, to which all positive laws and all positive rights must give way. In this sense the levy of ship- money by the king's warrant was not necessary, because the business might have been as well or better done by parliament. If the doctrine, maintained by Junius, be confined within this limitation, it will go but very little way in support of arbitrary power. That the king is to judge of the occasion, is no objection, unless we are told how it can possibly be otherwise. There are other instances, not less important in the exercise, nor less dangerous in the abuse, in which the constitution relies en- tirely upon the king's judgment. The executive power proclaims war and peace, binds the nation by treaties, orders general embargoes, and imposes quarantines, not to mention a multitude of prerogative writs, which, though liable to the greatest abuses, were never disputed. 3". It has been urged, as a reproach to Junius, that he has not delivered an opinion upon the Game Laws, and particularly the late Dog Act. But Junius thinks he has much greater reason to complain, that he is never assisted by those, who are able to assist him,i and that almost the whole labour of the press is thrown upon a single hand, from which a discussion of every public question whatsoever is unreasonably expected. He is not paid for his labour, and certainly has a right to choose his em- ployment. As to the Ga7ne Laws, he never scrupled to declare his opinion, that * In Private Letter, No. 66, addressed to Mr Wilkes, Junius complains of his want of 'sup- port in the newspapers.' — Edit. ^ A case brought by lord Pomfret before the House, from one of the inferior courts, in refer- thoy are a species of the Forest Lazvs, that they are oppressive to the subject, and that the spirit of them is incompatible with legal liberty : — that the penalties, imposed by these laws, bear no proportion to the nature of the offence ; that the mode of trial, and the degree and kind of evidence necessary to convict, not only deprive the subject of all the benefits of a trial by jury, but are in themselves too summary, and to the last degree arbitrary and oppressive. That, in particular, the late acts to prevent dog- stealing, or killing game between sun and sun, are distinguished by their absurdity, extravagance, and pernicious tendency. If these terms are weak, or ambiguous, in what language can Junius express himself? — It is no excuse for lord Mansjichi to say that he happened to be absent when these bills passed the House of Lords. It was his duty to be present. Such bills could never have passed the House of Commons without his knowledge. But we very well know by what rule he regulates his attend- ance. When that order was made in the House of Lords in the case of lord Pom- fret,^ at which every Englishman shudders, my honest lord Mansfield found himself, by mere accident, in the Court of King's Bench. — Otherwise, he would have done wonders in defence of law and property 1 The pitiful evasion is adapted to the cha- racter. But Junius will never justify him- self by the example of this bad man. The distinction between doing -wrong and avoid- ing to do riqht belongs to lord Mansfield. Junius disclaims it. LETTER LXV. TO LORD CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD. 2 November, 1771. At the intercession of three of your countrymen, you have bailed a man, who, I presume, is also a Scotchman, and ence to a tract of ground, claimed by the parish in which he resided, as common land, but main- tained by his Lordship to be a part of his own freehold.— Edit. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 323 whom the lord mayor of London had re- fused to bail.i I do not mean ta enter into an examination of the partial, sinister motives of your conduct ; but confining myself strictly to the fact, I affirm, that you have done that, which by law you w ere not warranted to do. The thief was taken in the theft ; — the stolen goods were found upon him, and he made no defence. In these circumstances (the truth of which you dare not deny, because it is of public no- toriety), it could not stand indifferent whe- ther he was guilty or not, much less could there be any presumption of his innocence ; and, in these circumstances, I affirm, in contradiction to YOU, Lord Chief Jus- tice ^L\^■SI•IELD, that, by the laws of England, he was not bailable. If ever Mr Eyre should be brought to trial, 2 we shall hear what you have to say for yourself ; and I pledge myself, before God and my countiy, in proper time and place to make good my cliarge against you. JUNIUS. ^ In explanation of this assertion, the editor extracts the folloAing paragraph from the Public Advertiser, Oct. 20, 1771. ' Yesterday application was made to the lord mayor, by the friends of John Eyre, Esq., com- mitted on the oaths of Thomas Fielding, William Holder, William Payne, and William Nash, for feloniously stealing eleven quires of writing- paper. The circumstances were so strong against the prisoner, on whom the goods were found, and no defence whatever being set up by him before the magistrate who made the commitment, that the lord mayor refused to bail him. The alderman who conunitted him, had before refused to bail him, as it was alleged that no instance whatever had been known of a person being bailed under such circumstances. Mr Eyre was however bailed yesterday by lord Mansfield, himself in only ;C3oo and three Scottish securities in £\oo each, a Kinloch, Farquar, and Innis. Eyte has since made his escape' — Edit. ^ The facts of the case were as follo>v : On the 2nd of Oct. 1771, Eyre was committed to Wood- street Compter, by Mr Alderman Halifax, for privately stealing out of a room at Guildhall three quires of writing-paper, which were found upon him ; on searching his lodgings, there were dis- covered, in a box, eight quires more of the same sort of paper, which had been marked privately for the discovery of the thief. Eyre had attend- ed at the justice-room for a considerable time under the pretence of learning the business of a magistrate, to which situation, he said, he shortly LETTER LXVI. FOR THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 9 Noveinhcr, 1771. ! Junius engages to make good his \ charge against lord chief justice Mansfield, ', some time before the meeting of parlia- , ment, in order that the House of Commons may, if they think proper, make it one article in the impeachment of the said lord chief justice. LETTER LXVU. I TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. 3 28 November, 1771. Wh.vt is the reason, my Lord, that, when almost every man in the king- dom, without distinction of principles or party, exults in the ridiculous defeat of Sir James Lowther,-* when good and bad men unite in one common opinion of that bu- j expected to be appointed. On the day preceding ] the date of this letter, he surrendered himself at . the Old Bailey to take his trial for stealing the ! paper, to which charge he pleaded guilty, and threw himself on the mercy of the court. He j was sentenced to be transported. This sordid ; wretch was asserted, at the time of committing 1 so miserable a theft, to be worth at least thirty j thou.sand pounds. — Edit. I 3 This letter, as the author declares in Private j Letter, No. 44, was written in consequence of a communication from Garrick to Ramus, and from the latter to the king, that Juxius would write i no more ; and hence the questions in the con- cluding paragraph. The words of the author are, ' David G.^rrick has literally forced me to break my resolution of writing no more,' for the subse- quent letter addressed to lord Mansfield was completed some time previous to the date of this Letter, as maybe seen in Private Letter, No. 40, where, and in that which follows it, will be found an explanation of the curious circumstance of the communication to the king, the author's early knowledge of the fact, and a copy of the yerj' severe letter which he .sent to Mr Garrick, in consequence of the information which he had given to Mr Ramus. — Edit. ** He refers to the case of Lowther against the duke of Portland, in the contest concerning Inglewood Forest, S:c. in Cumberland. See the detail and determination of the dispute (which last had now just taken place} in note, p. 300. — Edit. 324 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ronet, and triumph in liis distress, as if the event (without any reference to vice or virtue) were interesting to human nature, your Grace alone should appear so misera- bly depressed and afflicted? In such uni- versal joy, I know not where you will look for a compliment of condolence, unless you appeal to the tender, sympathetic sorrows of Mr Bradshaw. That cream-coloured gentleman's tears, ^ affecting as they are, carry consolation along with them. He never weeps, but, like an April shower, with a lambent ray of sunshine upon his counten- ance. From the feelings of honest men, upon this joyful occasion, I do not mean to draw any conclusion to your Grace. They naturally rejoice, when they see a signal instance of tyranny resisted with success ; — of treachery exposed to the derision of the world ;— an infamous informer defeated, and an impudent robber dragged to the public gibbet. — But, in the other class of mankind, I own I e.xpected to meet the duke of Grafton. Men, who have no re- gard for justice, nor any sense of honour, seem as heartily pleased with sir James Lowther's well-deserved punishment, as if it did not constitute an example against themselves. The unhappy baronet has no friends, even among those who resem- ble him. You, my Lord, are not yet re- duced to so deplorable a state of derelic- ^ See Miscellaneous Letter LXXI. — Edit. ^ There is a certain family in this country, on which nature seems to have entailed an heredi- ary baseness of disposition. As far as their his- tory has been known, the son has regularly im- proved upon the vices of his father, and has taken care to transmit them pure and undiminished into the bosom of his successor. In the senate, their abilities have confined them to those hum- ble, sordid services, in which the scavengers of the ministry are usually employed. But in the memoirs of private treachery, they stand first and unrivalled. I'he following story will serve to illustrate the character of this respectable family, and to convince the world that the pre- sent possessor has as clear a title to the infamy of his ancestors, as he has to their estate. It deserves to be recorded for the curiosity of the fact, and should be given to the public as a warn- ing to every honest member of society. The present lord Irnham, who is now in the decline of life, lately cultivated the acquaintance of a younger brother of a family, with which he tion. Every villain in the kingdom is your friend ; and, in compliment to such amity, I think you should suffer your dismal countenance to clear up. Besides, my Lord, I am a little anxious for the consistency of your character. You violate your own rules of decorum, when you do not insult the man whom you have betrayed. The divine justice of retribution seems now to have begun its progress. Deliberate treachery entails punishment upon the traitor. There is no possibility of escaping it, even in the highest rank to which the consent of society can exalt the meanest and worst of men. The forced, unnatural union of Luttrell and Middlesex was an omen of another unnatural union, by which ir.defeasible infamy is attached to the House of Brunswick. If one of those acts was virtuous and honourable, the best of princes, I thank God, is happily rewarded for it by the other. — Your Grace, it has been said, had some share in recommend- ing colonel Luttrell to the king ; — or was it only the gentle Bradshaw, who made him- self answerable for the good behaviour of his friend ? An intimate connexion has long subsisted between him and the wor- thy lord Irnham. It arose from -a for- tunate similarity of principles, cemented by the constant mediation of their common friend Miss Davis. - had lived in some degree of intimacy and friend- ship. The young man had long been the dupe of a most unhappy attachment to a common prostitute. His friends and relations foresaw the consequences of this conne.vion, and did every thing that depended upon them to save him from ruin. But he had a friend in lord Irnham, whose advice rendered all their endeavours ineffectual. This hoary letcher, not contented with the en- joyment of his friend's mistress, [the notorious Polly Davis, mentioned in the letter above,] was base enough to take advantage of the passions and folly of a young man, and persuaded him to marry her. He descended even to perform the office of father to the prostitute. He gave her to his friend, who was on the point of leaving the kingdom, and the ne.xt night lay with her him- self. Whether the depravity of the human heart can produce anything more base and detestable than this fact, must be left undetermined, until the son shall arrive at his father's age and experi- ence. — Author. LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 3=5 Yet I confess I should be sorry that the opprobrious infamy of this match should reach beyond the family. — We have now a better reason than ever to pray for the long life of the best of princes, and the welfare of his royal issue. — I will not mix anything ominous with my prayers ; — but let parlia- ment look to it. — A Luttrell shall never succeed to the crown of England.^ — If the hereditary virtues of the family deserve a kingdom, Scotland will be a proper retreat for them. I'he next is a most remarkable instance of the goodness of Providence. The just law of retaliation has at last overtaken the little, contemptible tyrant of the North. To this son-in-law of your dearest friend the earl of Bute, you meant to transfer the duke of Portland's property ; ~ and you hastened the grant, with an expedition unknown to the Treasury, that he might have it time enough to give a decisive turn to the elec- tion for the county. The immediate conse- quence of this flagitious robbery was that he lost the election, which you meant to in- sure to him, and with such signal circum- stances of scorn, reproach, and insult (to say nothing of the general exultation of all parties), as (excepting the king's brother- in-law colonel Luttrell,^ and old Simon his father-in-law) hardly ever fell upon a gentle- man in this country. — In the event, he loses the very property of which he thought he had gotten possession ; and after an ex- pense, which would have paid the value of the land in question twenty times over. — The forms of villany, you see, are necessary to its success. Hereafter you will act with greater circumspection, and not drive so directly to your object. To snatch a grace. beyond the reach of common treachery, is an exception, not a rule. And now, my good Lord, does not your conscious heart inform you, that the justice of retribution begins to operate, and that it may soon approach your person ? — Do you think that Junius has renounced the Middlesex election ?— Or that the king's timlier shall be refused to the royal navy with impunity ? ■* — Or that you shall hear no more of the sale of that patent to Mr Hine, which you endeavoured to skreen by sud- denly dropping your prosecution of Safnucl Vaughan,^ when the rule against him was made absolute ? I believe indeed there never was such an instance in all the history of negative impudence. — But it shall not save you. The very sunshine you live in is a prelude to your dissolution. When you are ripe, you shall be plucked. JUNIUS. P. S. I beg you will convey to our gracious master my humble congratula- tions upon the glorious success of peer- ages and pensions, so lavishly distributed as the rewards of Irish virtue. This note appeared in the Public Advertiser, April 7, 1769, under the signature of Recens. — Edit. ^ Tlie duke of Cumberland was now married to Mrs Horton, colonel Luttrell's sister. See Miscellaneous Letter, No. CII. — Edit. ^ See note, p. 300.— Edit. 3 See Miscellaneous Letter, No. CIT. Our author thus denominates his Al.ijestj'', because, by the marriage of Luttrell's sister, Mrs Hor- ton, with the duke of Cumberland, Luttrell was LETTER LXVni.6 TO LORD CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD. 21 yannary, 1772. I HAVE undertaken to prove that when, at the intercession of three of your countrymen, you bailed John Eyre, you did that, which by laio you -were not war- ranted to do, and that a felon, under the circumstances of being taken in the fact, with the stolen goods upon him, and making legally become brother-in-law to the king's brother ; as was Luttrell's father, father-in-law to him. — Edit. 4 See note, p. 303. — Edit. 5 See Letter XXXIII., and Private Letter, No. 15, for the particulars of the transaction here alluded to. — Edit. 6 The author, speaking of this Letter, says, ' The paper itself is, in 7ny opinion, of the high- est style of Junius, and cannot fail to sell.' Private Letter, No. 49. — Edit. 326 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. }io defence, is not bailable by the laws of England. Your learned advocates have in- terpreted this charge into a denial that the Court of King's Bench, or the judges of that court during the vacation, have any greater authority to bail for criminal of- fences, than a justice of peace. With the instance before me, I am supposed to ques- tion your power of doing wrong, and to deny the existence of a power, at the same moment that I arraign the illegal exercise of it. But the opinions of such men, whether wilful in their malignity, or sincere in their ignorance, are unworthy of my notice. You, lord Mansfield, did not understand me so, and I promise you, your cause requires an abler defence. — I am now to make good my charge against you. However dull my argument, the subject of it is interesting. I shall be honoured with the attention of the public, and have a right to demand the attention of the legislature. Supported, as I am, by the whole body of the criminal law of England, I have no doubt of establishing my charge. If, on your part, you should have no plain, sub- stantial defence, but should endeavour to shelter yourself under the quirk and evasion of a practising lawyer, or under tlie mere insulting assertion of power without right, the reputation you pretend to is gone for ever ; — you stand degraded from the respect and authority of your office, and are no longer, de jia-e, Lord Chief Justice of England. This letter, my Lord, is ad- dressed, not so much to yon, as to the public. Learned as you are, and quick in apprehension, few arguments are necessary to satisfy you tliat you have done that, which by law you were not warranted to do. Your conscience already tells you, that you have sinned against knowledge, and that whatever defence you make contradicts your own internal conviction. But other men are willing enough to take the law upon trust. They rely upon authority, because they are too indolent to search for information ; or, conceiving that there is some mystery in the laws of their country, which lawyers are only qualified to explain, I they distrust their judgment, and volun- tarily renounce the right of thinking for themselves. With all the evidence of his- tory before them, from Tresiil/an to ye/- feries, from Jefferics to Mansfield, they will not believe it possible that a learned judge can act in direct contradiction to those laws, which he is supposed to have made the study of his life, and which he has sworn to administer faithfully. Super- stition is certainly not the characteristic of this age. Yet some men are bigoted in politics who are infidels in religion. — I do not despair of making ihcm ashamed of their credulity. The charge I brought against you is ex- pressed in terms guarded and well con- • sidered. They do not deny the strict | power of the judges of the Court of King's I Bench to bail in cases not bailable by a j justice of peace, nor replevisable by the common writ, or ex officio by the sheriff. I well knew the practice of the court, and by what legal rules it ought to be directed. But far from meaning to soften or diminish the force of those terms I have made use of, I now go beyond them, and affirm, I. That the superior pjower of bailing for felony, claimed by the Court of King's Bench, is founded upon the opinion of lawyers, and the practice of the court ;— that the assent of the legislature to this power is merely negative, and that it is not supported by any positive provision in any statute whatsoever. — If it be, produce the statute. II. Admitting that the judges of the Court of King's Bench are vested with a discretionary power to examine and judge of circumstances and allegations, which a justice of peace is not permitted to consider, I affirm, that the judges, in the use and ap- plication of that discretionary power, are as strictly bound by the spirit, intent, and meaning, as the justice of peace is by the words of the legislature. Favourable cir- cumstances, alleged before the judge, may justify a doubt whether the prisoner be guilty or not ; and where the guilt is doubt- ful, a presumption of innocence should, in LETTERS OF JLWIUS. general, be admitted. But, when any such probable circumstances are alleged, they alter the state and condition of the prisoner. He is no longer that all-but-co/ivicted itlon, whom the law intends, and who by law is 7wt bailable at all. If no circumstances whatsoever are alleged in his fa\our ; — if no allegation whatsoever be made to lessen the force of that evidence, which the law an- nexes to a positive charge of felony, and particularly to the fact of Icing taken with the viancr, I then say that the lord chief justice of England has no more right to bail him than a justice of peace. Ihe dis- cretion of an English judge is not of mere will and pleasure ; it is not arbitrary ; — it is not capricious ; but, as that great lawyer (whose authority I wish you respected half as much as I do) truly says.i ' Discretion, taken as it ought to be, is discern ere per legem quid sit justitm. If it be not directed by the right line of the law, it is a crooked cord, and appeareth to be unlawful.' — If discretion were arbitrary in the judge, he might introduce whatever novelties he thought proper ; but, says lord Coke, ' Novelties, without warrant of precedents, are not to be allowed ; .some certain rules are to be followed ; — Quicquid judicis authoritati subjicitur, novitati non suhji- citur ;' and this sound doctrine is applied to the Star-chambsr, a court confessedly arbitrary. If you will abide by the authority of this great man, you shall have all the advantage of his opinion, wherever it appears to favour you. Excepting the plain, express meaning of the legislature, to which all private opinions must give way, I desire no better judge between us than lord Coke. III. I affirm, that according to the ob- vious, indisputable meaning of the legisla- ture, repeatedly expressed, a person posi- tively charged with feloniously stealing, and taken in flagrante delicto, with the stolen goods upon him, is not bailable. The law considers him as differing in no- thing: from a convict, but in the form of 4 Inst. 41, Q6. conviction, and (whatever a corrupt judge may do) will accept of no security, but the confinement of his body within four walls. I know it has been alleged in your favour, that you have often bailed for murders, rapes, and other manifest crimes. Without questioning the fact, I shall not admit that you are to be justified by your own example. If that were a protection to you, where is the crime that, as a judge, you might not now securely commit? But neither shall I suffer myself to be drawn aside from my present argument, wox yon to profit by year I own wrong. To prove the meaning and j intent of the legislature will require a minute and tedious deduction. To investigate a I question of law demands some labour and attention, though very little genius or sa- gacity. As di practical profession, the study of the law requires but a moderate portion of abilities. The learning of a pleader is usually upon a level with his integrity. The indiscriminate defence of right and wrong contracts the understanding, while it corrupts the heart. Subtlety is soon mis- taken for wisdom, and impunity for virtue. If there be any instances upon record, as"*- some there are undoubtedly, of genius and morality united in a lawyer, they are dis- tinguished by their singularity, and operate as exceptions. I must solicit the patience of my readers. This is no light matter, nor is it any more susceptible of ornament, than the conduct of lord Mansfield is capable of aggravation. As the law of bail, in charges of felony, has been exactly ascertained by acts of the legislature, it is at present of little con- sequence to enquire how it stood at com- mon law, before the statute of Westminster. And yet it is worth the reader's attention to observe, ho\v nearly, in the ideas of our ancestors, the circumstance of being taken luith the inaner approached to the con- viction of the felon. It " fixed the author- itative stamp of verisimilitude upon the accusation, and by the common law, when a thief wiis taken with the inaner (that is, with the thing stolen upon him, in mami) he might, so dQl^cied, Jlagran te delicto, be 323 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. brought into court, arraigned and tried, w'Uliout indictment; as, by the Danisli law, he might be taken and hanged upon the spot, without accusation or trial.' ^ It will soon appear that our statute law, in this behalf, though less summary in point of proceeding, i3 directed by the same spirit. In one instance, the very form is adhered to. In offences relating to the forest, if a man was taken with vert, or venison, it was declared to be equivalent to an indictment. - To enable the reader to judge for himself, I shall state, in due order, the several sta- tutes relative to bail in ciiminal cases, or as much of them as may be material to the point in question, omitting superfluous words. If I misrepresent, or do not quote with fidelity, it will not be difficult to de- tect me. The statute of Westminster the first, ^ in 1275, sets forth that, ' Forasmuch as sheriffs and others, who have taken and kept in prison persons detected of felony, and in- continent have let out by replevin such as were 7iot replevisablc, because they would gain of the one party and grieve the other; and, forasmuch as, before tliis time, it was not determined which persons were reple- visable and which not, it is provided, and by the king commanded, tliat such prison- ers, /v. Mainprise, 67. ' The intendment of the law in bails is, quod stat indifferentet, whether he be guilty or no ; but, when he is convict by verdict or confession, then he must be deemed in law to be guilty of the felony, and therefore not bailable at all.' — Coke, 2. Inst. 1S8. — 4. 178. ' Bail is quaudo stat iudifferentcr n.v\A not when the offence is open and manifest." — 2. I fist. 189. ' In this case /ion stat iudiffcrcnicr, whether he be guilty or no, being taken with the viaiicr, that is, with the thing stolen, as it were in his hand." — LP. EP. ' If it appeareth that this imprisonment be just and lawful, he shall be remanded to the former gaoler ; but, if it shall appear to the court that he was imprisoned against the law of the land, they ought, by force of this statute, to deliver him ; if it be doubt- ful, and under consideration, he may be bailed." — 2. Inst. 55. It is unnecessary to load the reader with any further quotations. If these authorities are not deemed sufficient to establish the doctrine maintained in this paper, it will be in vain to appeal to the evidence of law- books, or to the opinions of judges. They are not the authorities by which lord Mans- field will abide. He assumes an arbitrary power of doing right ; and, if he does wrong, it lies only between God and his conscience. Now, my Lord, although I have great faith in the preceding argument, I will not say, that every minute part of it is absolutely invulnerable. I am too well acquainted with the practice of a certain court, directed by your e.vample, as it is governed by your authority, to think there ever yet was an L argument, however conformable to law and reason, in which a cunning, quibbling at- torney might not discover a flaw. But, taking the whole of it together, I affirm that it constitutes a mass of demonstration, than which nothing more complete or satisfac- tory can be offered to the human mind. How an evasive, indirect reply will stand with your reputation, or how far it will answer in point of defence at the bar of the House of Lords, is worth your considera- tion. If, after all that has been said, it should still be maintained, that the Court of King's Bench, in bailing felons, are ex- empted from all legal rules whatsoever, and that the judge has no direction to pursue, but his private affections, or mere unques- tionable will and pleasure, it will follow plainly, that the distinction between hail- able and not bailable, uniformly expressed by the legislature, current through all our law-books, and admitted by all our great lawyers without e.xception, is in one sense a nugatory, in another a pernicious, distinc- tion. It is nugatory, as it supposes a dif- ference in the bailable quality of offences, when, in effect, the distinction refers only to the rank of the magistrate. It is per- nicious, as it implies a rule of law, which yet the judge is not bound to pay the least regard to, and impresses an idea upon the minds of the people, that the judge is wiser and greater than the law. It remains only to apply the law, thus stated, to the fact in question. By an authentic copy of the mittimus it appears, that John Eyre was committed for felony, plainly and specially expressed in the war- rant of commitment. He was charged before alderman Halifax by the oath of Thomas Fielding, William Holder, William Payne, and William Nash, for feloniously stealing eleven quires of writing-paper, value six shillings, the property of Thomas Beach, e closet at Guildhall, from whence the paper was stolen. When asked what he had to say in his defence, his only answer was, I hope you ivill bail me. Mr Holder, the clerk, replied. Thai is impos- sible. There never loas an instance of if, when the stolen goods were found upon the thief. The lord mayor was then applied to, and refused to bail him. — Of ail these cir- cumstances it was your duty to have infonned yourself minutely. The fact was remark- able, and the chief magistrate of the city of London was known to have refused to bail the offender. To justify your compliance with the solicitations of your three country- men, it should be proved that such allega- tions were offered to you, in behalf of their associate, as honestly and bona fide reduced it to a matter of doubt and indifference whether the prisoner was innocent or guilty. — Was any thing offered by the Scotch triumvirate that tended to invalidate the positive charge made against him by four creditable witnesses upon oath? — Was it even insinuated to you, either by himself or his bail, that no felony was committed ; — or that he was not the felon ; — that the stolen goods were not found upon him ; — or that he was only the receiver, not knowing them to be stolen? — Or, in short, did they attempt to produce any evidence of his insanity ? — To all these questions, I answer for you, without the least fear of contradiction, positively NO. From the moment lie was arrested, he never entertained any hope of acquittal ; therefore thought of nothing but obtaining bail, that he might have time to settle his afifl\irs, convey his fortune into another country, and spend the remainder of his life in comfort and affluence abroad. In this prudential scheme of future happi- ness, the lord chief justice of England most readily and heartily concurred. At sight of so much virtue in distress, your natural benevolence took the alarm. Such a man ' as Mr Eyre, struggling with adversity, must always be an interesting scene to lord j Mansfield. — Or was it that liberal anxiety, by which your whole hfe has been distin- ! guished, to enlarge the liberty of the sub- ' ject ?— My Lord, we did not want this new : instance of the liberality of your principles. We already knew w hat kind of subjects they were, for whose liberty you were j anxious. At all events the public are much \ indebted to you for fixing a price, at which felony may be committed with impunity. You boiuid a felon, notoriously worth thirty thousand pounds, in the sum of three hun- dred. With your natural turn to equity, and knowing, as you are, in the doctrine of precedents, you undoubtedly meant to settle the proportion between the fortune of the felon, and the fine by which he may compound for his felony. The ratio now upon record, and transmitted to posterity under the auspices of lord Mansfield, is exactly one to a hundred. — My Lord, with- out intending it, you have laid a cruel restraint upon the genius of your country- men. In the warmest indulgence of their passions they have an eye to the expense, and if their other virtues fail us, we have a resource in their economy. By taking so trifling a security from John Eyre, you invited and manifestly exhorted him to escape. Although in bailable cases, it be usual to take four securities, you left him in the custody of three Scotchmen, whoin he might have easily satisfied for conniving at his retreat. That he did not make use of the oppor- tunity you industriously gave him, neither justifies your conduct, nor can it be any way accounted for, but by his excessive and monstrous avarice. Any other man, but this bosom-friend of three Scotchmen, would gladly have sacrificed a few hun- dred pounds, rather than submit to the infamy of pleading guilty in open court. It is possible indeed that he might have flattered himself, and not unreasonably, with the hopes of a pardon. That he would have been pardoned seems more than probable, if I had not directed the 33^ LETTERS OF JUNIUS. pul)lic attention to the leading step you took in favour of b.im. In the present gen- tle reign, we well know wliat use has been made of the lenity of tlie court and of the mercy of the crown. The lord chief justice of England accepts of the hundredth part of the property of a felon taken in the fact, as a recogniziince for his appearance. Your brother Sinythe brow-beats a jury, and forces them to alter their verdict, by which they had found a Scotch serjeant guilty of murder ; and though the Ken- nedies were convicted of a most deliberate and atrocious murder, they still had a claim to the rov'al mercy. ^ — They were saved by the chastity of their connexions. — They had a sister ; — yet it was not her beauty, but the pliancy of her virtue, that recom- mended her to the king. — The holy author ' The case of the Kennedies is stated in note, p. 7.i,i. — That of Jolin Taylor is as follows : He was a Serjeant in the first, or royal Scots regi- ment of foot, and was tried at the Guildford summer assizes, in the year 1770, for the murder of James Smith, the master of the Wheatsheaf, near Westminster bridse. It appeared upon the trial, that the deceased had uttered some aggra- vating expressions against the Scots ; in conse- quence of which tile prisoner, being suddenly thrown off his guard, drew his sword and stabbed him. The jury, after deliberating a considerable time, brought in a verdict of i;inlty, on which Mr Baron Smythe expressed his surprise, adding that he had told them it was only manslaughter, and desired that a special verdict should be drawn up, which the intimidaicd jury signed. On this -\Ir J.asper Smith, a near relation of the deceased, addressed the court in the following words : — ' My Lord, I am the nearest of kin to the unfortunate man who was murdered. I always thought, my Lord, when a verdict was once given, it was unalterable, but by the pre- ; sent method of proceeding there need not have i been any jury at all. It is as plain a murder as j can be, and I am persuaded your Lordship thinks so.' To this speech no reply was given. The 1 decision of the judge, in the above case, occa- sioned some severe animadversions on his con- duct, and several queries were addressed to him upon the subject, which were repeatedly inserted in the Public Advertiser, so as to become ex- tremely conspicuous. This acccunt however, extracted from that paper, does not seem to con- tain the whole train of the circumstances which preceded this unfortunate catastrophe, for when Taylor was brought to the bar of the King's Bench, February 8, 1771, Lord Mansfield, who read the minutes of the evidence as taken down by Baron Smythe, who presided at the trial, ob- scrvsd, that it appeared that the prisoner had of our religion was seen in the company of sinners ; but it was his gracio\is purpose to convert them from their sins. Another man, who in the ceremonies of our faith might give lessons to the great enemy of it, upon different principles keeps much the same company. He advertises for patients, collects all the diseases of the heart, and turns a royal palace into an hospital for in- curables. — A man of honour has no ticket of admission at St James's. They receive [ him, like a virgin at the Magdalen ; — Go thou and do likewise. My charge against you is now made good. I shall however be ready to answer or to submit to fair objections. 2 If, when- ever this matter shall be agitated, you suffer the doors of the House of Lords to be shut, , I now protest, that I shall consider you as been three limes assaulted by Smith, the de- ceased, collared and violently thrown backward I upon a bench, without anj' provocation, turned ' out of the house, and called by the most oppro- I brious names ; and further, that when out in the I street, be was pursued and attacked by two men, before lie offered to draw his sword ; from which circumstances the court was unanimously of opin- ion that he had only been guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced him to be burnt in the hand, which was performed accordingly, behind the bar. Mr Dunning also, a strong oppositionist, defended Mr Baron Smythe's conduct in respect to the trial alluded to by Junius, in a speech spoken on a motion made by Mr Serjeant Glynn, De- cember 6, 1770, 'for an enquiry into the adminis- tration of criminal justice, and the proceedings of the judges in Westminster Hall, particularly in cases relating to the libertj' of the press and the constitutional power and duty of juries.' Mr Dunniug's words are as follow : — ' It is not that the characters of the judges are not tra- duced by groundless accusations and scandalous aspersions. These are grievances which every one sees, and every one laments. Judge Smythe, for example, has, to my knowledge, been very injuriously treated. His conduct in trying the Scotch Serjeant at Guildford, for which he has been so much abused in print, and now arraigned in parliament, was, in my opinion, very fair and honourable. I was consulted on the affair as an advocate, and I must say that I perfectly coin- cided with him in sentiment. Had I been in his place, I must have fallen under the same odium ; for my conscience would not have allowed me to use any other language but that of Baron Smythe.' — Edit. ^ See Miscellaneous Letter, No. CVI., in which Junius defends the present Letter against several attacks which had been made upon it in the Public Advertiser. — Edit. i.i:n"ERS or jl'xil': 337 having made no reply. From that moment, in the opinion of the world, you will stand self-convicted. Whether your reply be quibbUng and evasive, or liberal and in point, will be matter for the judgment of your peers ; — but if, when every possible idea of disrespect to that noble House (in whose honour and justice the nation im- plicitly confides) is here most solemnly dis- claimed, you should endeavour to re}:>resent this charge as a contempt of their authority, and move their Lordships to censure the publisher of this paper, I then affirm that you support injustice by violence, that you are guilty of a heinous aggravation of your offence, and that you contribute your ut- most influence to promote, on the part of the highest court of judicature, a positive denial of justice to the nation. J i: XI US. LETTER LXIX. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD CAMDEN. 1 Mv Lord, I TURN with pleasure from th.it barren waste in which no salutary plant takes root, no verdure quickens, to a cha- racter fertile, as I willingly believe, in every great and good qualification. I call upon you, in the name of the English nation, to stand forth in defence of the laws of your country, and to exert, in the cause of truth and justice, those great abilities, with which you were entrusted fur the benefit of man- kind. To ascertain the facts set forth in the preceding paper, it may be necessary to call the persons, mentioned in the mittimus, to the bar of the House of Lords. ^ If a motion for that purpose should be rejected, we shall know what to think of lord Mansfield's innocence. The legal argu- ment is submitted to your Lordship's judg- ment. After the noble stand you made '■ This Letter followed the preceding in the Public Advertiser of January 21, 1772. ^ In the case of lord Mansfield's having bailed Eyre, lord Camden had openly expressed his opinion that the bail was illegal, and had given reason to expect that he would make it the siib- against lord Mansfield upon the question of libel, we did expect that you would not have suffered that matter to have remained undetermined. But it was said that lord chief justice W'ilmot had been prevailed upon to vouch for an opinion of the late judge Yates, which was supposed to make against you ; and we admit of the excuse. When such detestable arts are employed to prejudge a question of right, it might have been imprudent, at that time, to have j brought it to a decision. In the present instance you will have no such opposition I to contend with. If there be a judge or j lawyer of any note in Westminster Hall, who shall be daring enough to affirm that, I according to the true intendment of the \ laws of England, a felon, taken with the mailer, injjagraiite delicto, is bailable ; or that the discretion of an English judge is nierely arbitrary, and not governed by rules of law, — I should be glad to be acquainted widi him. Whoever he be, I will take care that he shall not give you much trouble. Your Lordship's character assures me that you will assume that principal part, which belongs to you, in supporting the laws of I England, against a wicked judge, who makes it the occupation of his life to mis- interpret and pervert them. If you decline this honourable office, I fear it will be said that, for some months past, 3'ou have kept too much company with the duke of Grafton. When the contest turns upon the interpretation of the laws, you cannot, without a formal surrender of all your / reputation, yield the post of honour even to lord Chatham. Considering the situa- tion and abilities of lord Mansfield, I do not scruple to affirm, with the most solemn appeal to God for my sincerity, that, in my judgment, he is the very worst and most dangerous man in the kingdom. Thus far I have done my duty in endeavouring to bring him to punishment. But mine is an inferior, ministerial office in the temple of ject of a parliamentary enquiry on the com- mencement of the ensuing session. Junius refers to this generally conceived pledge, and strives (though the effort was in vain) to induce his Lordship to redeem it. — Edit. 338 LETTERS OF JUNIUS. justice. — I have bound the victim, and dragged him to the altar. JUNIUS. The Reverend Mr John Home having, with his usual veracity and honest industry, circulated a report that Junius, in a letter to the Supporters of the Bill of Rights, had warmly declared himself in favour of long parliaments and rotten boroughs, it is thought necessary to submit to the public the follow ing extract from his letter to John Wilkes, Esq., dated the 7th of September, 1771, and laid before the Society on the 24th of the same month. ^ ' With regard to the several articles, taken separately, I own I am concerned to see that the great condition, which ought to be the sine qua non of parliamentary quali- fication,— which ought to be the basis (as it assuredly will be the only support) of every barrier raised in defence of the con- stitution, I mean a declaration upon oath to shorten the duration of parliaments, is reduced to the fourth rank in the esteem of the Society ; and, even in that place, far from being insisted on with firmness and vehemence, seems to have been particu- larly slighted in the expression, — You shall endeavour to restore annual parliaments t — Are these the terms which men, who are in earnest, make use of, when the salus reipubiicce is at stake? — 1 expected other language from Mr Wilkes. — Besides my objection in point of form, I disapprove liighly of the meaning of the fourth article as it stands. Whenever the question shall be seriously agitated, I will endeavour (and if I live will assuredly attempt it) to convince the English nation, by arguments to my understanding unanswerable, that they ought to insist upon a triennial, and banish the idea of an annual parliament. « * * * I Jim convinced that, if shortening the duration of parliaments (which in effect is keeping the representative under the rod ' This letter is given entire in the private cor- respondence bet-.v3en Junius and Mr Wilkes. See Private Letters, No. 66. — Edit. of the constituent) be not made the basis of our new parliamentary jurisprudence, other checks or improvements signify no- thing. On the contraiy, if this be made the foundation, other measures may come in aid, and, as auxiliaries, be of considera- ble advantage. Lord Chatham's project, for instance, of increasing the number of knights of shires, appears to me admirable. * * * * As to cutting away the rotten boroughs, I am as much offended as any man at seeing so many of them under the direct influence of the crown, or at the dis- posal of private persons. Vet, I own, I have both doubts and apprehensions in i regard to the remedy you propose. 1 shall , be charged perhaps with an unusual want j of policical intrepidity, when I honestly confess to you, that I am startled at the idea of so extensive an amputation. — In the j first place, I question the power, dejure, of the legislature to disfranchise a number of boroughs, upon the general ground of im- proving the constitution. There cannot be a doctrine more fatal to the liberty and , property we are contending for, than that, j which confounds the idea of a supreme and j an arbitrary legislature. I need not point out to you the fatal purposes, to which it has been, and may be applied. If we are sincere in the political creed we profess, there are many things which we ought to affirm cannot be done by King, Lords, and Commons. Among these I reckon the disfranchising of boroughs with a general view to improvement. I consider it as equivalent to robbing the parties con- cerned of their freehold, of their birthright. I say, that, although this birthright may be forfeited, or the exercise of it suspended, in particular cases, it cannot be taken away, by a general law, for any real or pretended purpose of improving the constitution. Supposing the attempt made, I am per- suaded you cannot mean that either king or lords should take an active part in it. A bill, which only touches the representa- tion of the people, must originate in the House of Commons. In the formation and mode of passing it, the exclusive light LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 339 of the Commons must be asserted as scru- pulously, as in the case of a money-bill. Now, Sir, I should be glad to know by what kind of reasoning it can be proved, that there is a power vested in the repre- sentative to destroy his immediate consti- tuent. From whence could he possibly derive it ? A courtier, I know, will be ready enough to maintain the affirmative. The doctrine suits him exactly, because it gives an unlimited operation to the influ- ence of the crown. But we, Mr Wilkes, ought to hold a different language. It is no answer to me to say, that the bill, when it passes the House of Commons, is the act of the majority, and not of the repre- sentatives of the particular boroughs con- cerned. If the majority can disfranchise ten boroughs, why not twenty, why not the whole kingdom ? Why should not they make their own seats in parliament for life ? — When the Septennial Act passed, the legislature did what, apparently and pal- pably, they had no power to do ; but they did more than people in general were aware of : they, in effect, disfranchised the whole kingdom for four years. ' For argument's sake, I will now sup- pose, that the e.xpediency of the measure and the power of parliament are unques- tionable. Still you will find an insur- mountable difficulty in the execution. When all your instruments of amputation are prepared, when the unhappy patient lies bound at your feet, without the possi- bility of resistance, by what infallible rule will you direct the operation ? — When you propose to cut away the roticn parts, can you tell us what parts are perfectly sound ? — Are there any certain limits, in fact or theory, to inform you at what point you must stop, at what point the mortifica- tion ends ? To a man so capable of ob- servation and reflection as you are, it is unnecessary to say all that ir.ight be said upon the subject. Besides inat I approve highly of lord Chatham's idea of infusing a foriioii of iiau health into the constitu- tion to enable it to bear iis infirmities (a brilliant expression, and fv:ll of intrinsic wisdom), otherreasons concur ir. persuading me to adopt it. I have no objection,' cv:c. The man, who fairly and completely answers this argument, shall have mji. thanks and my applause. My heart is already with him. — I am ready to be con- verted. — I admire his morality, and would gladly subscribe to the articles of his faith. Grateful, as I am. to the GOOD being, whose bounty has imparted to me this rea- soning intellect, whatever it is, I hold my- self proportionably indebted to him, from whose enlightened understanding another ray of knowledge communicates to mine. But neither should I think the most exalted faculties of the human mind, a gift worthy of the divinity ; nor any assistance in the improvement of them, a subject of grati- tude to my fellow-creature, if I were not satisfied, that really to inform the under- standing corrects and enlarges the heart. JUNIUS. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS JUNIUS. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS LETTER I FOR THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 28 April, X-jS-j. DLtaiura, qitani in sjivitnis reipiihlic(s angus- tiis acceperat, per paceni coiUinuata, liberta- tenif regit ; donee ilium converses in rabiein populiis et dii iiltores de saxo Tarpeio de- jeceritnt. — Livv. The bravest and freest nations have sometimes submitted to a temporary surrender of their liberties, in order to estabhsh them for ever. At a crisis of pub- lic calamity or danger, the prudence of the state placed a confidence in the virtue of some distinguished citizen, and gave him power sufficient to preserve or to oppress his country. Such was the Roman dicta- tor, and while his office was confined to a short period, and only applied as a remedy to the disasters of an unsuccessful war, it was usually attended with the most import- ant advantages, and left no dangerous precedent behind. The dictator, finding employment for all his activity in repulsing a foreign invasion, had but little time to contrive the ruin of his own country, and his ambition was nobly satisfied by the honour of a triumph, and the applause of his fellow-citizens. But as soon as this wise institution was corrupted, when that unlimited trust of power, which should ^ This severe invective is aimed against the late lord Chatham, formerly the right honourable have been reserved for conjunctures of more than ordinary difficulty and hazard, was without necessity committed to one man's uncertain moderation, what conse- quence could be e.vpected but that the people should pay the dearest price for their simplicity, nor ever resume those rights, which they could vainly imagine weie more secure in the hands of a single man, than where the laws and constitution had placed them. Without any uncommon depravity of mind, a man so trusted might lose all ideas of public principle or gratitude, and not unreasonably exert himself to perpetuate a power, which he saw his fellow-citizens weak and abject enough to surrender to him. But if, instead of a man of a common mixed character, whose vices might be re- deemed by some appearance of virtue and generosity, it should have unfortunately happened that a nation had placed all their confidence in a man purely and perfectly bad ; if a great and good prince, by some fatal delusion, had made choice of such a man for his first minister, and had dele- gated all his authority to him, what security would that nation have for its freedom, or that prince for his crown ? The history of every nation, that once had a claim to liberty, will tell us what would be the pro- gress of such a traitor, and what the pro- bable event of his crim.es.i W. Pitt. The reader, by a perusal of the pre- ceding letters, is already acquainted with the N* 342 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUXIU Let us suppose him arrived at that moment, at which he might see himself within reach of the great object, to which all the artifices, the intrigues, the hypocrisy, and the impudence of his past life were directed. On the point of having the whole power of the crown committed to him, what would be his conduct ? an affectation of prostrate humility in the closet, but a lordly dictation of terms to the people, by whose interest he had been supported, by whose fortunes he had subsisted. Has he a brother? that brother must be sacrificed. ^ Has he a rancorous enemy? that enemy must be promoted. ^ Have years of his life been spent in declaiming against the pernicious influence of a favourite ? that favourite must be taken to his bosom, and made the only partner of his power.3 But it is in the natural course of things that a despotic power, which of itself violates every principle of a free constitution, should be acquired by means, which equally \io- utter aversion which Junius at first felt for this nobleman, on various political accounts, and especially on the subject of the American dis- pnte. His aversion, however, softened as their political views approximated, and was at length converted into approbation and eulogy. See for a further explanation, the note to jNIiscellaneous Letter, No. XII., p. 364.— Edit. ^ Lord 'I'emple, brother-in-law to lord Chat- ham. They resigned their respective offices, the former of privy .seal, and the latter of principal secretary of state, in October 1761. Lord Tem- ple was succeeded by the duke of Bedford ; and upon lord Chatham's forming his administration in 1766, he took tlie post of privy .seal himself. Lord Temple did not take part in any ministry arranged subsequent to his resignation of that office, and died Sept. 11, 1779. The following letter from lord C. before his promotion to the peerage, explains the motives of their joint resignation; it was addressed to a friend in the city : — ' De.\r Sir, ' Finding, to my great surprise, that the cause and manner of my resigning the seals is grossly misrepresented in the city, as well as that the most gracious and sf>onin7tcoHs marks of his Majesty's approbation of my services, which marks followed my resignation, have been in- famously traduced as a bargain foi my forsaking the public, I am under a necessity of declaring the truth of both these facts, in a manner which I am sure no gentleman will contradict. A difTereuce of opinion with regard to measures to late every principle of honour and morality. The office of a grand Vizir is inconsistent with a limited monarchy, and can never subsist long but by its destruction. The same measures by which an abandoned profligate is advanced to power, must be observed to maintain him in it. The prin- cipal nobility, who might disdain to submit to the upstart insolence of a dictator, must be removed from every post of honour and authority ; all public employments must be filled with a despicable set of creatures, who having neither experience nor capacity, nor any weight or respect in their own per- sons, will necessarily derive all their little busy iniportance from him. As the abso- lute destruction of the constitution of his country would be his great object, to be consistent with that design he must e.xert himself to weaken and impoverish every rank and order of the community, which by the nature of their property, and the degree of their wealth, might have a par- be taken against Spain, of the highest import- ance to the honour of the crown, and to the most essential national interests, and this founded on what Spain had already done, not on what th.it court may further intend to do, was the cause of my resigning the seals. Lord Temple and I sub- mittetl in writing, and signed by us, our most hiuuble sentiments to his Majesty, which being overruled by the united opinion of all the rest of the king's servants, I resigned the seals on Men- day the 5th of this month, in order to not remain responsible for measures which I was no longer allowed to guide. Most gracious public marks of his Majesty's approbation of my services fol- lowed my resignation : they are unmerited and unsolicited, and I sliall ever be proud to have received them from the best of sovereigns. ' I will now only add, my dear Sir, that I have e.xplained these matters only for the hon- our of truth, not in any view to court return of confidence from any m&n, who, with a credulity as weak as it is injurious, has thought fit hastily to withdraw his good opinion from one who has served his country with fidelity and succe.ss, and who justly reveres the upright and candid judg- ment of it ; little solicitous about the censures of the capricious and the ungenerous : accept my sincerest acknowledgments for all j^our kind friendship, and believe me ever with truth and esteem, ' My dear Sir, 'Oct. 14, 1761. ' Your faithful friend, ' \V. PITT.'— Edit. = The duke of Redford.— Edit. 3 Lord Bute. — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 543 ticular interest in the support of the estab- lished government, as well as power to oppose any treacherous attempts against it. The landed estate must be oppressed ; the rights of the merchant must be arbitrarily invaded, and his property forced from him j by main force, without even the form of a legal proceeding. It will assist him much, ' if he can contribute to the destruction of the poor by continuing the most burthen- , some taxes upon the main articles of their subsistence. He must also take advantage of any favourable conjuncture to try how far the nation will bear to see the established laws suspended by proclamation, and upon ' such occasions he must not be without an apostate lawyer, weak enough to sacrifice his own character, and base enough to be- \ tray the laws of his country.! \ These are but a few of the pernicious [ practices by which a traitor may be known, by which a free people may be enslaved. But the master-piece of his treacher)', and the surest of answering all his purposes, would be, if possible, to foment such dis- cord between the mother-country and her colonies, as may leave them both an easier prey to his own dark machinations. With this patriotic view he will be ready to declare himself the patron of sedition, and a zealous advocate for rebellion. His doctrines will correspond with the proceedings of the ' This subject is fully explained in many parts of the Letters of Junius, and in the notes now subjoined to them. The character alluded to ) is earl Camden, at that time lord chancellor. — / Edit. ^ Lord Chatham, then Mr Pitt, opposed Mr George Grenville's Stamp Act, and denied the right of the parliament of Great Britain to legis- late for America. — Edit. 3 Poplicola, the writer of this repl^', by some means or other mistook the real signature, which instead of being C. D. was W. D. The letter is dated from Clifton, and is obviously from the pen of sir W. Draper; affording a singular proof that the Knight of the Bath and Junius were political opponents under signatures mutually unknown, and so far back as May 1767. The subject of sir William's observations was a de- fence of lord Chatham against some strong observations made upon his character by Mr Wilkes, in a letter addressed to the duke of Grafton, relative to the illegal proceedings of the earl of Halifax. The letter is dated Paris, people he protects, and if by hio assistance they can obtain a victory over tne cupreme legislature of the empire, he will consider that victory as an important step towards the advancement of his main design. 2 Such, Sir, in any free state, would pro- bably be the conduct and character of a man unnecessarily trusted with exorbitant power. He must either succeed in establishing a tyranny or perish. I cannot without horror suppose it possible that this our native country should ever be at the mercy of so black a villain. But if the case should happen hereafter, I hope the British people will not be so abandoned by Providence, as not to open their eyes time enough to save themselves from destruction ; and though we have no Tarpeian rock for the immediate punishment of treason, yet we have impeachments, and a gibbet is not too honourable a situation for the carcase of a traitor. POPLICOLA. LETTER II. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 28 A/cjy, 1767. Your correspondent C. D.^ pro- fesses to undeceive the public with respect Dec. 13, 1763, and the part chiefly adverted to is the following : — * I believe that the flinty heart of lord Chatham has known the sweets of private friendship, and the fine feelings of humanity, as little as even lord Mansfield. They are both formed to be admired, not beloved. A proud, insolent, over- bearing, ambitious man is always full of the ideas of his own importance, and vainly imagines him- self superior to the equality necessary among real friends, in all the moments of true enjoy- ment. Friendship is too pure a pleasure for a mind cankered with ambition, or the lust of power and grandeur. Lord Chatham declared in parliament the strongest attachment to lord Temple, one of the greatest characters our country could ever boast, and said /le would live and die luith his noble brother. Pie has re- ceived obligations of the first magnitude from that noble broth^^r, yet what trace of gratitude or of friendship was ever found in any part of his conduct ? and has he not now declared the most open variance, and even hostility? I have had 344 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUxNlUS. to some reflections thrown out upon the the duke of Grafton. Without undertaking earl of Chatliam in Mr Wilkes's letter to , the defence of that gentleman's conduct or as warm and express declarations of regard as nation to the highest pitch in every part of the could be made by this marble-hearted friend, world. He found his country almost in despair, and ^Ir Pitt had no doubt his views in even He raised the noble spirit of England, and feeding me with flattery from time to time ; on strained every nerve against our enemies. His occasions too where candour and indulgence plans, when in power, were always great, though were all I could claim. He may remember the ! in direct opposition to the declarations of his compliments he paid me on two certain poems in whole life, when out of power. The invincible the year 1754. If I were to take the declarations bravery of the British troops gave success even made by himself and the late Mr Potter a la ' to the most rash, the most extravagant, the most lettre, they were more charmed with those verses after the ninety-ninth reading, than after the first ; so that froni this circumstance, as well as a few of his speeches in parliament, it seems to be likewise true of the first orator, or rather the first comedian, of our age, iioti dispUcitissc illi joe OS, sed 710)1 coiitigisse. ' I will now submit to your Grace, if there was not something peculiarly base and perfidious in Mr Pitt's calling me a blasphemer of vty God for those very verses, at a time when I was absent, and dangerously ill from an affair of honour. 'I'he charge too he knew was false, for the whole ridicule of those two pieces was confined to cer- tain mysteries, which formerly the implaced m\<^ impensioued Mr Pitt did not think himself obliged even to affect to believe. He added another charge equally unjust, that I was the libeller 0/ my liiug, though he was sensible that I never wrote a single line disrespectful to the sacred person of my sovereign, but had only attacked the despotism of his ministers, with the spirit becoming a good subject, and zealous friend of his country. The reason of this perfidy was plain. He was then beginning to pay homage to the Scottish idol, and I was the most accept- able sacrifice he could offer at the shrine of Bute. History scarcely gives so remarkable a change. He was a few years ago the mad, seditious tribune of the people, insulting his sovereign, even in his capital city ; now he is the abject, crouching deputy of the proud .Scot, who he declared in ^■3ix\\-3im&\\\.zvantedwisdom, and held principles incompatible with freedom ; a most ridiculous character surely for a statesman, and the subject of a free kingdom, but the proper desperate of his projects. He saw early the hostile intentions of Spain, and if the written advice had been followed, a very few weeks had then probably closed the last general war ; although the merit of that advice was more the merit of his 7ioble brother, than his own. After the onuiipotence of lord Bute in 1761 had forced Mr Pitt to retire from his Majesty's councils, and the cause was declared by himself to be our conduct relative to Spain, I had the happiness of setting that affair in so clear and advantageous a light, that he expressed the most entire satis- faction, and particular obligations to my friend- ship. I do not, however, make this a claim of merit to Mr Pitt. It was my duty, from the peculiar advantages of information I then had.' Inanswer to these strictures sir William Draper in the letter subscribed W. D., and which is too long to be copied verbatim, quotes several of Mr Wilkes's previous declarations in favour of lord Chatham, while Mr Pitt, and concludes as follows : — ' The letter asserts also that lord Chatham is now the abject, crouching deputy of lord Bute, who he declared in parliament wanted wisdom, and held principles incompatible with freedom. The world knows nothing of this abject, crouch- ing deputed minister, but from Mr Wilkes's single affirmation ; but we all know that his Majesty has been pleased to call lord Chatham again to the ministry : if lord Bute supports him in it, he gives the noblestproof of generosity and greatness of soul, and has revenged himself in the finest manner upon lord Chatham for those expressions, and affords the strongest proof that he does not want wisdom, or hold principles in- composition for ^favourite. Was it possible for 1 compatible with freedom. What greater proof me after this to write a suppliant letter to lord Chatham ? I am the first to pronounce myself most unworthy of a pardon, if I could have ob- tained it on those terms. ' Although I declare, my Lord, that the con- scious pride of virtue makes me look down with contempt on a man, who could be guilty of this baseness, who could in the lobby declare that I must be supported, and in the House on the same day desert and revile me, yet I will on every occasion do justice to the minister. He of wisdom can he give, than in supporting that person who is the most capable of doing good to his country, and has upon all occasions approved himself the most zealous protector of its liberties ? But I beg pardon ; upon a late occasion, indeed, lord Chatham showed himself to be no friend to liberty ; he was so very tyrannical, as well as lord Camden, that he denied some traders the right, liberty, and privilege of starving his fellow- citizens, by exporting all the corn out of the kingdom, for which he has met with his reward, has served the public in all those points, where and been as much abused as if he himself had been the good of the nation coincided with his own 1 guilty of starving them. Is there no Tarpeian private views ; and in no other. I venerate the rock for such a tyrant? memory of the secretary, and I think it an I ' Mr Wilkes has now done with lord Chatham, honour to myself that I steadily supported in | leaving him to the poor consolation of a place, a parliament an administration, the most successful j peerage, and a pension ; for which, he says, he we ever had, and which carried the glory of the , has sold the confidence of a great nation. But I MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 345 character, permit me to observe that he was the instrument, and a useful one to the party, therefore should not have been sacri- ficed by it. He served them perhaps with too much zeal ; but such is the reward, which the tools of faction usually receive, and in some measure deserve, when they are imprudent enough to hazard every thing in support of other men's ambition. I cannot admit, that because Mr Pitt was respected and honoured a few years ago, the earl of Cliatham therefore deserves to be so now ; or that a description, which might have suited him at one part of his life, must of necessity be the only one ap- phcable to him at another. It is barely possible, that a very honest commoner may become a very corrupt and worthless peer ; and I am inclined to suspect that Mr C. D. will find but few people credulous enough to beHe%e that either Mr Pitt or Mr Pult- ney, when they accepted of a title, did not, by that action, betray their friends, their country, and, in every honourable sense, themselves. Mr C. D. wilfully misrepre- sents the cause of that censure, which was very justly throv.ii upon lord Chatham, when the exportation of corn was prohibited by proclamation. The measure itself was necessary, and the more necessary from the scandalous delay of the ministry in calhng the parliament together ; but to maintain that the proclamation was legal, and that there was a suspending power lodged in the crown, was such an outrage to the common sense of mankind, and such a daring attack upon the constitution, as a free people cannot take leave of, or have done with, Mr Wilkes, without making a few observations upon this paragraph : Mr Wiikes is a great jester ; in this place he cannot possibly be serious ; for as to the pension, I think I cannot explain it better to my countrymen, than in Mr Wilkes's own words, August 12, 1762. ' " I must, in compliance with a few vulgar writers, call the inadequate reward given to Mr Pitt, for as great services as ever were performed by a subject, a pension, although the grant is not during pleasure, and therefore cannot create any undue, unconstitutional influence. In the same j light we are to consider the dukes of Cumber- ! land's and Marlborough's, prince Ferdinand's, I and admiral Hawke's, Mr Onslow's, Sic. &c. \ &i I was going to call it the king's gold bo.\ ; j ought never to forgive. The man, who maintained those doctrines, ought to have had the Tarpeian rock, or a gibbet, for his reward. Another gentleman, upon that occasion, had spirit and patriotism enough to declare, even in a respectable assembly, that, when he advised the proclamation, he did it with the strongest conviction of its being illegal ; but he rested his defence upon the unavoidable necessity of the case, and submitted himself to the judgment of his country. This noble conduct deser\-ed the applause and gratitude of the nation, while that of the earl of Chatham, and his miserable understrappers, deserved nothing but detestation and contempt. POPLICOLA. LETTER III. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 24 y///lC, 1767, Accedere jnntreiti inuliebri ivtpoteiitiA ; !~C7-- znendnm fniiice, duobrisque insnper nebit- loiibus, qui rentpublicait interim pretuajit, quandoque distrahant. Tacitus i' Annalium, The uncertain state of politics in this country sets all the speculations of the press at defiance. To talk of modern ministers, or to examine their conduct, would be to reason without data ; for whether it be owing to the real simple in- nocence of doing nothing, or to a happy for Mr Pitt having before received the most o'oliging marks of regard from the public, the testimony of his sovereign only remained want- ing." ' Now as Mr Wilkes has so fully set forth the nature of this pension, I cannot think it will at all lessen the confidence of the nation in lord Chatham : it may very possibly lessen their con- fidence in Mr Wilkes, who has contradicted him- self so furiously, and perhaps destroy that idea of consistency which the gentleman boasts of in his letter to the duke of Grafton ; where he assures his Grace, that "however unfashionable such a declaration may be, consistency shall never de- part from his character." The reader has the proofs before him, and will judge of it accordingly. W. D.'— Edit. 34^ MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. mysteriousness in concealing their activity, we know as little of the services they have performed, since it became their lot to ap- pear in the gazette, as we did of their per- sons or characters before. They seem to have come together by a sort of fortuitous concourse, and have hitherto done nothing else but jumble and jostle one another, without being able to settle into any one regular or consistent figure. I am not however such an atheist in politics as to suppose that there is not somewhere an original creating cause, which drew these atoms forth into existence ; but it seems the utmost skill and cunning of that secret governing hand could go no further. To create or foment confusion, to sacrifice the honour of a king, or to destroy the happi- ness of a nation, requires no talent, but a natural itch for doing mischief. We have seen it performed for years successively, with a wantonness of triumph, by a man who had neither abilities nor personal in- terest, nor even common personal courage. ^ It has been possible for a notorious coward, skulking under a petticoat, to make a great nation the prey of his avarice and ambition. But I trust the time is not very distant when we shall see him dragged forth from his retirement, and forced to answer severely for all the mischiefs he hath brought upon us. It is worth while to consider, though perhaps not safe to point out, by what arts it hath been possible for him to maintain himself so long in power, and to skreen himself from national justice. Some of them have been obvious enough ; the rest may without difticulty be guessed at. But whatever they are, it is not above a twelve- month ago, since they might have all been defeated, and the venomous spider itself | caught and trampled on in its own webs. It was then his good fortune to corrupt one [ man, from whom we least of all expected so base an apostacy.2 Who indeed could ^ The earl of Bute. — Edit. * The earl of Chatham. — Edit. 3 Lord Townshend, and his brother, the Hon- ourable Charles 'I'ownshend, the former ju.st have suspected, that it should ever consist with the spirit or understanding of that person, to accept of a share of power under a pernicious court minion, whom he him- self had affected to detest or despise, as much as he knew he was detested and despised by the whole nation ? I will not censure him for the avarice of a pension, nor the melancholy ambition of a title. These were objects which he perhaps looked up to, though the rest of the world thought them far beneath his accept- ance. But, to become the stalking-horse of a stallion ; to shake hands with a Scotch- man at the hazard cf catching all his in- famy ; to fight under his auspices against the constitution ; and to receive the word from him, prerogative and a thistle ; (by the once respected name of Pit !) it is even below contempt. But it seems that this unhappy country had long enough been distracted by their divisions, and in the last instance was to be oppressed by their union. May that union, honourable as it is, subsist for ever ! may they continue to smell at one thistle, and not be separated even in death ! ANTI SEJANUS, Jun. LETTER IV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SI James s Coffee-house, Sir, 25 Aug. 1767. I HAVE been some time in the country, which has prevented your hearing sooner from me. I find you and your brother printers have got greatly into a sort of knack of stuffing your papers with flummery upon two certain brothers,^ who are labour-in-vain endeavouring to force themselves out of the world's contempt. I have great good will to you, and hope you are well paid for this sort of nonsense, as indeed you ought to be, for it certainly dis- appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and the latter at this time chancellor of the Exchequer. — Edit. MISCKLLAXEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 34; graces your paper. It is in vain that your friends assure the coffee-house, that these things are wrote by the brothers themselves; that you believe no more of them than tlie rest of the world does ; and that you only put them in to show your extreme impar- tiality, which sometimes obliges you to insert the most improbable stories ; I would therefore advise you, as a friend, to give up this noble pair as enfans pcrdiis. I am not a stranger to this par nob He fratrum. I have served under the one, and have been forty times promised to be seri'ed by the other. I don't think it possi- ble to characterize either without having recourse to the other ; but anybody who knows one of them, may easily obtain an idea of the other : Thus now ; suppose you acquainted with the chancellor, take away his ingenuity, and a something, that at times looks something like good nature, but it is not, and you have the direct and actual character of the peer; a boaster without spirit, and a pretender to wit with- out a grain of sense ; in a word, a vain- glorious idler without one single good quality of head or heart. I hope his affairs with lord and Mr are the only instances of his setting out with unnecessary insolence, and ending witli shameful tame- ness. But is such a man likely to please the brave Irish, whose hasty tempers, or whose blunders, may sometimes lead them into a quarrel ; but whose swords always carry them through it. Are these the pair, who are to give stability to a wavering favourite, and permanency to a locum tenens administration ? Alas ! alas ! Non tali ar^xilio, iicc defeiisoribiis is/is Teuipus eget : And is it by such a prop that Grafton thinks to stand, after throwing down his idol Pitt, at whose false altar he had before sacrificed his friends ? Is it for such a man tliat Conway foregoes the connexions of his ' The following answer to correspondents in the Public Advertiser of Sept. 16, identifies Junius to have been the writer of this letter. ' Our correspondent C. will observe, that we have obeyed his directions in every particular, j youth, and the friends of his best and ripest judgment. — O tempora ! O mores / "a FAITHFUL MONITOR. LETTER V.i TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 16 Sept. 1767. His Excellency the Lord-Lieuten- ant of Ireland, 2 is said to have a singular turn for portrait painting, which he will- ingly employs in the service of his friends. He performs gratis, and seldom gives them the trouble of sitting for their pictures. But I believe the talents of this ingenious nobleman never had so fair an occasion of being employed to advantage as at pre- sent. It happens very fortunately for him, that he has now a set of friends, who seem intended by nature for the subjects of such a pencil. In delineating their features to the public, he will have an equal oppor- tunity of displaying the delicacy of his hand, and, upon which he chiefly piques himself, the benevolence of his heart. But considering tlie importance of his present cares, I would fain endeavour to save him the labour of the design, in hopes that he will bestow a few moments more upon the execution. Yet I will not presume to claim the merit of invention. The blindness of chance has done more for the painter, than the warmest fancy could have imagined, and has brought together such a groupe of figures, as, I believe, never appeared in real Ufe, or upon canvas before. Your principal character, my Lord, is a young duke 3 mounted upon a lofty phae- ton ; his head grows giddy; his horses carry him violently down a precipice, and a bloody carcase, the fatal emblem of Britan- nia, lies mangled under his wheels. By the side of this furious charioteer sits Caution and we shall alwaj's pay the utmost attention to whatever comes from so masterly a pen.'— Edit. ^ Lord Townshcnd. — Edit. 3 'J'he duke cf Grafton.— Edit. 34S MISCELLAXEOL'S LETTERS OF JUNIUS. without foresight, 1 a motley thing, half mili- tary, scarce civil. He too would guide, but, let who will drive, is determined to have a scat in the carriage. If it be possible, my Lord, give him to us in the attitude of an orator eating the end of a period, which may begin with, / did not say / zuoiild pledge 'SVi self— The. rest he eats. Your next figure must bear the port and habit of a judge. The laws of England under his feet, and before his distorted vision a dagger, which he calls the law of nature, and which marshals him the way to the murder of the ccnstitution."- In such good company, the respectable president of the council cannot possibly be omitted.* A reasonable number of decrees must be piled up behind him, with the word REVERSED in capital letters upon each of them ; and out of his decent lips a com- pliment a la Tilbury, Hell arid d 71 blast you all. * * * ^ *^ There is still a young man, my Lord, who I think will make a capital figure in the piece. His features are too happily marked to be mistaken. A single line of his face will be sufficient to give us the heir- apparent of Loyola and all the College. A little more of the devil, my Lord, if you please^ about the eyebrows ; that's enough ; a perfect Malagrida I protest I •» So much for his person ; and as for his mind, a blinking bull-dog ^ placed near him, will form a very natural type of all his good qualities. These are the figures, which are to come ^ Mr Conway, secretary of state for the north- ern department. — Edit. " Lord Camden. A scarcity of grain having been experienced during the recess, government had taken upon itself to stop the exportation of corn, in defiance of an act of parUament that granted a bounty for exporting it. The legality of this measure of a proclamation having been questioned, lord Camden maintained that in a case of necessity, the crown was possessed of a legal power to suspend the operation of an act of the legislature. See this subject further touched upon in Letter LX. — Edit. ^ Lord Northington, formerly lord chancellor^ one or two of whose decrees had, at the above period, been reversed ; a circum-^tance, how- ever, which may possibly be as attributable to his not having sufficiently applied himself to the forward to the front of the piece. Your friendship for the earl of Bute will naturally secure a corner in the retirement for him and his curtain. Provided you discover him * * * * * ^ If there are still any vacancies in the canvas, you will easily fill them up with fix- tures or still life. You may show us half a paymaster, for instance, with a paper stuck upon the globe of his eye, and a label out of his mouth, No, Sir, I am of t' other side. Sir. How I lament that sounds cannot be conveyed to the eye ! ^ You may give us a commander-in-chief ^ and a secretary at war ^ seeming to pull at two ends of a rope ; while a slip-knot in the middle may really strangle three-fourths ox the army ; or a lunatic brandishing a crutch, 10 or bawHng through a grate, or writing w ith desperate charcoal a letter to North America ; or a Scotch .secretary teaching the Irish people the true pro- nunciation of the English language. That barbarous people are but little accustomed to figures of oratory, so that you may re- present him in any attitude you think pro- per, from that of sir Gilbert Elliot ^^ down to governor Johnstone. These, however, are but the slighter ornaments of com- position, and so I leave them to the choice of your own luxurious fancy. The back-ground may be shadowed with the natural obscurity of Scotch clerks and Scotch secretaries, who may be itched out to the life, with one hand grasping a pen, the other rivetted in their respective * * cases in question, as to any natural deficiency of judgment. His manners had certainly not been studied in the refined school of lord Chester- field. — Edit. 4 Lord Shelbume, father to the present mar- quis of Lansdown, at that time secretary of state for the southern department. — Edit. 5 Col. Barr6, then vice-treasurer of Ireland. — Edit. 6 A lady, who was thought to have consider- able influence, is here alluded to — Edit. ^ Lord North and Mr afterwards sir G. Cooke, were joint paymasters, the former of whom is ridiculed. — Edit. s The marquis of Granby. — Edit. 5 Lord Barrington. — Edit. *° Lord Chatham. — Edit. ^' At that time Irish secretary. — EDIT. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 349 * * * * * , Your southern writers are apt to rub their foreheads in the agony of composition ; but with Scotchmen, the seat of inspiration lies in a lower place, which, while the FUROR is upon them, they lacerate without mercy. By this delect- able friction, their imaginations become as pi'irient as their ******, and the latter are relieved from one sort of matter while their brains are supplied with another. Every thing they write in short is polished ad 7inguein. ■ But amidst all the license of your wit, my Lord, I must entreat you to remember that there is one character too high and too sacred even for the pencil of a peer, though your Loidship has formerly done business for the family. Besides, the attempt would be unnecessary. The true character of that great person is engraven in the hearts of the Irish nation ; and as to a false one, they need only take a survey of the person and manners of their chief governor, if, in the midst of their distresses, they can laugh at the perfect caricature of a king. CORREGGIO. LETTER VL TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 12 October, ijSj. There has been for some time past a very curious altercation carried on through your paper between Philo Vcrila- ' tis and Xo Ghost. This altercation has ' hitherto been carried on like other political disputes, by affirmatives and negatives, ; assertions and contradictions, good hits I and smart repartees. This is the kind of j combat usually fought on, and indeed the only one adapted to, the field of a public I paper. But I perceive, not without anxiety, j that another species of battle is likely to I take place between the two champions \\hom I have mentioned. i In this I am too much concerned to remain neuter. I j have courage enough to draw my pen upon any man, but I should be very unwilling to draw my sword ; the pop-gun of wit I can j stand, but a pistol is what I dare not face. ' Somehow or other, I have taken it into my head, that the dull and heav) .-.rgument of a pistol-ball is more convincing than the most elaborate reasoning, or the keenest wit which can be delivered by a pen. Alas, Sir, what then shall I do ? Shall I remain silent, whilst No Ghost affirms that the lord-lieutenant of Ireland is a coward, and Philo Veritatis (k contraj declares him a brave and undaunted soldier?— It is of little importance which side I am in- clined to from judgment. If I declare in favour oi Philo Veritatis, I incur the danger of a pen, which he himself seems to think ^ Vide Philo Veritatis his letter in this paper, of the sixth instant. The following extract from it will enable the reader the better to understand the allusions in the present letter. 'That his Excellency the present lord-lieu- tenant of Ireland commanded at Quebec, is in- disputable. Captain Schombera:, as gallant an officer as any in the navy, and who, with the brave captain Dean, burnt and destroj^ed the French fleet, had tlie honour to convey him up the Gulph of St Lawrence, where his Excellency multiplied his military glory ; and here I cannot omit an anecdote relating to his Lordship, which occurred at Dettingen in Germany. In the very heat of the carnage of that day, and amidst the horrors of almost universal desolation, a soldier, fighting near his Lordship's side, was killed by a cannon-ball ; part of his brains flew out, and some on his Lordship's clothes and in his face. The brave general G being near him, said, " My lord, this is terrible work to-day : " " So it is," replied his Lordship, wiping himself with great calmness ; " but one would imagine, gen- eral, this man had too much brains to be here," at the same time tears of manly pity filled his compassionate eyes. ' Now if humanity, intrepidity', and (what the French justly distinguish by the name of) sang /roid, be the characteristics of a valiant soldier, my favourite lord (and such I am proud to own himj can, as the lawyers say, make out, even from this single story, a good title, and does deserve (as I have before averred) to have his name inscribed in adamantine letters on a column of eternal fame ; and if Mr No Ghost disputes it, I (in the ancient style of the heralds) defy him : I accept his gauntlet, and stand forth his Lord- ship's avowed champion, though a bad one, ready to fight in his defence, either with pistol or pen, and desire No Ghoit to accept of a Row- land for his Oliver in a scrap of Latin on my side. ' Parturiimt viontes ; iics::tur ridiaehcs vius. Bye bye, Mr No Ghost. ' October 2. PHILO VERITATIS.'— Edit. 350 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. very sharp ; indeed so sharp, as to beg of his opponent to lay it aside, and take up a pistol ; on the other hand, if I join with No Ghost, I have a pistol at my head, which may make a ghost of me. Thus circumstanced, I will not take either part, but offer myself as a friend to both, to measure the ground, give the word, and carry off the body of whiclicver shall fall in the field of honour. In this character I shall beg (previous to their engagement) to state a few points not yet decided between them, and which they have not yet carried far enough in discussion, to require the de- cision of powder and ball. Give me leave first (though I declare no prepossession in his fiivour) to compliment Philo Vcritatis, the advocate for his Lordship's coura^^e, on his own bravery, who, under a fictitious name, challenges with the utmost intre- pidity to single and mortal combat, a nameless opponent. I should spend some time, and take some pains, to turn this compliment and make it worthy of him, but that I dare say he is sufficiently ap- plauded already, by those to whom he has revealed himself, for such an unexampled piece of heroism. Now, to my purpose : Philo Vcritatis asserts, that his hero, lord Townshend, gave proofs of his bravery at Minden and sent at both actions ; No Ghost denies it ; Philo gives the lie ; No Ghost knocks him down, and then the pistol enters as natur- ally as possible, and without the smallest breach of the rule which Hocacr has laid down on this occasion : Ncc Dcus intersit, nisi digniis vindice nodus. No Ghost having denied that his Lord- ship was actually present at both places, Pliilo seems to fear lest we should doubt that he was at either : Minden he gives up ; but being resolved to pro\'e that he was at Quebec, he informs us that the brave cap- tain Schomberg had the honour of convey- ing him up the Gulph of St Lawrence, where his Lordship miiltiplied his glory. These are the words. It is not my business to make remarks ; but Philo will tell us where this multiplication table may be found ; and I would recommend his Lord- ship to study it most attentively ; he need go no further in this kind of arithmetic ; the next rule will be quite unnecessary, as I presume no one will desire to divide with his Lordship. Now, if I guess right, the No Ghost will not deny that the brave Sdiombcrg conveyed him up the gulph, and. therefore this does not call very loudly for the pistol. Every one will acknowledge that lord Townshend was at Quebec ; for every one remembers his letter from thence ; Quebec. No Ghost denies the fact, upon | and perhaps Philo can tell who the secre- the presumed impossibility of his transport- tary was. ing himself from one of these places to To this multiplication of glory /'/^//t; makes the othei in the space of ten days, unless • an addition of an anecdote, which, as he he could /j, and that very fast too. Now Jlying\>€mg a quality which Pliilo Vcritatis does not chuse to ascribe (whatever belief it might gain with the public) to his hero, answers this in somewhat of a new way : 'This objection," says he, 'has no weight, says, occurred io his Lordship in Germany ; indeed, occurred ! an anecdote occurred ; a curious occurrence it was. First let us see the inference which Philo draws from, and then we shall relate the occurrence itself. It is, that the humanity of his- favourite and is made only to introduce a scrap of Lord (for such he is proud to own him) is I^atin and a witticism." This may be a ' established by it. The occuj-?-ence\s, that a very good answer at cross puiposes ; but ' soldier being killed near, his brains were is, I confess, a very whimsical one in the ' scattered upon his Lordship's clothes. A present case. Surely, Sir, this matter is stander-by remarks, ' that this is terrible not yet come so close to a point, as to re- Uvork." 'True,' says his Lordship, 'but quire the arbitration of a pistol. Let Philo one would have thought this fellow had too Vcritatis again (for he has once already much brains to be here." Reader, re- done ii) affirm, that th2 lierc was pre- mark this, and if you doubt of his Loid- MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 351 ship'ij humanity, you are infidel enough to doubt of his courage. Well, he burst into tears : and who could chuse but weep at a sentiment of such tender, compassionate, and sympathizing humanity ! No one, that I know of, can suppose these tears shed from that depression of spirits which the extremity of fear sometimes causes, and which finds some ease from an involuntary overflow at the eyes. Never had such humanity such a panegyrist ; it does indeed deserve to be inscribed on Adamantine pillars of eternal fame, as Philo elegantly expresses it. Now as he is such an admirer of humanity in others, let me call on his own humanity not to avail himself of the assistance of a pistol on this occasion ; as I will venture to answer for Mr No Ghost, that he will not take up tlie gauntlet which Philo has so bravely thrown down, offering him the choice of pen or pistol. Alas, Philo ! at the first of these weapons you are by no means, indeed you are not, a match for No Ghost ; and for the use of the last, you might chance to be hanged, and thus unfortunately frustrate his Lordship's hu- mane intentions of rewarding your courage with one of those pensions which he will multiply on the Irish establishment. I am, kc. MODERATOR. LETTER VIl. FOR THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 22 October, 1767. Grand Council upon the affairs of Ireland after eleven adjournments.'^ Bill Street, 7th October, 1767. PRESENT. 2 * Tilbury . . . fuddled, f Judge Jefteryes. * This paper was announced in the Public Advertiser in the following words : — ' I'he grand council upon the aftairs of Ireland, after eleven adjournments, is come to hand, and shall have a place in our next.' To which was added by the pruiter himself: — 'Our friend and correspond- ent C. will always find the utmost attention paid to his favours.' C, as the reader must already have observed from the Preliminary + Caution . . . without foresight. II Malagrida. § Boutdeville . . . sulky. A chair left empty for the ^ High Trea- surer, detained by a hurry of business at Newmarket. After a convenient time spent in staring at one another, up gets Tilbury. Thus fro jn my Lord his passion broke ; He frst, and then he spoke. TILBURY. In the name of the Devil and his dam, can anybody tell, what accident brings us five together ? CAUTION. For my own part, my Lords, I humbly apprehend— though I speak with infinite diffidence — I say, my Lords, I will not pledge wr^self for the truth of my opinion — but I do humbly conceive with great sub- mission—that we are met together with a view, and in order to consider whether it might not be advisable to give some instruc- tions to this noble Lord for his government in Ireland, or whether we should leave the direction of his conduct to the same chance, to which, under our Sovereign Laird the Earl of Bute fthey all bow their heads J, he owes his appointment. I may be mistaken, my Lords, but I — I — I — looks round him, s impels, and sits doiun. TILBURY. B 1 me if I care whether he has any instructions or not. But who the Devil's to draw them up ? Dissertation and Private Letters, was the secret mark in use between Junius and the printer, to inform each other of the identity or receipt of communications. The present article, however, does not stand in need of this accidental proof of genuineness. Its internal evidence is suffi- cient without it : especially the identity of its style, and the peculiar nature of its political bearing. — Edit. ■^ * The earl of Northington, president of the council. t Earl Camden, lord chancellor. + Mr Conway, northern secretary. § Lord Shelburne, southern secretary. II LordTownshend, lord-lieutenant of Ireland. ^ Duke of Grafton, first lord of the Treasury. —Edit. 352 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS, MALAGKIDA, With a complacent smile. That's a task, my Lords, which I believe no man here is better qualified to execute than myself. Your Lordships well know that I am far from being vain of my talents ; yet I believe I may affirm without presumption, that nature has done more for me, without any effort of my own, than other men usually derive from education and experience. My Lord Holland, who certainly had some reason to know me, has .one me the honour to say that I was born a Jesuit, and that if all the good qualities which make the society of Jesus respectable, were banished from the rest of the earth, they would still find room enough in the bosom of Malagrida. His Lordship sa- gaciously observed, that mine was a sort of understanding more united with the heart than the head ; and that my ideas of men and things depended not so much upon the improvement of my brain, as upon the original colour and consistence of my blood ; consequently — But this is a seduc- ing subject, upon which perhaps — I fear — 1 am too willing to expatiate. To return then to the noble Lord's instructions ; — I should be happy to know what your Lord- ships' ideas are upon this most important question, that, when I have heard all your opinions, I may with greater decency follow my own. TILBURV. B— t me if I know anything of the mat- ter. — Falls asleep. CAUTION. The very learned Lord who slumbers upon the sofa, having, with his usual can- dour, confessed his usual ignorance upon the arduous subject of our present debates, it may seem presumptuous in a man of my inferior qualifications, even to form, much more to deliver, any opinion upon it. For this reason, my Lords, although I venture to speak first, I shall take care not to haz- ard any thing decisive. I liavc already had the honour of giving instructions to govern- ors ; and, excepting my noble colleague. with whom I agree, that he owes as much to nature for the accomplishments of his mind, as for those of his person, I believe few men succeed better at the ambiguous. It is my forte, my Lords ; I always contrive to leave the person I instruct at full liberty to act as he thinks proper, and entirely at his own peril. Positive instruc- tions are too apt to endanger the safety of those who give them. Mine I am deter- mined shall endanger nothing but the safety of the state. But since the noble Lord absolutely insists upon being instructed in some way or other, my friendship for him, which he may believe is full as sincere as what I felt for his brother — poor Charles 1 and art thou gone ! so is my friendship ; — I say, my Lords, since his Lordship cnn have no doubt about the warmth of my friendship for him, he may at all times rely upon my assistance and concurrence, and — and— it is unnecessary I believe to explain what ■ simpers at Sulky, and sits doiun. JUDGE JEFFERYES, XoitJl dignity. My Lords, your Lordships know that the greatest part of my life has been dedicated to the study of the common and statute law of my country ; — you will not wonder there- fore at my appearing a strenuous advocate for the natural liberties of mankind, such as they possessed them before the existence of positive laws in this country, or any other. Now, my Lords, if I am not ill informed, the Irish are already in this de- sirable state of emancipation. By the most authentic accounts, they actually approach as near to a state of nature, as can be effected by the absence of all legal re- straints ; and for my own part — I will speak boldly, my Lords — I always do when the liberties of my fellow-subjects are in ques- tion 1 never consider my own cha- racter in what I say either in council or parliament ; 1 think, that to give any positive instructions to a chief governor, might have the odious appearance of invad- ^ The Hon. Charles Townshend, chancellor of the Exchequer, then lately dead.— Edit. MISCELL.\XEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 35; ing the natural rights of the Irish. It is their claim, it is their birthright, my Lords, to talk without meaning, and to live with- out law. This is the sort of liberty which our ancestors fought for, and which every true Englishman ought to revere. God for- bid, my Lords, that any thing done by a British council, should tend to the diminu- tion of privileges, which the Irish justly think invaluable. Besides, my Lords, I have too much respect for the uncommon talents of the noble Lord himself, to wish to confine him by any opinions of ours. Let him but follow the dictates of his own genius, and I will venture to say, that the Irish will have no reason to envy the government of England ; — at least he may be assured of our hearty endeavours and concurrence to prevent any ill blood, upon that score, between the two nations, SULKY, hi an attitude copied from Mr Sparkcs}- I was quiet enough at Raneham, when I was told I was lord-lieutenant of Ireland. For a man to be told that he commands a kingdom or an army, when he dreams of no such matter, forms a situation too difficult for such a head as mine. My Lords, I speak from experience. Upon another occasion, indeed, I found the business done to my hand, by a person who shall be nameless. But alas ! I find things in a very different condition at present. I per- ceive that I am no more a statesman than a general, and that my predecessor, instead of doing any thing himself, has only be- queathed to me the disgrace of not being able to perform what he was so vain or so simple as to promise. — Then to be left to my own guidance ! — If my poor dear brother had lived, you would not have treated me so scurvily. — Surely your Lord- ships forget that these are a wild barbarous people, and how dangerous it is to trust to their respect for the person of a lord-lieu- tenant. — In short, my Lords, if you do not * A comedian, thus clwracterized in Church- ill's Rosciad : think proper to grant thetn a habeas cor- pus, at least grant inc one, and as soon as possible. I shall never be easy until I find my body once more before you. In the mean tin^.e, I believe I had best follow my lord Bute's advice. OMNES. Lord Bute ! It must be followed. What is it? SULKY. To carry over with me a battalion of gallant disinterested Highlanders, who, if there should be any disturbance, may take to their broad swords. Where plunder's to he had, they'll take to any thing. I have seen it tried with astonishing success : and sure never was a man in such a taking as I was. CAUTION. The expedient, I confess, is admirable ; but pray, my Lord, how do you intend to provide for all these sweet-blooded chil- dren? SULKY. ■ My secretary has got a list of the em- ployments in Ireland, and assures me that I shall be able to provide for as many more. Jefferyes, growing peevish and im- , patient. To conclude, my Lords. If what I have just now had the honour of throwing out should not be consistent with the noble Lord's ideas, or with his plan of govern- ment, he has my free consent to adopt a very different system. Instead of permitting the Irish to live without any law whatever, let him govern them by edicts from the castle. For my own part , I hate medium in government. I am all for anarchy, or all for tyranny. The Irish privy council are as good judges of the plea of necessity, and I dare say as ready to make use of it, as any other council. You have my authority and example, my Lord, in support of suspend- ing powers ; and provided ycu are a little * Sparks at his glass sat comfortably down, To sep'rate frown from smile, and smile from frown.' — Edit. 354 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. cautious in the object of your first experi- ment, you may carry this wholesome maxim to as great a length in Ireland, as, with the blessing of God ! (turning up his eyes to heaven J I intend to do here. A di\^ barks, and wakens Tilbury, li'ho starts vp. TILBURY. Zounds, my Lord, do you keep bull-dogs in your house ? MALAGRIDA. No, my Lord ; it is but a mongrel. Your true English bull-dog never quits his hold ; but this cur plays fast and loose, just as I bid him : he worries a man one mo- ment, and fawns upon him the next.i But, my Lords, I hope you are not going away before I have finished my speech. It is a masterpiece, I'll promise you, and has cost me infinite labour to get by heart. TILBURY. No, damn me, 'tis a httle too late, I thank you. Aside : This silly puppy takes me for his schoolmaster, and fancies I am obliged to hear him repeat his task to me. Exit. CAUTION. Pray spare me, my Lord ; you know my friendship : I would stay to hear you if it were possible. Aside : I see this will never do ; so I'll e'en try to renew with the Rock- inghams. Exit talking to himself. ^ The person here alluded to, is the late Col. Barre.— Edit. ^ Lord Camden had been chief justice of the Common Pleas, was now chancellor, and was afterwards president of the council. — Edit. 3 A writer in the Public Advertiser, in a pre- tended real account of what passed at the coun- cil, having charged Mr Burke with being the author of this satire, and as the letters of Junius were, during their publication, attributed to that gentleman, we shall extract such part of it as more immediately relates to him. The council are supposed to have discussed the instructions to be given to the lord-lieutenant, and the lord president is then made to address them, as follows : President. If nothing further occurs to your Excellencj', JEFFERYES. Change of place, my Lord, as well as change of party, is the indefeasible right of human nature.^ It is a part of the natural liberty of man, which I am deter- mined to make use of immediately. Exit. MALAGRIDA to SULKY. Won't you hear me, my Lord ? SULKY. It is unnecessary, my dear Lord. I see your meaning written in your face. Aside: What the Devil shall I do now ? A sick man might as well expect to be cured by a consultation of quack doctors ; they talk, and debate, and wrangle, and the patient expires. However, I shall at least have the satisfaction of drawing their pictures. I believe the best thing I can do will be to consult with my lord George Sackville. His character is known and respected in Ireland as much as it is here ; and I know he loves to be stationed in the rear as well as myself. Exit. . MALAGRIDA solus. What a negro's skin must I have, if this shallow fellow could see my meaning in my face ! Now will I skulk away to , where I will betray or misrepresent every syllable I have heard, ridicule their persons, blacken their characters, and fawn upon the man who hears me, until I have an opportunity of biting even him to the heart. Exit.^ nor to you, my Lords, upon the present business, it will be time, I believe, for us to break up. [As theCoMtcil are rising, a Secretary enters^^ Secretary. My lords, there is a person without, who says he has business of a private nature, and earnestly desires to be admitted. S.S. Do you know who the man is ? Are you ac- quainted with his person ? Secretary. I am, my lord : but as he desires, in case your Lordships do not think fit to see him, that his visit may be kept a secret, I beg to be excused mentioning his name : I believe he is personally known to every one present. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 355 LETTER VIII. furnished you with what he calls a true account of a grand council in Hill Street, TO TI£E PRINTER OF TjiE PL-RLIC docs not appear to me to have done much ADVERTISER. Service to his patrons. The former dia- S'R. 31 Oct. 1767. logue had at least some pleasantry (though Your correspondent, who has not enough, I dare say, to draw a smile Omfies. Let him come in. [T/te Secretary goes out and returns, intro- dttcing a tall, ill-looking fellow, in a shabby black coat.) Lord President. ^V^lat are your commands with us, Mr Brazen ? Brazen. The business, my Lords, that has brought me thus unexpectedly into your company, will, I am persuaded, excuse the unseasonableness of my intrusion. I flatter myself I am known, well known, to every one of your Lordships. Isly part has not been ?n obscure one : I may saj', with the snbli/nest of all poets, A'ct to know vte, ^c. In short, my Lords, I think I have trode the public stage of the world with some degree ot applause ; with a pen that can blacken the whitest chamcter, and a tongue that can dash the niatnrest councils, I hold myself equipped at all points for the offices of party. One in par- ticular of this right honourable company can bear testimony to my performances. — What need of more words ? / have done tJie state some serz'ice, and tJiey know it. Bat, my Lords, to come to the point at once. — Ndiwsn, I trust, in these times, serves the state for nothing ; yet such h.as been my pride or folly call it which you will", that I have got nothing for my pains but empty praise. Now, my Lords, this diet begins to grow too thin for my stomach. I must own I e:>:pected to have reaped good . interest for my self-denial ; but things have not ' come round as I looked for ; the revolutions in ! government have not kept pace with those that { have been made in my fortune ; and the late ; unprosperous fatal negotiation has broken all j my measures, and thrown me at length upon , your Lordships' mercy, the humblest of your petitioners. Lord President. Will your Lordships have the patience to hear j this prating fellow any longer ? Lord Cantden. | Mr Brazen, you will please to contract your discourse as much as the matter will admit. A great deal that you have now been relating to us might, in my humble opinion, have been spared without any prejudice to your petition, or to your principles. If you have any real business, worthy being communicated to this company, we shall wish you to let us hear it without fur- ther preface. Brazen. hculd wave thought that your Lordship at I lea ;t, ii the course of your high office, had been mor.: patient under circumlocution, than to cor- I r-.ct ;ne for the little I have now made use of ; however, not to incur your displeasure. I will come at once to the point. Your Lordships see I these two papers. This in my left hand, my j Lords, contains the most important intelligence j that was ever directed to ministers. It is, my j Lords, the whole scheme and plan of opposition, I which you are shortly to encounter, concerted, . modelled, and digested, according to rules"logical, metaphysical, and mathematical. It is the most beantifid, as well as the siibliinest, system of politics, that ever sprung from the brain of man. I am here ready to consign it over to your Lord- ships, upon the terms and conditions annexed to ' It ; and with it myself, my faith, my friendship, and my conscience. Witness that here I ago doth give up T/ie execution of his 7vit, hands, heart. To this great Coimcifs service. [The whole of the Council rise at once, and the High Treasjtrer speaks ) High Treasurer. My Lords, I see the indignation with which you receive this proposal, and the just contempt with which you are about to treat this most in- famous proponent. But I beseech you, let what I shall now say to him serve for his dismission, and hold him unworthy of any further reply. We reject your offer, Sir, with the most consum- mate disdain. Unfaithful to your own party, we scorn to admit you into ours ; and though the bounty of the council holds forth rewards for merit, we have neither th., will nor the means to bribe and seduce a villain. Amongst those gen- tlemen, whom you thus offer to abandon, there are many for whose persons and characters we have the most absolute regard. Whatever their councils may be, and however hostile to our measures, we scorn to look into them by any in- direct means. Friends to the hberties of our country, and protectors of its constitution, we wish not to destroy opposition by the force of corruption, we seek only to confute it by the prevalence of reason ; every proposal that has the public welfare for its object, from what- ever party it springs, shall have our support ; and while we have truth and justice on our side^ we have nothing to apprehend from opposition, though all your genius and (which is more) all your ill nature shall be drawn forth in its sup- port. 356 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. from the parties concerned), and perhaps in marking the cliaracters, ri little too much truth. But this sorrowful rogue is too dull to be witty, and as for truth, I suppose it would neither suit his argument nor his disposition. His raillery upon a shabby black coat is indeed delicate to an extreme ; but he forgets that wit and abilities have as little connexion with rich clothes as they have with great places, and that a man may wear a fine suit, or figure as a secretary of state, without a single grain of either. But, Sir, if facts asserted are notoriously false, the assertion of them can do no mischief ; if notoriously true, they are beyond the reach of his wit, if he had any, to palliate, or of his modesty, which I think is upon a par with his w it, to den\'. Now, Sir, if I were not afraid of dis- tressing him too much, I would ask liim whether lord Townshend did not openly complain, only three days before his de- parture, that he could not, by the warmest solicitations, prevail on the ministry to I agree upon any one system of instructions for him ; that he was left entirely to him- self; and that the ministry could not be persuaded to pay the smallest attention either to his situation, or to that of the country he was sent to govern. Did he not say this without reserve to every man he met, even in public court, and with all possible marks of resentment and disgust? I would advise your second correspondent not to deny these known facts ; for if he does, I will assuredly produce some proofs of them, which will gall his patrons a little more than any thing they have seen already. Let one of them only recollect what sort of Brazen. 'Tis very well, my Lords ; 'tis mighty well ; you have rejected the olive branch, take then the sword. — This paper, my Lords, in my right hand, holds a mine that shall blow you into the air. It is a libel wrote in gall. Your present consult- ations are the subject ; and every member here present shall have a seat, except I think fit to dispatch your unimport.int Grace to Newmarket. For you, my Lord President, I shall characterize you under the name of Tilbury, because when that man kept an inn at Bagshot, you put up at bifi house. To my lord Camden, I shall bequeath conversation very lately passed between him and the lord-lieutenant, how he was pressed, and how he evaded. But the facts, of w^hich the public are already pos- sessed, sufficiently speak for themselves, and the nation wants no further proof of the weakness, ignorance, irresolution, and spirit of discord, which reign triumphant in this illustrious divan, who have dared to take upon them the conduct of an empire. One question more, and I have done. Did it become him, who has undertaken the defence of a whole ministry, to forget one of the principal characters of the piece ? Why should he omit the dog? This mongrel, that barks, and bites, and fawns, has nevertheless a share in council, and, in the opinion of the best judges, cuts full as good a figure in it as his master. Here, who waits there ?■- Oh charming antithesis ! O polished langixage ! and equally fit for the noble Lord who speaks, or for the footman \\ho hears it. LETTER IX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Mr Printer, 5 Dec. 1767. There are a party of us who, for our amusement, have established a kind of political club. We mean to give no offence whatever to any body in our debates. The following is a mere jeii d' esprit, which I threw out at one of our late meetings, and is at your service, if you think it will afford the least entertainment to your readers. 1 I am, &c. Y. Z. the odious name of Jeffeiyes, by the old deriva- tory rule of Lttcus a iion lucetido. Caution luitJiout foresight shall be your title. Sir ; and your noble colleague's, Malagrida ; when I have thought of any reason for either, 1 may give it you. To your Excellency, by way of contrast, I decree the name of Boutdeville, or Sulky. S.S. Here ; who waits there ? Take this fellow and put him out of the house. Exit Brazen between two footmen. ' As the debates in parliament were not allowed at this period to be given verbatim, they were MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 357 Mr President. The condition of this country, at the conclusion of the last spring, was such as gave us strong reason to expect, that not a single moment of the interval between that period and our winter meet- ing would be lost or misemployed. We had a right to expect, that gentlemen, who thought themselves equal to advise about the government of the nation, would, dur- ing this period, have applied all dieir atten- tion, and exerted all their efforts, to dis- cover some effectual remedy for the national distress. For my own part, I had no doubt that, when we again met, the com- mittee would have been ready to lay before us some plan for a speedy relief of the people, founded upon such certain lights and informations as they alone are able to procure, and digested with an accuracy proportioned to the time they have had to consider of it : But if these were our expect- ations, if these were the hopes conceived by the whole society, how giievously are we disappohited ! After an interval of so many months, instead of being told that a plan is formed, or that measures are taken, or, at least, that materials have been dili- gently collected, upon \vhich some scheme might be founded for preserving us from famine ; we see that this provident com- usually detailed to the public under the guise of fictitious assemblies and opinions, through the medium of imaginary characters ; and under this form the writer undertakes to canvass the mea- sures of government, on the opening of the session of parliament in November, 1767. Whether the printer was aware that the speech here detailed was actually spoken by Mr Burke on the particular occasion to which it refers, or conceived it to have been merely fictitious, is uncertain. Since the former edition of this work, however, was put to press, a gentleman, who still thinks Mr Burke to have been the author of the Letters of Junius, and who means to give his opinions upon this subject to the public, has discovered that the speech is genuine, and was actually delivered ; and that the words co)ii- mittee, society, chair, &c. are here substituted for those of administration, house, majesty, with such other variations as are necessary to give it its present character. A passage was suppressed in the original publication, which has now been added .in a note to p. 359. That this speech was sent to the printer of the P. A. by Junius, will appear obvious to the reader from its being thus announced for publication. * C.'s favour is come niittee, these careful providers, are of opinion, they have sufficiently acquitted themselves of their duty, by advising the chair to recommend the matter once more to our consideration, and so endeavouring to relieve themselves from the burthen and censure which must fall somewhere, by tlirowing it upon the society. God knows in wlrat manner they have been employed for these four months past. It appears too plainly they have done but little good ; — I hope they have not been busied in doing mischief ; and though they have neglected every useful, every necessary occupation, I hope their leisure has not been spent in spreading corruption through the people. Sir, I readily assent to the laborious panegyric which the gentleman upon the lower bench has been pleased to make on a very able member of the committee, whom we have lately lost.^ No man had a higher opinion of his talents than I had ; but as to his having conceived any plan for remedy- ing the general distress about provisions (as the gentleman v.ould have us under- stand), I see many reasons for suspecting that it could never have been the case. If that gentleman had formed such a plan, or if he had collected such materials as we are now told he had, I think it is impossible but that, in the course of so many months. to hand, and we think our paper much honoured by his correspondence. He may be assured we shall take every possible means to deserve a con- tinuance of it.' The severity of the speech, however, whether conceived at that time to be genuine or fictitious, is so pointed, that the printer was half afraid to insert it, and the next day made the following apology for its non-appearance. ' We most heartily wish to oblige our valuable corre- spondent C., but his last favour is of so delicate a nature, that we dare not insert it, unless we are permitted to make such changes in certain ex- pressions, as may take off the immediate offence, without hurting the meaning.' I'his request appears to have been complied with : and hence, possibly, is to be attributed the turn given to the speech, as it appeared in the Public Advertiser. — Edit. ^ The Right Honourable Charles Townshend, chancellor of the Exchequer, who died Sept. 4th, 1767, and was succeeded in that office by lord North, the chief justice of the K. B. having, in virtue of his office, held the seals for a few days only. — Edit. 35^ MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. some knowledge or intimation of it must have been communicated to the gentlemen who acted with him, and who were united with him not less by friendship than by ofifice. He was not a reserved man, and surely, Sir, his colleagues, who had every opportunity of hearing his sentiments in the committee, in private conversation, and in this society, must have been strangely in- attentive to a man, whom they so much admired, or uncommonly dull, if they could not retain the smallest memory of his opinions on matters on which they ought naturally to have consulted him often. If he had even drawn the loosest outlines of a plan, is it conceivable that all traces of it should be so soon extinguished ? To me. Sir, such an absolute oblivion seems wholly incredible. Yet admitting the fact for a moment, what an humiliating confession is it for a committee, who have undertaken to advise about the conducting of an em- pire, to declare to this society, that by the death of a single man, all projects for the public good are at an end, all plans are lost, and that this loss is irreparable, since there is not a leader surviving, who is in any measure capable of filling up the dreadful vacuum ! But I shall quit this subject for the pre- sent, and as we are to consider of an answer in return to the advice from the chair, I beg leave to mention some observa- tions occurring to me upon the advice itself, which I think I am warranted, by the established practice of this society, to treat merely as the advice of the foreman of the committee.! ^ The following are the passages in the king's speech moie immediately alluded to in this pre- tended dibcussion of it. 'Nothing in the present .situation of afifaiis abroad gives me reason to apprehend that you will be prevented by any interruption of the pub- lic tranquillity, from fixing j-our whole attention upon such points as concern the internal welfare and prosperity of my people. 'Among these objects of a domestic nature, none can demand a more speedy or more serious attention, than what regards the high price of corn, which neither the salutary laws passed in the last sessions of parliament, nor the produce of the late harvest, have yet been able so far to The chief and only pretended merit of the present advice is, that it contains no extraordinary matter, that it can do no harm, and consequently that an answer of applause upon such advice, is but a mere compliment to the chair, from which no inconvenience can arise, nor consequence be drawn. Now, Sir, supposing this to be a true representation of the advice, I cannot think it does the committee any great hon- our, nor can I agree, that to applaud the chair for such advice would be attended with no inconvenience. Although an answer of applause may not enter into the appro- bation of particular measures, yet it must unavoidably convey a general acknowledg- ment, at least, that things are, upon the whole, as they should be, and that we are satisfied with the representation of them which we have received from the chair. But this, Sir, I am sure would be an ac- knowledgment inconsistent with truth, and inconsistent with our own interior convic- tion, unless we are contented to accept of whatever the committee please to tell us, and wilfully shut our eyes to any other species of evidence. As to the harmlessness of the advice, I must, for my own part, regret the times when advices from the chair deserved another name than that of innocent ; when they contained some real and effectual in- formation to this society, — some express account of measures already taken, or some positive plan of future measures, for our consideration. Permit me. Sir, to divide reduce, as to give sufficient relief to the dis- tresses of the poorer sort of my people. Your late residence in your several counties must have enabled you to judge whether any further pro- visions can be made, conducive to the attainment of so desirable an end. ' The necessity of improving the present gen- eral tranquillitj', to the great purpose of main- taining the strength, the reputation, and the prosperity of this country, ought to be ever before your eyes. To render your deliberations for that purpose successful, endeavour to cultivate a spirit of harmony among yourselves. My con- currence in whatever will promote the happine.-s of my people, j-ou may alway depend upon : and in that light, I shall be desirous of encouraging union among all those who wish well to their country.' — Kuir. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 359 the present advice into three heads, and a very httle attention will demonstrate how far it is from aiming at that spirit of busi- ness and energy, which formerly animated the advice from the chair : You will see, under this division, that the small portion of matter contained in it is of such a nature, and so stated, as to preclude all possibility or necessity of deliberation in this place. The first article is, that ever)-thing is quiet abroad. The truth of this assertion, when confirmed by an enquiry, which I hope this society will make into it, would give me the sincerest satisfaction ; for certainly there never was a time when the distress and confusion of the interior circumstances of this nation made it more absolutely ne- cessary to be upon secure and peaceable terjns with our neighbours : But I am a little inclined to suspect, and indeed it is an opinion too generally received, that this appearance of good understanding with our neighbours deserves the name of stagna- tion rather than of tranquillity ; that it is owing not so much to the success of our negotiations abroad, as to the absolute and entire suspension of them for a very con- siderable time. Consuls, envoys, and am- bassadors, it is true, have been regularly appointed, but, instead of repairing to their stations, have, in the most scandalous manner, loitered at home ; as if they had either no business to do, or were afraid of exposing themselves to the resentment or derision of the court to which they were destined. Thus have all our negotiations with Portugal ^ been conducted, and thus have they been dropped. Thus hath the Manilla Ransom, that once favourite theme, that perpetual echo with some gentlemen, been consigned to oblivion. The slightest remembrance of it must not now be revived. At this rate, Sir, foreign powers may well permit us to be quiet ; it would be equally useless and unreasonable in them to inter- rupt a tranquillity, w hich we submit to pur- chase upon such inglorious terms, or to ' The words ' with Portugal ' are not in the genuine speech. — Edit. •* 'I he following is the passage suppressed at quarrel with an humble, passive govern- ment, which hath neither spirit to assert a right, nor to resent an injury. In the dis- tracted, broken, miserable state of our in- terior government, our enemies find a con- solation and remedy for all that they suffered in the course of the war^ and our councils amply revenge them for the suc- cesses of our arms. The second article of the advice contains a recommendation of what concerns the dearness of corn, to our immediate and earnest deliberation. No man. Sir, is more ready than myself, as an individual, to show all possible deference to the respect- able authority under which the advice from the chair is delivered ; but as a member of this society, it is my right, nay, I must think myself bound to consider it as the advice of the foreman of the committee; and, upon this principle, if I would understand it rightly, or even do justice to the te.xt, I must carry the foreman's comment along with me. But what. Sir, has been the com- ment upon the recommendation made to us from the chair? Has it amounted to any more than a positive assurance that all the endeavours of the committee, to form apian for relieving the poor in the article of pro- visions, have proved ineffectual ? That they neither have a plan, nor materials of suffi- cient information, to lay before the society, and that the object itself is, in their appre- hensions, absolutely unattainable. If this be the fact, if it be really true that the fore- man, at the same time that he advises the chair to recommend a matter to the earnest deliberation of the society, confesses in his comment that this very matter is beyond the reach of this society, what inference must we necessarily draw from such a text, and from such an illustration? I will not venture to determine what may be the real motive of this strange conduct and incon- sistent language ; but I w ill boldly pro- nounce that it carries with it a most odious appearance.- ******* this place, and intimated to be suppressed by the asterisms. It is exlracted from the genuine .speech of Mr Euike, as given in Almon's De- 3Cx3 MISCELLAXEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. With respect to the third and last liead, into which the advice may be divided, I readily agree that there is a cause of discord somewhere ; where it is I will not pretend to say. That it does exist is certain ; and I much doubt whether it is likely to be re- moved by any measures taken by the pre- sent committee. As to vague and general recommendations to us to maintain unani- mity amongst us, I must say I think they are become of late years too flat and stale to bear being repeated : that such are the kind sentiments and wishes of our chairman, I am far from doubting ; but when I consider it as the language of the foreman, as a fore- man's recommendation, I cannot help thinking it a vain and idle para.de of words without meaning. Is it in their own con- duct that we are to look for an example of this boasted union ? Shall we discover any trace of it in their broken, distracted councils, their ■ public disagreements and private animosities. Is it not notorious that they only subsist by creating divisions among others ? That their plan is to separate party from party ? friend from fi iend ? brother from brother? Is not their very motto Divide ct ivipera f When such men advise us to unite, what opinion must we have of their sincerity ? In the bates for 1767, Vol. IV. pp. 506, 507. Lond. Ed. 1792. ' It has too much the air of a design to excul- pate the crown, and the servants of the crown, at the expense of parliament. The gracious recom- mendation in the speech will soon be known all over the nation. The comment and true illustra- tion add'jd to it by one of the ministry will pro- bably not go beyond the limits of these walls. What then must I^e the consequence ? The hopes of the people will be raised. They of course will turn their eyes upon us, as if our endeavours alone were wanting to relieve them from misery and famine, and to restore them to happiness and plenty ; and at last, when all their golden ex- pectations are disappointed, when they find that notwithstanding the earnest recommendation from the crown, parliament has taken no effect- ual measures for their relief, the whole weight of their resentment will naturally fall upon us their representatives. We need not doubt but the effects of their fury will be answerable to the cause of it. It will be proportioned to the high recommending authority, which we shall seem not to have regarded ; and when a monarch's present instance, however, the advice is particularly farcical. When we are told that affairs abroad are perfectly quiet, and con- sequently that it is unnecessary for us to take any notice of them ; when we are told that there is indeed a distress at home, but beyond the reach of this society's councils to remedy ; to have unanimity recom- mended us in the same breath, is, in my opinion, something lower than ridiculous. If the two first propositions be true, in the name of wonder, upon what are we to debate ? Upon what is it possible for us to disagree ? On one point our advice is not wanted ; on the other it is useless : but it seems it will be highly agreeable to the committee to have us unite in approving of their conduct ; and if we have concord enough amongst ourselves to keep in unison with them and their measures, I dare say that all the committee's purposes, aimed at by the recommendation, will be fully answered, and entirely to their satisfaction. But this is a sort of union which I hope never will, which I am satisfied never can,- prevail in a free society like ours. While we are freemen, we may disagree ; but when we unite upon the terms recom- mended to us by the committee, we must be slaves. voice cries havock, will not confusion, riot, and rebellion make their rapid progress through the land ? The unhappy people, groaning under the severest distress, deluded by vain hopes from the throne, and disappointed of relief from the legislature, will, in their despair, either set all law and order at defiance ; or, if the law be enforced upon them, it must be by the bloody assistance of a military hand. We have already had a melancholy experience of the use of such assistance. But even legal punishments lose all appearance of justice, when too strictly inflicted on men compelled by the last extremity of dis- tress to incur them. We have been told, indeed, that if the crown had taken no notice of the dis- tressof the people, such an omission woidd have driven them to despair ; but I am sure, Sir, tliat to take notice of it in this manner, to acknow- ledge the evil, and to declare it to be without remedy, is- the most likely way to drive them to something beyond despair, to madness ; and against whom will their madness be directed, but against their innocent representatives 'i ' — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 361 LETTER X. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 19 Dec. 1767. If there be any man in this countr}', who thinks that the combination lately entered into at Boston, is merely a matter of interior economy, by which we are either not essentially affected, or of which we have no right to complain, I may safely pronounce, that that man knows nothing of the condition of the British commerce, nor of the condition of the British finances. It might be happy for us, if we were all in the same state of ignorance. To foresee a danger, when ever>- chance of avoiding it hath been wilfully cut off, is but a painful and useless sagacity, and to shut our eyes to inevitable ruin, serves at least to keep the mind a httle longer in a thonghtless security. In this way I imagine any man must reason, who is insensible of the consequence of the successive enterprises of the colonies against Great Britain, or who beholds them with indifference. I will not suppose that the bulk of the British people is sunk into so criminal a state of stupidity ; that there does exist a particular set of men, base and treacherous enough to have enlisted under the banners of a lunatic, ^ to whom they sacrificed their honour, their conscience, and their country, in order to carry a point of party, and to gratify a personal rancour, is a truth too melancholy and too certain for Great Britain. These were the wretched ministers, who served at the altar, .whilst the high priest himself, with more than frantic fury, offered up his bleeding country a victim to America. The gratitude of the colonies shows us what thanks are due to such men. They will not even keep mea- sures with their friends ; for they hate the traitors, though the treachery hath been useful to them. The colonies are even eager to show that they regard the interests * Lord Chatham. — Edit. of the men (who to serve them gave up every thing that men ought to hold dear, except their places) as little S3 they do the interests of their mother country, and will not comply so far with the promising engagements made for them here, as even to conceal their malignant intentions until their friends are out of place. Such is the certain effect of conferring benefits upon an American. Wliatever has been hitherto the delusion of the public upon this subject, I fancy we are by this time completely undeceived. Our good friends in America have been im- patient to relieve us from all our mistakes about them and their loyalty, and if we do not open our eyes now, we had better shut them for ever. It would be to no purpose at present to renew a discussion of the merits of the Stamp Act, though I am convinced that even the people who were most clamorous against it, either never understood or wil- fully misrepresented every part of it. But it is tnily astonishing that a great number of people should have so little foreseen the inevitable consequence of repealing it, and particularly that the trading part of the city should have conceived that a compliance, which acknowledged the rod to be in the hand of the Americans, could ever induce them to surrender it. They must have been rather weaker than ourselves, if they ever paid their debts, when they saw plainly that, by withholding them, they kept us in subjection. In the natural course of things the debtor should be at the mercy of his creditor, rather than a tyrant over him ; but it seems that for these three years past, wherever America hath been concerned, every argument of reason, every rule of law, and every claim of nature, has been despised or reversed. We have not even a tolerable excuse for our folly. The punish- ment has followed close upon it ; and that it must be so was as evident to common sense, as probable in prospect, as it is now certain in experience. There was indeed one man, who wisely foresaw every circum- stance which has since happened, and who, MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. uith a patriot's spirit, opposed himself to tiie tonent.i He told us, that, if we thought the loss of outstanding debts, and of our American trade, a mischief of the first magnitude, such an injudicious com- pliance \vith the terms dictated by the colonies, was the way to make it sure and unavoidable. It was 7ic vioriarc, viori. We see the prophecy verified in every par- ticular, and if this great and good man was mistaken in any one instance, it Wixs, per- 1 haps, that he did not expect his predictions to be fulfilled so soon as they have been. This being the actual state of things, it is equally vain to attempt to conceal our situation from our enemies, as it is impos- sible to conceal it from ourselves. The taxes and duties necessarily laid upon trade, in order to pay the interest of a debt of one hundred and thirty millions, are so heavy, that our manufactures no longer find a vent in foreign markets. We are undersold and beaten out of branches of trade, of which we had once an almost ex- clusive possession. The progress towards a total loss of our whole foreign trade has been rapid ; the consequence of it must be fatal. We had vainly hoped that an exclu- sive commerce with our colonies (in whose cause a great part of the very incumbrances, which have destro3'ed our foreign trade, wore undertaken) would have rewarded us for all our losses and expense, and have made up any deficiency in the revenue of our customs. We had a right to expect this exclusive commerce from the gratitude of the Aniencans, from their relation to us as colonists, and from their own real in- terest., if truly understood. But unfortun- ately for us, some vain, pernicious ideas of independence and separate dominion, thrown out and fomented by designing se- ditious spirits in that country, and encour- aged and confirmed here by the treachery of some and the folly of others, have cut off all those just hopes, those well-founded ex- ^ Mr George Grenville. — Edit. * This letter was witlioiit a signature, and could not, therefore, be announced, but was thus noticed on the day previous to its publication. pectations. \Miile \ve are granting boun- ties upon the importation of American commodities, the grateful inhabitants of that country are uniting in an absolute pro- hibition of the manufiictures of Great Britain. To doubt that the example will be followed by the rest of the colonies, would be rejecting every evidence which the human mind is capable of receiving. To be mad is a misfortune, but to rave in cold blood is contemptible. The enterprises of the Americans are now carried to such a point, that every moment we lose serves only to accelerate our perdition. If the present weak, false, and pusillanimous administration are suf- fered to go on in abetting and supporting the colonies against the niother country, if the king should take no notice of this last daring attack upon our commerce, the only consequence will be that the contest, in- stead of being undertaken while we have strength to support it, will be reserved not for our posterity, but to a time when we ourselves shall have surrendered all our arms to the people, with whom we are to contend ; — nor will that period be distant. If the combination at Boston be not a breach of any standing law (which I believe it is), ought it not to be immediately de- clared so, by an act of the legislature ? It is true, that private persons cannot be com- pelled to buy or .sell against their will ; but unlawful combinations, supported by pub- lic subscription and public engagements, are and ought to be subject to the heaviest penalties of the law. I shall only add, that it is the common cause of this nation ; and that a vigorous and steady exertion of the authority of Great Britain would soon awe a tumultuous people, who have grown insolent by our injudicious forbearance, and trampled upon us, because we submitted to them .- ' C.'s favour is come to hand.' For a further continuation of this subject, see Miscellaneous Letters, Nos. XXIX. and XXXI.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 363 LETTER XI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. I\Ir Woodfall, 22 Dec. 1767. Your correspondent of yesterday, Mr Macaroni,! jn iijs account of the new ministerial arrangements, has thrust in a laboured bombast paneg}rick on the earl of i Chatham ; in which he tells us, ' that this 1 country owes more to him than it can ever repay.' Now, Mr Woodfall, I entirely agree with Mr Macaroni, that this countiy does owe more to lord Chatham than it can ever repay ; for to him we owe the great- est part of our national debt ; and that I am sure we never can repay. I mean no offence to Mr Macaroni, nor any of your i;entlemeii authors, who are so kind to give us citizens an early peep behind the politi- cal curtain, but I cannot bear to see so much incense offered to an Idol.i who so little deser\es it. I am yours, &c. DOWNRIGHT. LETTER XII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 16 February, 1768. A MINISTER, who in this country is determined to do wrong, should not only be a man of abilities but of unconmion courage. To invade the rights or to insult the understanding of a nation, quahfied to judge well, and privileged to speak freely, upon public measures, requires a portion of audacity unacquainted with shaine, or of power which knows no controul. Whether it be owing to a hardy disposition, or to the ^ This writer had furnished the printer with a list of the supposed changes in administration. — Edit. ^ See the conclusion of Miscellaneous Letter, No. IV. and Private Letter, No. 23, in which the same term is applied to lord Chatham. — Edit. 3 See this subject further discussed in Letter LX.— Edit. conceit of unlimited power, or to mere solid ignorance I know not, but it is too ap- parent that the present ministry, in every thing they do, or attempt to do, are deter- mined to set the understanding and the spirit of the English people at defiance. In a succession of illegal or unconstitutional acts, the instance of to-day ought at once to remind us of what they have done already, and to alarm us against what they may attempt hereafter. We have reason to thank God and the legislature, that some of the most flagitious of their enterprises have been happily defeated. Their endea- vour to establish a suspending power in the crown met with all the contempt it deser\'ed i^nor have they yet quite succeeded in emancipating the colonies from the au- thority of the British legislature. But when open and direct attacks upon the constitu- tion have failed, a bad ministry will natur- ally have recourse to some more artful measures, by which the prerogative of the crown may be extended, and the purposes of arbitrary power answered as effectually, and more securely to themselves. When attempts of this insidious nature are made, it is the duty of every subject, be his situa- tion what it may, to point out the danger to his countrymen, and warn them to guard against it. I shall take another opportunity to enquire into the legality of the appoint- ment of a third secretary of state : at pre- sent let me be permitted to rouse the atten- tion of the public to a later and to a still more flagrant stretch of prerogative. A prostitution or corruption of old offices may be as fatal to the constitution, as the illegal creation of new ones. In the Ga- zette of Saturday se'nnight we are informed, that the privy seal is committed to the care of three persons, whose commission is to continue six weeks.^ From the names of 4 Whitehall, Feb. 2. The king has been pleased to issue his commission under the great seal, authorizing and empowering Richard Sutton, William Blair, and William Frazer, esqrs., or any two of them, to execute the office of keeper of his Majesty's privy seal, for and during the space and term of six weeks, determinable nevertheless at his Majesty's pleasure : and also to grant, during his Majesty's pleasure, to 364 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. these persons we can collect nothing, but that two of them are of Scottish extraction, and that the third is recorder of St Alban's ; but from their insignificance and obscurity we may easily collect, that there is some particular design in fixing on such persons to execute one of the first ofifices of the state. Why the earl of Chatham should continue to hold an employment of this im- portance, while he is unable to perform the duties of it, is at least a curious question. i But it is infinitely more material to enquire why the interregnum is not committed to people of a higher rank and character. The establishment of the several high offices of state forms a natural and consti- tutional check upon tlie prerogative of the crown. No illegal or unconstitutional grant, charter, or patent of any kind, can take effect from the mere motion of the sovereign, but must pass through a number of offices, in each of which it is the duty of the officer, if the case requires it, to remon- strate to the crown, as he himself is answerable for the consequences of any public instrument, which he has suffered to pass through his department. The delay of this progression has another good effect, in gi\'ing the subject time and opportunity to enter his protest against any sudden or inconsiderate grant, by which his own property, or the welfare of the country in general, may be affected, and to have the matter fairly discussed. The precedence annexed to these high offices (exclusive of the importance of the several degrees of trust reposed in them) suflTiciently proves that they ought to be the right honourable William earl of Chatham, the said office of keeper of his Majesty's privy seal, from and after the said term of six weeks, or other sooner determination of the said com- mission. — Edit. '■ We have here another proof of the hostility of Junius at one period to this nobleman, a previous proof having already occurred in the Miscellaneous Letter, No. I., p. 341, to the note appended to which we refer the reader. In the Private Letter, No. 23, dated October 19, 1770, he still insinuates his dislike : for in re- questing the printer of the Public Advertiser to contradict his being the author of the letters ' confined to men of the first character and consequence. Men of that degree may safely be trusted, because they have a ! greater stake to hazard, and are answerable to the public with their lives and fortunes. j The dignity of the lord privy seal's office (next in rank to the president of the council) would of itself be a sufficient reason for ' giving it to none but men of birth and , character, and the great tmst, annexed to I that dignity, is a further reason for never ' committing such an office to any but men ' of the first rank and fortune. But in the choice of the present commissioners, there ; seems to be something particularly and : singularly improper. When a caveat is entered against a grant from the crown, '. and when a question of political and com- 1 mercial importance is therefore to be dis- j cussed, can there be a higher insult to the public than to commit the determination of I such a question to three persons \er}' low ! in point of rank, and absolutely dependent in point of situation ? Shall we not be justified in supposing that they are elected I for no other quality but their insignificance ? Wliatever pretences may be alleged to the contrary, the public will liave too much reason to suspect that these worthy com- missioners are taught their lesson, and that the job is too dirty to be imposed upon gentlemen of a higher station than a clerk in office. I cannot believe that these per- I sons could have been chosen by the earl of Chatham. Whatever may be his faults, a man of spirit could no more lend his office than he could his mistress to the purposes of prostitution ; much less would he de- subscribed A IV/iig' and an EftglisJunau , he adds, ' I neither admire the writer nor his idol.' Who the writer of these letters was we know not : but the idol was certainly lord Chatham. In reality it was not till about the date of Let- ter LIV., under his favourite signature of Ji:- Kius, that he began to think commendably of this nobleman. ' I am called upon,' says he, in that letter, ' to deliver my opinion, and surely it is not in the little censure of Mr Home, to deter me from doing signal justice to a man, luho, I confess, has gro^vft it/>on my esieevt.' See p. 294. — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 365 scend to take either of them back again with a public mark of infamy upon them. Now, Sir, let us suppose these three respectable persons seated upon their tri- bunal, with two judges of England by their side, and the first lawyers of this country pleading before them upon a question of the first importance to this country ; the judges, I doubt not, will sit in silent wonder at the judicial abilities of these great men, and silent they must be, unless a point of law should arise, on which the triumvirate shall deign to ask their opinion ; the lawyers will naturally exert their utmost efforts, when they consider that they have the hon- our to plead before three gentlemen of such profound knowledge, such distinguished rank, and such inflexible probity, that nei- ther ignorance, nor ministerial influence, nor private corruption, can have any share in their decision. I pity the unhappy Englishman, for he perhaps may blush for his situation. LETTER XIII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 24 February, 1768. Flucttis uti privto capit cum albescert vento, PanllatLm sese tollit mare, ^ altius undas, Erigit, inde imo consurgit ad cetlierafuttdo. ViRG. iEN. VII. 528. Sir, The people of England are by nature somewhat phlegmatic. This com- plexional character is extremely striking, when contrasted with the suddenness and vivacity of many of our neighbours on the continent. It even appears remarkable among the several kindred tribes, which compose the great mass of the British em- pire. The heat of the Welch, the impe- tuosity of the Irish, the acrimony of the Scotch, and the headlong violence of the Creolians, are national temperaments very different from that of the native genuine English. This slowness of feeUn°: is in some re- spects inconvenient ; but, on the whole view of life, it has, I think, the advantage clearly on its side. Our countrymen derive from thence a firmness, an uniformity, and a perseverance in their designs, which enables them to conquer the greatest difl[i- culties, and to arri\e at the ultimate point of perfection in almost everything they un- dertake. Their slowness to passion has also an- other advantage. No wise man will lightly venture to do them a real injury. Their anger is not suddenly kindled, nor easily extinguished ; it is dark and gloomy ; it is nourished to a gigantic size and vigour, under a silent meditation on their wrongs, until at last it arrives at such a mature and steady vehemence, as becomes terrible in- deed. It was on a consideration of this kind of character, that a great poet says with a singular emphasis—' Beware the fury of a patient man.' It is surprising how much this character is exemphfied in every part of our history. The long patience, amounting almost to tameness, with which the people of Eng- land have borne the outrages of evil minis- ters, has only been equalled by the irresist- ible force by which they attacked, and the unrelenting severity with which they finally punished, the authors of their great griev- ances. I wish with all my heart that our time may furnish no such examples : and yet I confess, my fears are excited by appear- ances that are sufficiently alarming. The people of England have seen an adminis- tration formed, almost avowedly, under the direction of a dangerous, because private and unresponsible, influence ; and at the same time with an outward presidency of ministerial despotism, which by its very nature annihilated all public council. This they endured. They saw a course of the most scandalous and corrupt profusion of public money that ever was known in the kingdom, attended with such a neglect of every public duty, as if an experiment was intended, to try how far the state could subsist by its own strength, without any of O 366 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the usual aids of active government. The people of England bore this Ukewise. They saw the very first opportunity laid hold on to revive the doctrines of a dispens- ing power, state necessity, arcana of govern- ment, and all that clumsy machinery of exploded prerogative, which it had cost our ancestors so much toil, and treasure, and blood, to break to pieces. This we suffered with our usual patience. They saw an attempt made to render all the monied property of the kingdom loose and insecure, and to turn our national funds from being supports of public credit into instruments of ministerial power, and to take away that dependence upon law which had been in all ages the great source of our domestic happiness, and that firm reliance upon public faith which has been the means of making us respectable to all the world. The Englishman still continued sullen and silent. I'hose very circumstances which strike terror into the heart of a wise man, arc often such as inspire fools witJi confidence and presumption. Having had sufficient proof as they thought of the passive dis- position of their fellow-citizens, and at a loss for precedents of despotism of a modern date in any civilized country, they began to ransack the stores of antiquated oppres- sion, and ventured to perpetrate an act (by a singular composition) of such consum- mate audacity and meanness of spirit, as it might well be thought impossible to unite. In subserviency to the odious influence under which they act, this administration dared — to an informer nearly allied to that very influence ^ — at the time, and for the purposes of an election — refusing to hear counsel — not daring to talce the opinion of the king's law servants — denying access to ^ The informer was the late earl of Lonsdale, at that time sir James Lowther, who had married a daughter of lord Bute, whose injiueiice is here alluded to. The estate belonged to the duke of Portland. See Letter LVII., p. 300, note. — Edit. ^ Duchess of Portland. — Edit. 3 By a bill called the Quieting Bill, and which the records in their possession — to pass a grant of the estate of a noble and most re- spectable person, derived from a king to whom we owe all our liberties ; si-\ty-threc years in undisputed possession, the subject of frequent settlements, and now actually a part of the jointure of the noble Duchess.2 The people of England at length began to break silence. They might indeed look upon the private wrong as a matter of in- ward meditation, and a further exercise of their patience. Rut the principle of this grant has given a SHOCK TO the wholk LANDED PROPERTY OF ENGLAND. Called upon by this practical menace to all landed property, and by many other de- tached grievances, arising from the same absurd and tyrannical principle, that no length of possession secures against a claim of the crown, one of the ablest, most virtuous, and most temperate men in the kingdom, supported by a steady band of uniform patri- ots, has made an attempt in a certain great assembly (without providing any remedy for this case of oppression), to secure the subject at least for the future against such wild and indefinite claims. Such was the spirit which manifested it- self upon that occasion, that though for the present, after a glorious struggle, they have failed, there is no sort of doubt that the cry of reason, justice, policy, and the general feeling of the people, will shortly prevail ; 2 and the rather, as this discussion has brought to light further designs of the most extraordinary nature, and such as will, if not timely prevented, spread distraction from one end of the kingdom to the other. My next will be on that important subject. MNEMON. was again brought forward by sir G. Savile in the following year, and carried. But see the subject further elucidated, and the final deter- mination of the Court of Exchequer on the suit depending between sir James Lowther and the duke of Portland, in the editor's note to JuNius'b Letters, No. LVIL, p. 300, as also No. LXVII., p. 324.— Edit. , MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 367 LETTER XIV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 4 March, 1768. Oh, 7uretcJied State ! Oh Bosom black as Death ! Oh limed Soul, that, struggling to be free, A rt more encaged. Shakespeare. Sir, Innocenxe, even in its crudest simplicity, has some advantages over the most dexterous and practised guilt. Equivo- cal appearances may, to be sure, accident- ally attend it in its progress through the world ; but the very scrutiny which these appearances will excite, operates in favour of innocence ; which is secure the moment it is discovered. But guilt is a poor help- less, dependent being. Without the alliance fundamentally contrary to natural equity, and all the maxims of a free government. And a superior genius, a great light of the age, 2 has not long since endeavoured to give it as great a check as judicature, un- aided by legislative powers, is able to inter- pose. The truth is, this prerogative has hitherto owed its existence principally to its disuse. It was an engine, at once so formidable to the people, and so dangerous to those who should attempt to handle it, that it never was considered amongst the instruments of a wise minister. It remained like an old piece of cannon, I have heard of some- where, of an enormous size, which stood upon a ruinous bastion, and which was seldom or never fired for fear of bringing down the fortification for whose defence it was intended. But constituted as administration is at of able, diligent, and. let me add, fortunate [ present, where real power is invested in one fraud, it is inevitably undone. If the guilty ; hand, and responsible office placed in culprit be obstinately silent, his silence j another, from the security of the former forms a deadly presumption against him. | situation, and from the servile dependance If he speaks, talking tends to discovery ; of the latter, it is no wonder that hazardous and his very defence often furnishes mate- rials towards his conviction. measures should be commanded without fear, and that they should be executed. Ihis has been exactly the case of those though with the utmost trepidation and re- unhappy men (the ministry), in that apology for their conduct, which they chose to com- plicate with their opposition to the settle- ment of the national property. Nobody, luctance. From thence arose that desperate proceeding which has given such an uni- versal alarm to property. Upon the first attack on that rotten part the true nature and full extent of their crime, until we had seen upon what principles they grounded their defence. It is worth while to lay this affair a little more open. The maxim of Nullum Tem- pus occurrit Regi} that no length 0/ con- tinuance, or good faith of possession, is available against a claim of the crown, has been long the opprobrium of prerogative, \ and the disgrace of our law. The ablest WTiters in that profession have ever men- tioned it with abhorrence. The best judges have always cast an odium upon it, as being ^ The commencement of the obsolete law which in this case was appealed to by the minib- not originally acquainted with the bottom of prerogative (out of whose corruption the of their proceedings, was able to discern late northern grant was generated) the ministers found themselves entirely at a loss. To defend their Nullum Tempus upon principles of liberty, or even upon principles of justice, was a thing clearly im- possible. To abandon it w ithout reflecting on their past conduct, and without giving up their future projects, was a point of equal difficulty. It seems that they had hoarded up those unmeaning powers of the crown, as a grand military magazine, to- wards the breaking the fortunes and depress- ing the spirit of the nobility, for drawing the common people from their reliance on ter: hence called the Nullum Tempus Law.- Edit. ^ Sir George Savile. — Edit. O 2 368 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the natural interests of the country to an immediate dependance on the crown, and principally for enabling ministers, public or secret, to domineer and give the law in all future elections. They thought their scheme would then be complete, if the votes of freeholders, the very means which our an- cestors had provided as the great security to our freedom, could be converted into the most certain instruments of the public servitude. It was evident, that when they refused to give up this barbarous maxim, it was their intention to make some sort of use of it. Such a conclusion could not in any way be evaded. In this strait they took the part of avowing, that they did intend to find some employment for their favourite pre- rogative, which, after so long a trance, they had thought proper to disenchant, and to set in action. It was then their business to find some excuse for themselves, and some pretence of public utility for their system. On this occasion they built upon two grounds very well worthy of the reader's utmost attention : the first I shall now point out ; the latter, and most important, would transgress the limits of your paper. It shall be reserved for another opportunity. The first thing they did, was totally to disclaim their own free agency. In the highest department of the state, they de- clared themselves to be mere creatures of execution. They asserted, that they were in all matters of this sort entirely sub- ser\'ient to an officer, hitherto little heard of, but from henceforth to be a name of dreadful note in this country, the sur- ' In a debate which took place in the House •f Commons, February 27, 1771, on a motion made by sir William Meredith, to repeal a clause in the Bill 0/ Quiet, which passed in the year 1768, lord North thus defends himself from the grant in question : — 'The honourable gentleman [Mr Cornwall, afterwards speaker of the House of Commons,] has revived in my memory a grant, which passed since I had the honour of holding the seal of the Exchequer, and which seal, I am proud to own, was affixed by me to the grant in question. This he calls an abominable act : but in the situation I then was, and still am, I thought myself bound VEYOR-GENERAL. It is their system, that , if informers (be they who they may, in circumstances of indigence to make any desperate attempt, or of wealth and power to combat the great, and crush the poor) can contrive to obtain the surveyor's report in their favour, ministers are obliged, with- out further inquiry, to grant to them patents to vex, harass, impoverish, possibly to ruin, any honest proprietor in the kingdom. It is true that they supported themselves in this perverse doctrine by no one argument from law, usage, or common sense : but it is their system ; and it is mentioned here, not to show the depth of their understand- ing, but the malignity of their designs. For if once they could come to establish this their favourite point, things would stand thus: — The surveyor-general, who keeps all the crown titles {inaccessible to the subject), has a hint to find a weak part in some old possession ; say of sixty, say of two hundred years. A convi favourite has a hint to become an informer, a character no way incompatible with his own. Then all the rest follows of course. The lords of the Treasury 7nust obey the informer, and make the reference ; the surveyor w«j/ obey the Treasury and report ; and then the Treasury in their turn must obey the surveyor, and direct the grant. The whole system moves, according to the pre- ordained laws of despotism, in a circle of strict necessity?- In this procedure, who can convict the surveyor-oeneral of corrupt activity or obe- dience? He is only bound to prove, that the lands in question have been in some former age in the hands of the crown. to pass it by every principle of duty to the crown, as the servant of the crown, and bound still more strongly by that duty which I owe to the public, as steward of the public estate, as far as it is intrusted to me. It is my glory that I passed the grant ; and as often as mention of it is made, so often shall I think .that honour im- puted to me.' Notwithstanding lord North's boast upon the occasion, the grant was ulti- mately set aside by the Court of Exchequer, on the ground that a quit-rent of thirteen andfour- pence was not an adequate third-part of its clear yearly value. But see the decision of that court, as given in p. 302, note. — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 3<59 This is not difficult : all the lands of the kingdom have been so. It is his duty, according to the present prerogative doc- trines, not to discover, or to suffer to be discovered, any thing which may tend to clear and settle the right of the subject. He may have that in his office which would establish the very title he attempts to over- throw : but fairness in his situation is held to be a breach of trust, because the crown is always considered by th'^se gentlemen, with respect to the subject, as an adverse party ; and to exist in a state of unre- mitting and immortal litigation with the people. Thus a mutual obedience and a common impunity is established between these two great powers, the Treasury and the sur- veyor, grounded on the favouiite principle of necessity. The only free agent in the whole transaction is the informer ; but he is not only as dispunishable as the others, but is highly meritorious into the bargain, for discovering what, in their prerogative jargon, is called a concealment : that is to say, in plain English, the ancient possession and inheritance of a valuable and loyal subject. By all these means an office of inquisition is established in the true in- quisitorial spirit, and with genuine in- quisitorial powers, over all the landed property of England. The use proposed to be made of it will be the subject of my next paper. In the mean time it is a matter of very serious consideration, to obser\-e the growth of arbitrary and despotic principles in this country : There is such a pernicious vigour in their vegetation, and such a rank luxuri- ance in the soil, that when they seem to be cut up even by the roots, they will suddenly shoot up in some other place, and under some other, and perhaps more dangerous, appearance. Suppress them under the shape of general warrants, or seizure of papers, they will start up in the form of dispensing powers, forfeiture of charters, violations of public faith, establishtnents of private monopolies, and raising np anti- quated titles for the crown. There is a consideration still more melancholy : that many persons,^ apostatizing from their prin- ciple, betraying their associates, and com- bining with their adversaries, make no other use of the credit they have derived from their former activity in the cause of freedom, than that they may approach it without suspicion, and wound it beyond all possibility of cure. MNEMON. LETTER XV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. II March, 1768. Whataileth tlue, Mnemon ? IVhy art thou so disquieted 1 Attd why is thy iindersta7idittg troubled! Is it not very extraordinary, Mr Printer, that the parts and abilities ol Mnetnon should be prostituted to the licentious abuse of the highest and most honourable board in this kingdom, com- posed of persons of the most unimpeached characters, because they have dared to grant some crown lands to sir James Low- ther, not comprehended in that of king William, to one of his Dutch imports, but usurped and illegally withheld by them ? Can any one review the parliamentary debates of that eera, and not be fired at the glorious spirit exerted by the Commons of England against the enormous grant of crown lands made to the Dutch favourites of that monarch ? Was not the most scandalous partiality shown to them in prejudice to the people of this country? Were not honours and riches heaped upon them with unexampled profusion ? Whence, in the name of God, all this clamour? What is it to the public, whe- ther a Bentink or a Lowther succeeds? Are not the courts of law open to determine it? Can it be a subject for faction, or a pretext for abuse ? No, Sir ; be assured, ^ The duke of Grafton is the person here alluded to. 370 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the arrows wound not ; the breast, fraught with conscious worth, feels not the shafts of envy. ANTI VAN TEAGUE. LETTER XVL TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 24 March, 1768. Your correspondent Anti van Teaguc, in your paper of Friday sennight, has undertaken a task, far, I am afraid, above his abilities. His inclination I be- lieve to be very good, but non tall anxilio, nee defensoribus istis Tevipus eget. If Nullum Tetiipus, and the late most extra- ordinary and alarming use made of it, is now to be defended, I would advise that most honourable board, composed (as Aufi van Teague says) of persons of the most unimpeached characters, to hire abler ad- vocates for its defence. Uncommon parts and no vulgar eloquence are required to subdue the fears and quiet the apprehen- sions of all the landed property of these kingdoms. When that most honourable board shall next think fit to bestow another estate upon a Lowther, or any other in- former, wonderful no doubt will be the contented acquiescence of the person rob- bed, when he is assured that what is taken from him to gratify the Scotch favourite of to-day, was given some hundred years ago by the crown to a Dutch favourite of that time. Surely, Sir, the noble duke who is the present sufferer, must feel great satis- faction in finding the sins of his ancestors visited upon him. A Stuart has at length risen up to avenge upon the memory of king William, and the descendants of all those embarked with him in the once glori- ous cause, the injuries and sufferings of that once (but now no longer) hateful name. We have lived. Sir, to see an advocate for the ministry of George the Third de- fending their actions and justifying their conduct, by asserting — not that their actions are just and their conduct clear, but that their injustice falls heavy on the posterity alone of those who by their arms and their counsel assisted our great deliverer to effect that revolution, to which, and which alone, we owe the establishment of his present Majesty's most illustrious and royal family on the throne of these kingdoms. What Auti van Teague means by unim- peached characters I cannot readily guess. I suppose he means the public character of the ministers, or rather of the minister.^ His private character I do not meddle with, but to call his character unimpeached, who is not only charged with, but to the sense of every impartial person convicted of, the most daring and flagitious attacks upon the liberty and property of his fellow-subjects, is really surprising. Is the revival of the suspending and dis- pensing powers of the crown an experiment of curiosity alone ? — but for that he has in the most solemn manner been pardoned by an act of parliament, and therefore pro- bably that will not make part of his im- peachment. Is his open and wicked interference in elections, by threats and bribery, manifest to the whole nation (though his reverend instrument was ac- quitted), to be accounted no more than a good-natured solicitude for his friends? Are his violent attacks upon the monied and landed property of the people nothing more than dutiful exertions of his power to pay on one hand the debts of the civil list, and on the other hand to raise support, and extend that hidden, pernicious, and unconstitutional influence, in which, and by which, he lives and moves, and has his being? Is his lavish and wasteful profusion of the public property in pensions, reversions, grants, and monopolies, a decent and be- coming reward to those who have been, or are willing to be, his tools and creatures ? Is his activity in corruption and oppres- sion, and his perfect idleness in, and neg- lect of, all public and national business, a spirited exertion on one hand, and a need- ful repose on the other ? The duke of Grafton.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 371 I have, you see, Sir, not meddled with his private character ; I leave that for him to cai-th in whenever he is hard run, ac- cording to the laudable example of his chancellor of the Exchequer.^ Let him re- semble the great demigods of antiquity, who had also two characters, and whilst one half of them was taken up to heaven, the other half found its way to hell. I shall only advise Anti van Tcagtte to recommend it to his patron not to trust too much to his double capacity, lest, at some odd turn, he may find his private person so involved in his public character, that the sharpest ax, and the most dextrous operator, may not be able to avenge the nation upon the last, without doing some small prejudice to the first. I am, etc. Not yet an enemy to the revolution, ANTI STUART. LETTER XVII. TO THE PRI.NTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 5 April, 1768. Vivit ? tiitd verb etiain in senaiuiti venit ; fit pnblici consilii particeps : notat, et liviis de- signnt oculis ad ccedevi unutnqiiemque tios- in'oii. CiCEKO in Catilix.vm. Sir, The return of Mr Wilkes to Eng- land, and the measures he has since pur- sued, have given the ser\'ants of the crown an opportunity of acting in a manner so becoming themselves, that it would be in- gratitude not to take notice of their extra- ordinary merits upon this occasion. Our gracious sovereign undoubtedly thinks him- self highly indebted to his ministers for their uncommon care of his honour and dignity, as well as for their attention to the security of his house, family, and sacred person ; and I may venture to assure them that the public in general have a just sense of the vigour and spirit with which they have administered the laws, and with which the peaceable part of his Majesty's subjects have been protected. What sort of thanks they will receive from their sovereign, I can- not tell, but, as far as my weak endeavours can reach, the nation shall not remain un- apprised of the extent and species of our obligations to them. A man of a most infamous character in private life is indicted for a libel against the king's person, solemnly tried by his peers according to the laws of the land, and found guilty. 2 To avoid the sentence due to his crini£, he flies to a foreign country, and failing to surrender himself to justice is outlawed. By this outlawry, he loses all claim to the protection of those magistrates, and of those laws, to which, by his evasion, he had refused to be amenable. After some years spent abroad, this man returns to England with as little fear of the laws, which he had violated, as of respect for the great person, whom he had wantonly and treasonably attacked. Without a single qualification either moral or political, and under the greatest disability, this man pre- ' I-orJ North. — Edit. ^ It has already appeared in several instances, that Junius, subsequently to the present date, espoused the cause of Mr Wilkes, or rather strenuously upheld him in his contest with the ministry upon the very subject adverted to in this letter. Yet the political conduct of Junius was perhaps strictly and unimpeachably uniform. He had, at first, ind ;ed, conceived a personal dislike to Mk Wilkes, in consequence of his strenuous resistance to the general warrant which was served upon him during the adminis- tration in which Mr George Grenville was chan- i cellor of the E.xchequer, for whom, whether in j office or out of office, Junius ever manifested j the strongest partiaUty. But in the present instance, Wilkes is only adverted to as an instru- ment of attack upon an administration which Ju- ^■IUS abominated ; and as soon as he found that he could support this attack better by enlist- ing this gentleman in his favour than by continu- ing in opposition to him, he shrewdly took mea- sures for such a purpose, and was fortunate enough to succeed. There is the same apparent inconsistency in his being ultimately the friend of lord Camden, who is here held up to the public odium, and to lord Chatham, after having as warmly opposed him. Bat his change of opinion concerning these noblemen was by no means a sudden flight : it grew upon him slowly, and was the result of their own change of conduct. — Edit. 372 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. sumes so far upon the protection of the populace, as to offer himself a candidate to represent the metropolis of the kingdom. Disappointed in this attempt, notwithstand- ing all the efforts and violence of the rabble, he has still the confidence to offer himself to the freeholders of Middlesex as a proper person to represent a county, in which he has not a single foot of land ; and to com- plete the whole, we see a man overwhelmed with debts, a convict, and an outlaw, re- turned to serve in the British parliament as a knight of a shire. These, Sir, are the main facts of Mr Wilkes's case. The cir- cumstances with which they were attended are no less atrocious. We saw the other candidates, gentlemen of large fortune, and of the most respectable characters, dragged from their carriages, and hardly escaping with life out of the hands of Mr Wilkes's friends and companions. If the candidates were treated in this manner, you may imagine what sort of reception their friends met with in attempting to poll for them. The fact is, that great numbers were driven back by main force, or deterred by the threats of the populace ; so that not a third part of the friends of sir William Proctor and Mr Cooke were ever permitted to approach the hustings. The conclusion of Monday and Tuesday night was perfectly consistent with the whole proceedings of the day, I need not enlarge upon this detestable scene, since there is hardly a family in London or Westminster which has not had reason to remember the day of Mr Wilkes's election. The metropolis of the kingdom, the seat of justice, and the residence of the sovereign, and of the royal family, were left, for two nights toge- ther, at the mercy of a licentious, drunken rabble, without the smallest guard, either civil or military, to secure the king's person, or to protect his subjects. Amidst all the horror and outrage of these transactions. Is there one Englishman endowed with the smallest portion of reason or humanity, who can hear without grief and resentment, that, even in some of the royal palaces, to avoid worse consequences, illuminations were made to celebrate the success of a , who, after heaping every possible in- sult on the person of his sovereign, returns in triumph to brave and outrage him again, even in the place of his immediate resid- ence ! Such was the scene, of which all the inhabitants of London and Westminster were witnesses to their cost. Let us now enquire what has been the conduct of the ministry during the course of it. Long before Mr Wilkes appeared at Guildhall, it was well known that he was in London ; and, if any measures had been taken by the ministry to secure him in consequence of his outlawry, it might undoubtedly hctve been done with the greatest facility. Why no process was sued for out of the Court of King's Bench, let the ministers answer if they can. But they have much more to answer for. They are responsible for all the consequences of permitting this outlaw to appear at large, and for all the violences of which he has since been the author. By their indolence and neglect, or perhaps in consequence of a secret compact with him, this man has been suffered to throw the metropolis into a flame, to offer new out- rages to his sovereign, and at last to force his way into parliament, where, if he were a man of any parliame?ntary abilities, I doubt not but he would reward them as they deserv'C. In the midst of all this tu- mult and confusion, the chancellor of Great Britain i and the first lord of the Treasury 2 retire out of town, and leave the whole executive power of the crown to fall to the ground. In the name of God and the laws, are such men fit to govern a great kingdom ? To say that they are, is an in- sult to the common understanding of man- kind, and I hope our gracious sovereign will do justice to himself and to his people, by depriving them of a power, which they have either not courage or not honesty enough to exert in his service, I am per- suaded there is not a man of property, sense, or honour in this country, who is not ^ Lord Camden. * The duke of Grafton. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 373 ready, heart and hand, to support the con- stitution, and to defend the sovereign, though his own immediate servants have deserted him. We have hitherto taken no steps for our defence, because we expected the protection of government ; but we are still strong enough to defend our Hves and properties against Mr Wilkes and his ban- ditti ; nor shall the treacherous example set us by the ministry, ever induce us to abandon our own rights, or those of the chief magistrate. C.i LETTER XVIII. TO IHE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 5 April, 1768. There is something so extraor- dinary in the conduct of the ministry, with respect to Mr Wilkes, that I cannot help suspecting they have a secret motive for it, which the public is not aware of. It is to me inconceivable that he should have been suffered to return to England, and remain at large, notwithstanding his outlawry ; — to offer himself a candidate for the metro- polis ; — to appear the leader of violence and riot uncontrouled ; — and at last to succeed in his enterprise at Brentford ; — unless all this had been done with the connivance and consent of the king's servants. My sus- picions may perhaps be ill founded, but I think there is reason enough to apprehend that Mr Wilkes would never have been permitted to go such lengths, if all were well between the ministry and the earl of Bute. They certainly have a design to terrify the Scotchman, and to keep him in order, by producing their tribune once more upon the stage. Let the Thane look to himself ! Tvlr Wilkes, being a man of no sort of consequence in his own person, can never be supported but by keeping up the cry, and this cry can no way be main- ^ The editor has already had occasion to ob- serve in various places that C. was the signature adopted by Junius in his private correspondence tained but by renewing his attacks upon the Scotch favourite and his countrymen. With this key we may, perhaps, account for the supineness and indifference with which the ministry have seen the laws trampled on, and the public peace and tranquillity destroyed, by the respectable Mr Wilkes, and his no less respectable friends. Yours, Q IN THE CORNER. LETTER XIX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 12 April, 1768. The cojnnton law hath so admeasured tht king' s prerogatives, that they should not tak£ away nor prejudice tlie inheritance of any. Coke's Instit, Sir, The extraordinary purpose to which an old maxim, or rather dictum, of the common law has lately been applied by the commissioners of the Treasury, has led me to consider upon what principles it was originally founded, and whether it be applicable to the present circumstances of the British constitution. A resumption of lands held under a supposed grant from the crown, after a possession of near fourscore years, was an alarming measure to every English gentleman of landed property, but the principle on which it was defended was formidable enough to strike a terror into men of all ranks who had either estates or liberty to lose. A ministry, determined to invade the liberties or property of the sub- ject, may, in our law books, find antiquated maxims to support the most violent stretches of prerogative ; and if it be admitted that no length of possession is good against the crown, I hardly know that right or privi- lege, much less any tract of soil possessed by the subject, which may not be disputed with the printer of the Public Advertiser. See more especially the private letters C. passim.^- Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. or resumed at the pleasure of the sovereign. It has been a fashion with some writers to represent the feudal government as a sys- tem of hberty ; but I must confess that a constitution, wherein the king is supposed to be the original owner of all the lands ; wherein we have seen the nobility at per- petual war with the sovereign, and bringing their vassals into the field against him, or against one another ; and wherein the w hole body of the people was held in abso- lute dependance upon the petty tjrants ; does not present to me the idea of political liberty in any part of it. The greatest com- mendation it deserves is, perhaps, that it was capable of improvement. Accordingly it has been so altered and so mended, that a man must be well read in law to discover any trace of it in the present form of our government ; and I am justified by modern statutes in asserting, that we never thought our constitution completely settled upon the basis of freedom, until every mark of feudal services and dependance was abol- ished by parliament. But though great improvements have been made, there remains yet a great deal to be done ; and if the crown be permitted to recur to maxims of law which prevailed when a system of government subsisted very different from the present, the most arbitrary measures may still pass for a legal exertion of the royal prerogative. I am still the king's liege man, and may be sent from one part of the country to the other, from the care of niy family and affairs, and perhaps in my absence a nullum temp us may deprive me of my estate. The argu- ment alleged by lawyers in favour of their own rule, that no delay shall bar the king's right (viz. ' because the law intends that the king is always busied for the public good, therefore has not leisure to assert his right within the times limited to subjects '), will hardly bear a strict examination, especially if referred to the present estab- lishment. Either it is not well founded in fact, or the reasoning on which it depends will prove too much. It is not true at this day, and I doubt whether it ever were true, that the law (which is the solemn sense and opinion of the people) supposes the king so continually employed about public affairs, as to be entitled to an extraordinary indulg- j ence in the neglect of those precautions which concern the private interests of the crown. If, indeed, the king were supposed to transact and govern the affairs of the king- dom in his own person ; or if he had not a number of officers whose duty it is to take care of and transact eveiy business relative to liis private rights, and private property, an indulgence of this nature to a chief magistrate, so much employed, and so little assisted, might not be thought very unrea- sonable. But when, on the one hand, the ministers of the crown are alone responsi- ble for the conduct of public affairs ; and when, on the other, it is the business of the Treasury, of the Exchequer, of the land sur- veyors, and of a multitude of officers, to oversee and manage the revenues and dis- tribution of the crown lands, I hold it to be highly unconstitutional, as well as absurd, to introduce the person of the sovereign as claiming an indulgence to himself for neg- lects, which are properly the neglects of his servants. But admitting the excuse of pub- lic employment for private negligence to be valid, let us see how far it will reach. If the sovereign, on account of his high occupations, be entitled to such a privi- lege, his ministers certainly have a claim to their share of it. The lords, who are hereditary counsellors of the crown ; — the judges ; — every member of the House of Commons, and ambassadors sent abroad, may all plead public employment ; nor can there be any good reason alleged why every officer engaged in the public service, from the high chancellor down to the bum-bailiff, should not be allowed his proportion of nullum tempus, according to their several ranks, and the time they continue in em- ployment. But it were endless to refute arguments which have neither truth nor meaning. The maxim, that nullum tempus occurrit regi, if ever, could only be true under the feudal government. It was then a national MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 375 interest to presen-e the royal demesne entire, because the support of the royal dignity depended upon it. The king, out of this revenue, defrayed the expense of his family and government, and never applied for aids to the people, but upon pretence of extraordinary emergencies. By preserving this separate property to the king, the people in effect preserved their own, and therefore admitted without reluct- ance a maxim introduced by the lawyers of the crown, since it tended to deter indi- N-iduals from invading a branch of royal revenue, any deficiency in which must have been made good out of the public stock. Nothing less than a reason of this public nature could have procured submis- sion to a doctrine full of hardship and oppression to the subject, and which, in favour of the crown, directly contradicted those rules of common law, by which the possession of property between man and man was secured. To revive and enforce a maxim of this sort, when not one of the reasons subsist on which it was originally founded, when the king's family and government are supported by a fixed revenue of eight hundred thou- sand pounds raised upon the people, is cer- tainly a most unwarrantable and a most dangerous attempt. Under the present board of Treasury, the reign of Empson and Dudley seems to flourish again ; and where is the man who can say his liberty or his property is secure to him, if antiquated doctrines and obsolete laws may be brought to hfe at the breath of a young, inconsider- ate, arbitrary minister, and sent abroad to attack every subject whom he shall think proper to call an enemy to government ? A minister capable of recommending such measures to the crown, calls to my mind the idea which our ancestors had of some black magician conjuring up infernal spirits from the depths of the earth and of the sea, and letting them loose to the destruction of mankind. Delusions of this sort have in- deed been long since exploded ; but there are other diabolical arts, which certainly do exist, which ministers practise, but which I hope will be as little able to maintain themselves against the improved under- standing and well-directed firmness of the English nation. C. LETTER XX. For the Public Advertiser. 23 April, 1768. TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. Is it enough that Abra should be great In tJie ivalCd palace or the rural seat ? Oh, 710 ! yerusalem combined inust see My open s/uinte and boasted infamy. My Lord, Permit me to congratulate your Grace upon a piece of good fortune A\hich few men, of the best estabhshed reputation, have been able to attain to. The most accomplished persons have usually some defect, some weakness in their characters, which diminishes the lustre of their brighter qualifications. Tiberius had his forms ; Charteris now and then deviated into hon- esty ; and even lord Bute prefers the sim- plicity of seduction to the poignant plea- sures of a rape. But yours, my Lord, is a perfect character : through every line 01 public and of private life you are consistent with yourself. After doing everything, in your public station, that a minister might reasonably be ashamed of, you have deter- mined, with a noble spirit of uniformity, to mark your personal history by such strokes as a gentleman, without any great disgrace to his assurance, might be permitted to blush for. I had already conceived a high opinion of your talents and disposition. Whether the property of the subject, or the general rights of the nation, were to be invaded; or whether you were tired of one lady, and chose another for the honourable companion of your pleasures ; whether it was a horse- race, or a hazard-table, a noble disregard of forms seemed to operate through all your conduct. But you have exceeded my wannest expectations. Highly as I thought of you, your Grace mvist pardon me when I 376 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. confess that there was one effort which I did not think you equal to. I did not think you capable of exhibiting the lovely Thais ^ at the opera-house, of sitting a whole night by her side, of calling for her carriage your- self, and of leading her to it through a crowd of the first men and women in this kingdom. To a mind like yours, my Lord, such an outrage to your wife, such a triumph over decency, such insult to the company, must have afforded the highest gratification. When all the ordinary re- sources of pleasure were exhausted, this, I presume, was your novissima voliiptas. It is of a lasting nature, my Lord, and I dare say will give you as much pleasure upon reflection, as it did in the enjoyment. After so honourable an achievement, a poet's imagination could add but one ray more to the lustre of your character. Obtain a divorce,^ marry the lady, and I do not doubt but Mr Bradshaw will be civil enough to give her away, with an honest, artless smile of approbation. LETTER XXI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 23 April, 1768. If I were to characterize the pre- sent ministry from any single virtue which shines predominant in their administration, I should fix upon duplicity as the proper word to express it. I would not here be misunderstood : I do not by this mean only the little sneaking quality, commonly called double-dealing, which every pettifogging rascal may attain to ; but that real duplicity of character which our ministers have assumed to them- selves, by which every member of their body acts in two distinct capacities, and, Janus-like, bears two faces and two * Miss Parsons, afterwards lady Maynard. — Edit. ^ The duke of Grafton was, subsequently to the date of this letter, divorced from Miss Lid- del, then duchess of Grafton, and married, not the lady in question, but Miss Wrottesley, niece tongues, either of which may give the lie to the other without danger to his reputation. This is the present catholic political fauh, which, unless a man believes, he shall not get a place ; and if people would attend to this, they would be able to account for many of our great men's actions, which are unaccountable any other way. By this rule a man may say as a judge, that the loss of an Englishman's liberty for twenty-four hours only is grievous beyond estimation ; and then as a minister may declare, that forty days' tyranny is a trifling burthen, which any Englishman may bear.^ As a member of parliament, a man may give his word that a certain bill shall be dropped ; and the next day, as a chancel- lor of the Exchequer, may bring it into the House. A first lord of the Treasury may declare upon his honour that he has no concern in India stock ; but there is nothing in this to hinder him as a private man from having a share with any young lady of virtue to the amount of ^1^20, 000. In those cases, you see, the duplicity of character in which they act, covers the parties from all sort of blame ; but I will now do honour to the noble duke who, from under the footstool of gouty legs,* has crept into the elbow-chair, who, though green in years, is ripe in devices. It is he who has carried this double-faced virtue to its greatest pitch. He has not only prac- tised it with great success in public affairs, but has also lately introduced it into deal- ings between man and man. Everybody knows the story of nullum tempus, and the application of it to rob the duke of Portland of ^30,000. The duke of Grafton (as set forth in a case lately pub- lished) upon a representation, before any proceedings were had in the affair, did to the duchess of Bedford. See Letter XII.— Edit. 3 In allusion to lord Camden's opinion upon the power of the crown to suspend an act of par- liament. See the subject further discussed in Letter LX.— Edit. •* Lord Chatham's.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 377 actually promise to the duke of Portland, ' Tliat no step should be taken towards the decision of the matter in question till his Grace's title should be stated, referred to, and reported on, by the proper ofificer, and fully and maturely considered by the board of Treasury.' — Had the duke of Portland been fully apprised of the new doctrine of the twofold state of ministers, he would have considered this promise (as it was really meant) as illusory, and only an ex- pedient to lull him asleep while the busi- ness was going on. But his Grace knew no more of this maxim than if he had been an India director, and thought that a promise was a promise in whatever character it was given ; so while he, in full confidence, was preparing the proofs of his right, the affair in dispute was given away, and the new grant to sir James Lowther made out, signed and sealed in the Treasury, without ever ' his Grace's title being stated, referred to, or reported on, by the proper officer, or fully and maturely considered by the board.' Lest any one should think that I partially ascribe this conduct of the duke of Grafton to my favourite principle of two natures, when it ought to be laid to some other of his Grace's virtues, I shall here quote a reply to the duke of Portland's case, lately published (as it is said) under the auspices of the Treasury, where this doctrine is defended with equal modesty and truth. The writer begins by admitting the promise, which he says was inadvertetitly given by the duke of Grafton ; but then, says he, ' since he was the king's servant, and had no title to the making this promise, he per- ceived he was not in honour bound to adhere io it.' — Now here is a fair distinction between the king's servant and the man of honour, a distinction which, I believe, few people at present are disposed to deny. His Grace (who has undoubtedly very delicate perceptions) perceived that as a king's minister he was not bound to keep a promise which he had made as a private man ; and in this (continues the pamphleteer) ' he can be supported by the soundest casuists.' — I am not deeply read in authors of that professed title, but I remember seeing Bassambaum, Saurez, Molina, and a score of other Jesuitical books, burnt at Paiis for their sound casuistry by the hands of the common hangman. I do not know that they have yet found their way to England, unless perchance it be to the hbraryof his Grace of Grafton, where they probably stand with the chapter of promises dog-eared down for the perusal of scrupul- ous statesmen. This doctrine, once fully established, will add a great facility to business, and prevent unnecessary delays : for example — informer times a minister would have been exceed- ingly hampered with such a promise as we have here cited: he would have shifted, and delayed, and played the back-game to have got rid of it, or to reconcile the breach to his conscience and reputation ; but here you see there was no unnecessary delay : the business went on ; and he who acknow- ledged that he had given his word in a private capacity, brings the book to prove that as a first lord of the Treasury ' he was not bound to adhere to it,' — and this is sound casuistry. Thus a man who is dex- terous in state legerdemain, may play his two characters like cups and balls ; speak, write, read, lie, promise, swear, and you can never catch him till the box drop out of his hand. I proposed to have made this a complete panegyric on the duke of Grafton ; but I find it extremely difficult to draw one cha- racter of a man that acts in two. If, how- ever, my poor attempt towards it should find favour in his sight, I hope he will on a future occasion afford me the means of dis- tinguishing between his two characters, as Moliere's Sosia does between the two Am- phitrions, ' c'est I'Amphitrion chez qui Ton dine.' BIFRONS. 378 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XXn. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 6 May, 1768. Nil admirari. IIOR. Sir, When the advocates of the minis- try assure us that there never was a set of men more careful of the happiness of his Majesty's subjects, I presume it is Horace's sense of happiness which they would be understood to promote. If it be their design to reduce us to a state of resignation in which we shall wonder at nothing they do, their bitterest enemies must confess that their endeavours to make us happy have been no less indefatigable than ingenious. By a regular progression from surprise to wonder, from wonder to astonishment, and so on through all the forms of admiration, they have at last conducted us to that philosophical state of repose, which may set even the miracles of the present ministry at defiance. If the force of example, beyond all ethics, had not made me as callous as a shoeing-horn, the contents of Saturday night's Gazette would, I confess, have made me stare. When his Majesty (God bless him !) is in perfect health, to be in- formed that the first session of a new par- liament is to be opened by comm.ission, is a novelty which, had I been less confirmed in my principles than I am, would, I own, have filled me with a certain portion ,of amazement. 1 Tiiat the minister himself should have his reasons for not being very desirous to meet a parliam.ent, or that he should wish to answer for his conduct by confusion, is not so extraordinary ; but that he should give such advice to a prince, beloved, adored by his people, is a step, ^ Froiii the London Gazette. — Whitehall, April 30. It being his Majesty's royal intention, that the parliament, which is summoned to meet on Tuesday the loth day of May next, should then meet and sit ; the king has been pleased to direct a commission to pass the great seal, ap- pointing and authorizing his royal highness the duke of Gloucester, his royal highness the duke which, in my present condition, does every thing but surprise me. Is it possible, Mr Printer, that the ministry should not know what sort of interpretation will be given to this measure ; or did they mean t6 give the finishing stroke to Mr Wilkes's triumph, and to the dishonour which they, and they alone, have heaped upon the crown ? I protest, Sir, I had very near betrayed my principles, and suffered an indecent ex- pression of surprise to escape me. At a time when the residence of the sovereign was really exposed to violence and insult,' these worthy ministers gallantly retreated from the danger ; but now, to make amends for that desertion, they affect a care for the king's security, equally ridicul- ous and disgraceful. What, Sir, is govern- ment in their hands really sunk so low that they dare not hazard a meeting between their sovereign and his parliament ? Or are they afraid that another language might be held to parliament than that which they dictate ; that some expression of a just resentment of their baseness should escape ; or do they acknowledge to the world their apprehensions of the populace? If that be the case, I can only say, that the infamy of the measure can be exceeded by nothing but the vileness of the motive. These distant hints, I hope, Sir (as I think the ministry do not pique themselves much upon steadiness), may appear time enough to induce them to recommend a different system, more worthy of the crown, though less worthy of themselves. C. LETTER XXIII. TO THE printer OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 12 May, 1768. I HAVE read in your paper of this of Cumberland, Thomas, lord archbishop of Canterbury, and other lords, to open and liold the said parliament on the said 10th day of May next, being the day of the return of the writs of summons. — Edit. ^ See note in p. 154, and Miscellaneous Letter, No. XVII.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 379 day a second letter in defence of the con- duct of the Treasury relative to the late extraordinary grant. That conduct was a specimen of their principles. They have now thought fit to give the public a sample of their reasoning. Their letter ought to have been (if it had been what it pretends to be) an answer to the several accusations laid against them in a pamphlet, entitled, ' The duke of Port- land's Case.' Their answer is an attempt to prove that the duke of Portland had no right in law to those lands, of which he and liis family have so long continued in posses- sion, and which have been lately granted by the Treasury to sir James Lowther, son- in-law to the earl of Bute. I do not mean here to make any reply to the futile arguments by which the ministers, or their advocate, endeavour to establish this point. Because the point itself is, as they know, wholly foreign to the question, and does in no sort concern the public. They shall not be permitted to evade in this manner the real edge of the charge that lies against them. Ihe charge against them is not that they have granted to sir James Lowther an estate which, in law, is the right of the duke of Portland ; but that they partially, and in many parts of the proceeding, surreptitious- ly, upon the bare report of a subordinate officer, without suffering his vouchers to be examined, without hearing counsel, or allowing time or means of defence to the party, or of due information to themselves, have violated the equitable and presump- tive rights of long and undisputed posses- sion, for the purposes of undue influence at an election, and of paying a base court to a clandestine and dangerous power. This is the charge against them ; which they have not attempted to answer ; which they never can answer ; and which will fix a brand upon their foreheads, that no so- phistry will be able to efface, and no veils of ministerial artifice will be thick enough to conceal, from the eyes of an indignant and an injured people. The ministers affect to be surprised that the writer of the duke of Portland's case has taken no notice of his Grace's title, and has not set forth the surveyor-general's re- port against it : they are at liberty to amuse themselves with such observations. I hope that writer will never give them any dis- turbance in their learned pleadings on this subject. He has, I trust, too much sense to moot in the public papers the legal con- struction of a clause in a crown grant. It is a matter of perfect indifference to the public, whether the grant, for instance, of the manor of Dale is sufficient to convey Szuale also as its appendant ; or whether Swale ought specifically to be named. These are not the sort of questions with which we are affected : the ministers may think it wise, perhaps, to hazard the good faith of a crown grant upon such subtle criticisms. Their operation one way or the other (if prescription had not intervened) would not have been a matter greatly to concern the public ; but it does concern the public, and in the highest degree, whether long, quiet, undisputed possession, which is the best of titles against the subject, shall or shall not be a title at all against the crown ? Whether a Treasury, availing itself of a remnant of odious, and for a long time inactive, barbarism, shall upon points of legal subtilty endeavour to shake that title ? Whether they shall refuse a search of the only material office for settling the doubts that they raised ? Whether they shall de- cline taking the opinion of the king's law servants on such important points of law? Whether they shall refuse to hear the party by his counsel ? And whether without any of those forms, some of justice, and all of decency and candour, they shall arm a wealthy and powerful informer with a crown claim to haiass and oppress the subject. These are the points in the duke of Port- land's case, in which the public is concern- ed. If no prescription is pleadable against the crown, and if the Treasury, without hearing, is suffered at pleasure to halloo an informer at your estate, on the bare report of a surveyor's duty, their own creature ; — woe to the property of England ! Remem- 38o MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ber that almost all that property has at one time or other flowed from royal grants. No possessor, no purchaser, no mortgagee is safe ; no further safe than he is covered by the act of James the First, which is now sought to l)e converted from a temporary regulation into a perpetual rule of law. That truly wise and patriotic bill, which the ministerial gentlemen are pleased to term factious, was what our ancestors called for, and so far as it regarded themselves, obtained, on the alarm of just such sort of grants as this to sir James Lowther. They did not contend that the grants should be made, only in cases where the crown had a plausible title. No ; they maintained ' that such titles prior to sixty years should not be set up at all.' They demanded that the crown should litigate with the subject on the same terms of equity on which the sub- jects htigated with one another ; and that sixty years of possession should bar a 7-oyal as well as a private claim. They lived, indeed, in an age of extrava- gant prerogative, and they could not obtain this right fully for posterity ; but they did what they could, and secured it for them- selves. The arguments of the ministry are not against the duke of Portland, but against the doctrine of prescription itself ; against natural justice ; and against the principles of that wise and constitutional, though (by the misfortune of its time) im- perfect law, the statute of the 21st of king James the First. What do we care, whether this dormant and antiquated claim of the crown be well or ill founded in strict law ? I take it for granted, that it has no foundation ; and make no sort of doubt that when it comes to trial, it will appear scandalously ground- less. Besides the favourable presumption that ought to operate for possession, the whole conduct of the Treasury gives me a right to conclude against them. If they were so sure of the validity of their claim, why did they not a little discuss the grounds ^ As this letter is frequently alluded to by Ju- nius in the course of the present work, we shall here insert a copy of it : — of the surveyor's report, and order him to produce his vouchers ? How could it hurt this or any other fair claim (supposing this a fair one) to have the records in his office inspected ? Would a fair claim be hurt by having it openly and solemnly debated by counsel? Any set of men who have regard even to decorum in their injustice, could never have acted with this barefaced par- tiality to one person, and with such a scan- dalous spirit of oppression towards another. It was in their official capacity they ought to have seen the right of the crown to make this grant defended, and the right of the duke of Portland examined. They ought to have had the king's counsel to cover them with their opinions and arguments in point of law ; and not to have first passed the grant without hearing or examination, and then trusted for their apology to a legal discussion argued miserably, and without authority, in a common newspaper. Their arguments might have been produced with some grace and some weight to the public, when it was known that they had been officially considered, and fairly canvassed among all the parties concerned, before the act was done; and that these arguments were the grounds of their conduct, not excuses for their delinquency. At present they can only excite contempt for their weak defence of those actions, whose atrocious- ness had before merited the abhorrence of all good men. VALERIUS. LETTER XXIV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 19 May, 1768. An officer of the guards on whose veracity I can rely, has informed me, that the secretary at war has thought proper to write a letter of thanks to the commanding officer of the troops lately employed in St George's Fields. ^ The substance of it, as 'Sir, War-office, 11 May, 1768. ' Having this day had the honour of mentioning to the king the behaviour of the de- MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 381 well as I can. remember, is rather of an extraordinary nature, and I think deser\-es the attention and consideration of the pub- he. I understand that his Lordship thanks them in the king's name, for their good behaviour, and assures them, that his Majesty highly approves of their conduct. He further engages his promise, that what- ever bad consequences may ensue, they may depend upon the utmost assistance and sup- port that his office can afford them )■ With- out entering into the evidence on which the coroner's verdict against an officer and some soldiers of the guards wa.s founded, I shall not scruple to say that this mention of the king's name is very improper and indecent. The father of his people un- doubtedly laments the fatal necessity which has occasioned the murder of one of his subjects, but cannot be supposed to approve highly of a conduct which has had dread- ful'consequences. An event of this shock- ing nature may admit of excuse and miti- gation from circumstances of necessity, but can never be the object of the highest royal approbation ; — much less was it pro- per to signify such strong approbation of a tachments from the several battalions of foot- guards which have been lately employed in assisting the civil magistrates, and preserving the public peace, I have great pleasure in in- forming you, that his Majesty highly approved of the conduct of both the officers and men, and means that his Majesty's approbation should be communicated to them through you. Employing the troops on so disagreeable a service always gives me pain ; but the circumstances of the times make it necessary. T am persuaded they see that necessity, and will continue, as they have done, to perform their duty with alacrity. I beg you will be pleased to assure them that every possible regard shall be shown to them : their zeal and good behaviour upon this occasion de- serve it ; and in case any disagreeable circum- stance should happen in the execution of their duty, they shall have every defence and protec- tion that the law can authorize, and this office can give. ' I have, the honour to be, 'Sir, 'Your most obedient, and most humble servant, ' Barrington.' ' Field officer in staff waiting for the three regiments of foot-guards. ' Officers for guard on Saturday ne.xt, Lieut. -col. Groin, &c. &c.' — Edit. conduct which includes a fact still subjudice, and the particulars of which are not yet known with any degree of certainty. The secretary at war would have done better in confining his letter to the expres- sion of his own sentiments. What he has said for himself, if I am rightly informed, will require more wit than he possesses to defend. For the mere benefit of the law, I presume, the prisoners will hardly thank him. It is a benefit they are entitled to, and will certainly have whether he and his office interfere or not. If he means any thing more, let him look to his words. But I hold it to be highly unconstitutional, as well as illegal, to promise official support and protection to either party in a criminal case, wherein the king prosecutes for the loss of his subject. There is a degree of folly in a minister of the crown signing such a letter which looks like infatuation ; but I hope the Court of King's Bench, or some other court, will let him know what the law calls abettncnt and maintenance, and bring him to his senses. Yours, FIAT JUSTITIA ! LETTER XXV. For the Public Advertiser. I July, 1768. TO MASTER HARRY IxN BLACK-BOY- ALLEY. A t tu, simul obligasti Perfidum votis caput, enigrescis A trior multo. The moment I heard you had '■ In the riot here alluded to, which originated from a vast concourse of people assembled toge- ther opposite the King's Bench prison, on Alay 10, in the expectation that Wilkes would be liberated from it on this day in order to take his seat in parliament (it being the first day of its session), about fourteen persons were shot and more wounded by the precipitate firing of the military. Among the rest was a young man of the name of Allen, who had taken no part in the tumult, and was slam in an out-house belonging to his father (who lived in the neighbourhood), in the very act of imploring mercy of the soldiers who shot him. Some of the military more im- mediately engaged were secured by the civil power, and were on the point of taking their trial for the murder. And it is to this transaction the letter alludes. — Edit. 382 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. given a positive promise to lord Rocking- ham in my favour, I did you the justice to be satisfied that all my hopes and preten- sions to succeed Mrs were at an end. But a second promise, which I understand you have lately given to another, revives my spirits, and makes me flatter myself that you mean me no harm. I have one chance less against me than I had, for your last resolution is certainly the one you will not abide by ; so that at present there is nothing in my way but your engagement to lord Rockingham, the bad effects of which I shall endeavour to remove by this letter. I feel as strongly as you how much it would violate the consistency of your character to keep your word from any motives of probity or good faith ; but if I can suggest to you the means of performing your first promise to lord Rockingham, and yet continuing as great a rascal as you would wish to be, all objections on the score of integrity will be removed, and you will owe me no small obligation into the bargain. You are a mere boy, Harry, notwithstanding the down upon your chin, and would do well to cultivate the friendship of women of ex- perience. With all due submission to Miss Nancy's ^ personal knowledge of the world, I believe she has not yet taught you the secret of keeping your word without hurt- ing your principles. This is a science worthy of a superior genius ; and without a compUment, Harry, you have talents to improve it into a system of treachery, which, though it may shorten your natural life, will make your reputation immortal. In the first place, I presume, you will have no difficulty in breaking your word with Mrs C y ; the whole distress lies in keeping it with your friend the Marquis. My advice is, therefore, that you should order Mr Bradshaw to write to his Lord- ship, and assure him in the civilest terms, that 'circumstances which you had not foreseen ; — that it was with infinite con- cern ;— that his Lordship's recom.menda- tion had such weight with you ;— that in any other instance ; — that you flattered yourself his Lordship would be candid enough to distinguish between the minister and the man ; — but that in short you were so unfortunately situated, &c. &c. &c.' Mr Bradshaw's manner will make the mes- sage palatable, and it would not be amiss if he were to carry it himself. Having dis- engaged yourself from lord Rockingham, you must at the same instant write me a letter of congratulation, and desire me to take possession immediately. By these ex- pedients you will preserve all the duplicity and wayward humour of your character ; — you will have the merit and satisfaction of failing to two people : you will confer a favour without obliging anybody ; and your enemies give you credit for a conduct equally honourable to your morals and your understanding. Farewell, Harry, and believe me to be, with the most perfect contempt, yours, POMONA. P. S. If the place is to be given in trust for Miss Parsons, I beg leave to withdraw my pretensions ; for I am determined not to suffer a woman to be quartered upon me in any shape. LETTER XXVI. Nancy Parsons. — Edit. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 19 July, 1768. The spirit which once animated the London Gazette seems to have expired with the war. The learned compiler of that paper was blest with a genius equal to the description of battles and victories, but could not descend with dignity to the pacific annals of domestic economy. While our troops were sacrificed abroad, his pen was employed, with equal bravery, in mur- dering our language at home. He never lost a consonant from the Elbe to the Weser, or mollified one circumstance in all the guttural pomp of a German campaign. But, unfortunately for the world, his style MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 383 perished with his subject, and we see him now hardly able to support the fatigue of advertising court-mourning, and introduc- ing foreign ministers under the auspices of Mr Stephen Cotterell. The gentle slumbers of the ministry prevail over the Gazette, in which their dreams are recorded ; and if ever we see the author betray a sign of life, ] it is only when his principals turn in their ■ sleep. I presume we owe the Gazette of I last Tuesday ^ to an insomnium with which these gentlemen are sometimes troubled. The new commission of trade bears all the marks of that drowsy wildness which pos- sesses a man, when he would fain go to sleep, but is so sore all over that he does not know which side to lie upon. One day we have a third secretary of state for a new fancy. Next day down goes poor lord Clare (not all the softness of his manners nor modest eloquence can save him) and up gets the new secretary to represent them both. Hence we might have expected a pause of a few minutes, but these gentle- men are too modest to be satisfied with any thing they do ; and now for measures of vigour with a vengeance The chief officers of the crown, having little else to do, are called from their respective depart- ments ; the prayers of a reverend prelate are desired ; Messieurs Rice, Jenyns, Fitz- herbert, Eliot, and Robinson still contribute their mites, and Wills earl of Hillsborough is duly to attend the meetings. The colonies must be ungovernable indeed if such a junto cannot govern them. In the last article the writer of the Gazette is particularly fortun- ate, and avails himself with his usual dex- terity of all the advantage of pubhshing nonsense by authority. This due attend- ^ The following is a copy of the article alluded to: WhiteJiall, 12 J2dy. ' The king has been pleased to constitute and appoint the lord high chancellor ; the first com- missioner of his Majesty's Treasury ; the lord president of the council ; the first commissioner of the Admiralty ; his ISIajesty's principal secre- taries of state ; the chancellor of his Alajesty's Exchequer ; the lord bishop of London ; and the surveyor and auditor-general of all his Majesty's revenues in America, for the time being; to- ance will mean any thing or nothing just as the reader chooses. By the mark set upon Wills, it should seem that the other com- missioners are not duly to attend the meet- ings ; or perhaps government, with a laud- able caution, means to guard against any undue attendance of the said Wills ; they may possibly mean that Wills alone shall be a quorum ; or it may be but to guess at their meaning is to reason without data, so I leave it, as they have done, to be ex- plained by contingencies. After all, Mr Printer, these are feverish symptoms, and look as if the disorder were coming to a crisis. Even this last effort is the forerunner of their speedy dissolution ; like the false strength of a delirium, which exerts itself by fits, and dies in convulsions. C.2 LETTER XXVII. TO MR WOODFALL. Sir, 21 yu/jy, 1768. I COULD not help smihng at your correspondent C.'s dreaming animadversion, in your paper of yesterday, upon the com- mission of the board of trade. He modestly fancies himself awake, while all the minis- try are enveloped in darkness and dreams, and, according to him, only stir to stir no more. Thus drunkards imagine that every body reels, and that the world itself is in disorder. He owns that his assertions are the result of guess, and that his reasonings are with- out the necessary data. He might have spared himself that trouble ; everybody will tell him the same. Vastly displeased with gether with Soame Jenyns, Edward Eliot, George Rice, John Roberts, Jeremiah Dyson, WilUam Fitzherbert, and Thomas Robinson, Esqrs., to be commissioners for promoting trade, and for inspecting and improving his Majesty's plantations in America, and elsewhere. And his Majesty has thought fit to direct that Wills, earl of Hillsborough, one of his said principal secre- taries of state, shall duly attend the meetings of his said commissioners.' — Edit. ^ To this letter was given a short answer, ■which, as it produced a reply from Junius, is here inserted. — Edit. 384 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the compiler of the Gazette, he drops him to abuse his principals ; and because they do not, or choose not, to furnish his empty brain with chat for a day, or with battles, sieges, and victories in time of peace, they are therefore doing nothing, or at best are but dreaming like himself. As he most sagaciously begins without his data, so he proceeds (as Mr Locke says) by seeing a little, perhaps like a man half awake, pre- suming a great deal, and then jumping to a conclusion. This, it is owned, he has admir- ably well done. He reads in the Gazette, that several of the chief officers of the crown, the bishop of London, and some others, are appointed, together with Messieurs Jenyns, Rice, Eliot, Fitzherbert, and Robinson (whom he very decently and liberally styles a.ju?ito), to be commissioners for trade and plantations, and that the earl of Hills- borough is duly to attend their meetings. This throws our gentleman into a trance (convincing the world that his ignorance and insomnia are well blended), and fraught with this intelligence, he avers that all these respectable personages are new commis- sioners ; whereas in fact, from the original constitution of the board of trade, they have a right to sit there in virtue of their respective offices, though not obliged as Messrs Jenyns, &c. to a due and constant attendance. In every new commission of the board of trade these officers for the time being are inserted at length ; and at the same time, on account of their other public avocations, they are therein released from the obligation of continually sitting at that board. As the business of the colonies has of late years much increased, it was judged necessary by the crown to appoint one other principal secretary of state for the transaction of colony affairs, which are daily increasing in their importance to this kingdom ; and, perhaps, the noble Lord who is chosen to this direction, and whose masterly abilities are the object of your correspondent's invidious scurrility, is the only man of rank adequate to this ar- duous task in the present crisis. His Lordship is also to preside at the board of trade, for the facility and dispatch of business, and will thereby save the govern- ment (as he has no salary) the expense of a first commissioner. He is duly to attend the meetings of that board, which cannot, as Mr C. would wisely obtrude upon the public judgment, mean any thing or nothing at pleasure ; for when there are no meet- ings his Lordship caiinot attend, but when there are, it is his duty. This, every man who is awake can understand ; but as for such dreamers as good Master C, I wish they might sleep more soundly, till the pa- triotism they attack is extinguished ; and then I believe the world will not be much disturbed with the impertinent visions of such unquiet repose. IXSOMNIS. LETTER XXVIII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 23 July, 1768. I AM willing to join issue with your correspondent Insomnis, that one of as is fast asleep, and submit to be tried by a jury of plain Englishmen, who may be sup- posed to understand their own language. If their verdict be given against him, all I desire is that you will not expose his in- firmity to the public, or suffer -him to say things in his sleep, which his modesty will blush for when he wakes. In the first place, I never averred that they were all nexv commissio?iers, though I spoke of a nax) conunission. Is it possible for a man to be awake and not distinguish between these expressions ? But now for a curious discovery : the great officers of state, it seems, are bound and released by one and the same act ; that is, they are bound to the public, and released in pri- vate. They figure away as men of business in the Gazette, yet by a secret stipulation are relieved from the trouble of attendance. If Malagrida had any interest with the present ministry, I should have no doubt that this was one of his subtle contrivances. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 38s An ostensible engagement, with a mental reservation, is the first principle of the mo- rale rclachde, professed and inculcated by the Society of Jesus. Now, Sir, observe how carefully the ex- ample is adapted to the doctrine. The state of the colonies evidently demanded some extraordinary measures of wisdom and of vigour. A pompous list of names is held forth to the public, as if the ministry were roused by the importance and diffi- culty of the present conjuncture, and were determined to face it with their whole strength and abilities. Such was the appearance which the new commission was intended to convey, and in this light I am very sure it was received by the pubhc ; yet Insoinnis is so candid as to tell us, that the ministry meant no such thing ; and I believe him very sincerely. A council is in- stituted which is never to sit, and commis- sioners are appointed on condition they shall never attend : a common way of throwing dust into the eyes of the public, and frequently practised with success ; but I believe it is rather uncommon for a minis- terial advocate to make so early and frank a confession of truths, which, though they may answer other purposes, will do his patrons but little honovir in point of credit and veracity. ' Go to, go to, you have knazun what you shozdd not.' A man who talks in his sleep is not fit for a confidential secretary, at least to a ministry who have so many secrets to con- ceal. If the duplicity of this contrivance had concerned themselves alone, I should have been contented with comparing it with the rest of their conduct, and thought no more of it. But I own it fills me with indigna- tion to see the name of a reverend prelate so indecently treated. The respect due to his personal character, if not to the sanctity of his station, should have preserved him from so gross an outrage. To see a prelate of the first rank mixed in a low Jesuitical farce of imposing upon the public with a great council, when no such matter is intended !— Seriously, Sir, I should not be surprised if his Lordship were to prosecute the writer of the Gazette for a libel. For my own [part. Sir, I would rather see my name advertised among a company of buf- foons at Bartlemy fair, than prostituted in a ministerial junto, to deceive and to cheat my country. A farce upon the stage may amuse at least, if not instruct, but minis- terial farces are too dull to please, and seldom conclude without mischief to the audience. I admit one proposition gravely advanced by Insomnis, ' that when there are no meetings, lord Hillsborough cannot at- tend them ; ' but I am not quite so clear about the article of expense. The salary of a first commissioner of trade, at three thousand pounds a year, is saved by ap- pointing a third secretary of state at six or seven, besides all the expense of a new office. But Insomnzs unfortunately forgets that if Mr Thomas Townshend, contrary to all expectation, had not refused the vice- treasurership (because the offer of it was attended with an insult) there would have been no room to provide for lord Clare, consequently he must have remained first commissioner of trade, and all this charm- ing plan of economy, facihty, and dispatch must have waited till another opportunity. And now, Mr Insomnzs, I shall leave you to your repose. Your patrons indeed may turn, and turn, and get no rest ; but what occasion is there for your sitting up to watch them ? * Thou, quiet soul, sleo^ thou a quiet sleep.'' Above all things let me recommend it to you, never to pretend to be awake for the future. Your eyes and ears, perhaps, are open, but their sense is shut, and really it is not very polite of you to come into company in your night-cap. 386 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XXIX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 30 July, 1768. It is not many months since 1 you gave me an opportunity of demonstrating to the nation, as far as rational inference and probability could extend, that the hopes which some men seemed to enter- tain, or to profess ,at least, with regard to America, were without a shadow of found- ation. They seemed to flatter themselves that the contest with the colonies, like a disagreeable question in the House of Commons, might be put off to a long day, and provided they could get rid of it for the present, they thought it beneath them to consult either their own reputation, or the true interests of their country. But what- ever were their views or expectations, whether it was the mere enmity of party, or the real persuasion that they had but a little time to live in office,' every circum- stance which I then foretold is confirmed by experience. The conduct of the king's servants in relation to America, since the alteration in 1765, never had a reasonable argument to defend it, and the chapter of accidents which they implicitly relied on, has not produced a single casualty in their favour. At a crisis like this, Sir, I shall not be very solicitous about those idle forms of respect, which men in office think due to their characters and station ; neither will I descend to a language beneath the import- ance of the subject I write on. When the fate of Great Britain is thrown upon the hazard of a die, by a weak, distracted, worthless ministry, an honest man will always express all the indignation he feels. This is not a moment for preserving forms, and the ministry must know that the lan- guage of reproach and contempt is now the universal language of the nation. We find ourselves at last reduced to the ^ See Miscellaneous Letter, No. X. — Edit. ' The Rockingham administration, which dreadful alternative of either making war upon our colonies, or of suffering them to erect themselves into independent states. It is not that I hesitate now upon the choice we are to make. Evorj'thing nuist be ha- zarded. But what infamy, what punish- ment do those men desen'e, whose folly or whose treachery hath reduced us to this state, in which we can neither give up the cause without a certainty of ruin, nor main- tain it without such a struggle as must shake the empire? If they had the most distant pretence for saying that the present conjuncture has arisen suddenly, that it was not foreseen and could not be provided for, we should only have reason to lament that our affairs were committed to such ignorance and blindness. But when they have had every notice that it was possible to receive, when the proceedings of the colonies have for a considerable time been not less notorious than alarming, what apology have they left ? Upon what prin- ciple will they now defend themselves ? From the first appearance of that rebellious spirit which has spread itself all over the colonies, the chief members of the present ministry were the declared advocates of America. Every art of palliation, of con- cealment, and even of justification, was made use of in favour of that country against Great Britain. Some there were who did not even scruple to pledge them- selves for the future submission and loyalty of the colonies. Every principle of government was subverted, and such absurdities main- tained as common sense should blush for. When all these arguments failed, and when the proceedings of the colonies gave the lie to every declaration made for them by their patrons here, still the ministry thought it not too late for further temporizing and de- lay. Even after the combination at Boston they would not suffer parliament to be in- formed of the real state of things in that province. They endeavoured to conceal the most atrocious circumstances, and what they could not conceal they justified. Mr lasted from July lo, 1765, to July 30, 1766. Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 387 Conway 1 since last December has, in the face of the House of Commons, defended the resistance of the colonies upon what he called revolution principles ; and when a paper, printed at Boston, was offered to the House, as containing matter of the highest importance for the information of parliament, the ministry would not suffer it to be read because they knew it would be found too bad to be passed over. . If we look for their motives, we shall find them such as weak and interested men usually act upon. They were weak enough to hope that the crisis of Great Britain and America would be reserved for their suc- cessors in office, and they were determined to hazard even the ruin of their country, rather than furnish the man - whom they feared and hated, with the melancholy tri- umph of having truly foretold the con- sequences of their own misconduct. But this, such as it is, the triumph of a heart that bleeds at every vein, they cannot de- prive him of. They dreaded the acknow- ledgment of his superiority over them, and the loss of their own authority and credit, more than the rebellion of near half the empire against the supreme legislature. On this patriotic principle they exerted their utmost efforts to defer the decision of this great national cause till the last pos- sible moment. The timidity, weakness, and distraction of government at home, gave spirits, strength, and union to the colonies, and the ministry seemed deter- mined to wait for a declaration of war with our natural enemy, before they attempted to suppress the rebelUon of our natural subjects. At last, however, they are com- pelled to take a resolution which ought to have been taken many months ago, and might then have been pursued with honour to themselves, and safety to this country. How they will support it is uncertain. A resolution, adopted by a small majority in a divided council, can be but little depend- ^ Mr Conway moved the repeal of ville's Stamp Act, and introduced the tory Act. — Edit. ' George Grenville. — Edit. Mr Gren- Declara- ed on. It must want the first strength of union, and what effect can we hope for even from a vigorous measure, when the execution of it is committed, most pro- bably, to one of the persons who have pro- fessed themselves the patrons of lenient moderate measures, until the very name of lenity and moderation became ridiculous? They will execute by halves ; they will temporize and look out for expedients ; they will increase the mischief; they will defer the stroke until we are actually in- volved in a war with France ; and when they have made the game desperate, they will resign their places, to save themselves, if possible, from the resentment of their country. .. In this situation I am rather afflicted than surprised at the shock which public credit has just received. The weight of the funds is of itself sufficient to press them down. How then should it be possible for them to stand against evils, which separ- ately might overturn the most flourishing state, and which are fatally at this moment united against Great Britain. The rebellion of her subjects ; the too probable appre- hension of a foreign war ; and a weak, dis- tracted administration at home. Yet, Sir, I hope there is still blood enough in our veins to make a noble stand even against these complicated mischiefs. Far from despairing of the republic, I know we have great resources left, if they are not lost or betrayed. A firm united administration, with the uniform direction of one man of wisdom and spirit, may yet preserve the state. It is impossible to conceal from ourselves, that we are at this moment on the brink of a dreadful precipice ; the question is, whether we shall still submit to be guided by the hand which hath driven us to it, or whether we shall follow the pa- triot voice 3 which has not ceased to warn us of our dangers, and which would still declare the way to safety and to honour. 3 Mr G. Grenville's. See this subject further continued in Miscellaneous Letter, No. XXXI. — Edit. 383 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XXX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 5 August, 1768. An unmerited outrage offered to a great or a good man naturally excites some emotions of resentment even in hearts that have the least esteem for virtue. At par- ticular moments the worst of men forget their principles, and pay to superior worth an involuntary tribute of sympathy or ap- plause. We ought to think well of human nature when we see how frequently the most profligate minds are generous without reflection. But if a case should happen, wherein a character not merely of private virtue, but of public merit, receives an in- sult equally indecent and ungrateful, this common concern is increased by that share of interest, which every man claims to him- self in the public welfare. A government, shameless or ill-advised enough to treat with disregard the obligation due to public services, not only sets a most pernicious example to its subjects, but does a flagrant injury to society, which every member of it ought to resent. Reflections such as these crowded upon my mind the moment that I heard that the late commander-in-chief in America had been dismissed without cere- mony from his government of Virginia. I was grieved to see such a man so treated, but when I considered this step as an omen of the real resolution of the ministry with respect to America, I forgot, as he himself will do, the private injury, and lamented nothing but the public misfortune. At a time when the most backward of the king's servants have been compelled to acknow- ledge the necessity of vigorous measures, when these measures are held out to the nation with a declaratory assurance that" vow at last zue are determined, the resolu- tion to deprive sir Jeffery Amherst of his post in America cannot but be received as a direct contradiction to all those professions. If they had sincerely meant to do their duty to their country ; if they had really adopted measures of vigour, and wished to carry them into execution, instead of depriving him of his post, they would have solicited him to return to America, and take upon him the conduct of those measures. His pnidence and moderation are as well known as his spirit and firmness, and who will dare to say that he would have refused an employment which the service of his king and country called upon him to accept? He went to America in circum- stances as little favourable as the present ; he met an enemy at all times formidable, and at that juncture strengthened by suc- cess. He conquered that enemy, and united the dominion of the whole continent to Great Britain. In every light he was the man to have been chosen, if the ministry had really meant to execute their own re- solution with vigour. But if it be their design to surrender every point to America, they could not have acted more consistently with such a plan, than by dismissing sir Jeffery Amherst from his post, and appoint- ing lord Boutetort to succeed him. No collusive bargain could have been made with the former, nor any base unworthy compliances expected from him. He had honour, as much as any man, to lose, nor even felt the necessity of repairing a broken fortune. Had he been entrusted with a command upon this important occasion, he would have executed the declared, not the secret, purpose of the administration. With such a character it is easy to see how imfit he was to be trusted with the conduct of measures destined to perish at their birth. But although he might not be entitled to the confidence of the king's serv- ants, in what instance has he deserved such ungratefnl treatment? Could they find no other man to mark out to the pub- lic as an object of slight and disrespect ? Could the wantonness of their power find no other way of providing for a needy dependant ? Surely, Sir, the choice was at least injudicious. Lord Hillsborough might have found some more honourable method of distinguishing his entrance into adminis- tration ; nor do I think it a very favourable MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 339 omen to lord Boutetort, that his patrons have fixed upon Virginia as a retreat for his distresses. Seven years are too many to spare out of a hfe of sixty, to say nothing of the rarity of a man's returning from that country and surviving the next sessions. L. L. LETTER XXXI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 6 August, 1768. Whether it be matter of honour or reproach, it is at least a singular circum- stance, that whoever is hardy enough to maintain the cause of Great Britain against subjects who disown her authority, or to raise his voice in defence of the laws and constitution, is immediately pointed out to the public for Mr Grenville's friend. From such language one would think that the order of things was inverted, and that con- spiracy had changed its nature. Mr Gren- ville and his friends it seems are suspected of some dangerous designs, not to destroy, but to preserve the laws and constitution of their country. This is certainly a reproach of the latest invention. I know there are men whose characters are safe against sus- picions of this sort, and who form their friendships upon other more useful maxims. But whether it be owing to the weakness of his understanding, or to the simplicity of his heart, that he pursues a conduct so useless to himself and so suspicious to the administration, it is surely a pardonable error, and what an Englishman may yet forgive. It is true he professes doctrines which would be treason in America, but, in England at least, he has the laws of his side, and if it be a crime to support the supremacy of the British legislature, the Sovereign, the Lords, and Commons are as guilty as he is. The ministry indeed have no share in the charge, audit would be un- candid not to confess that their regard for the honour and interest of this country is upon the same level with their friendship for Mr Grenville. For my own part, whatever your corre- spondents. Moderator and Tandem, may think of me, I shall content myself with some interior feelings which I fancy they are not much acquainted with ; nor will I perplex them with a language they are in- capable of understanding. WTiether I am determined by motives which an honest man might profess, or by such as those gentlemen usually act upon, is a point that will not admit of demonstration. I shall therefore leave their principles out of the question, and try what their arguments amount to. Moderator and I are, for the most part, agreed. He allows ' that government is sunk into a contemptible state ; that their measures have failed of success, and is con- I vinced that if the reverse had been prac- j tised, the mischief had been avoided.' j What conclusion his understanding will i draw from these premises, I do not know ; but I think the most violent enemy of the present administration could not have argued more strongly for a change of I hands and a change of measures. The author of the second letter, finding nothing that will answer his purpose in the present state of things, is obliged to carry us back to the original question of the right ! and expediency of taxing America. I shall not enter into the question of right, because it has been already determined by the legis- lature, to which an Englishman still owes some degree of submission. For the matter of expediency, an advocate for the present ministry seems to me to arraign his patrons when he argues against it. One part of them uniformly concurred with Mr Gren- ville in forming the Stamp Act, and in opposing the repeal of it. The other, to serve the purposes of party, repealed that act, yet showed by their conduct that they approved of the equitable principle on which it was founded, that America should contribute a Uttle to the support of the public expense. The repeal of the Stamp Act has been followed by other acts more 390 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. offensive to the colonies, more directly ex- erting the right of taxation, and which will hardly be executed without some extra- ordinary efforts on the part of government. Was the act for suspending the assembly of New York recommended by Mr Gren- ville ? Or was it he who advised the duties on paper, glass, &c. imported into the colonies? No, Sir, his successors have paid him the highest compliment by imi- tating the system which they had affected to condemn ; and in fact they have carried his principles further than he did, or pro- bably than he would have carried them. But it is the natural defect of a weak di- vided administration, that they can neither resolve with moderation, nor execute with firmness. As to the questions which your last cor- respondent puts to me, with a sort of heat and petulance not very decent, one plain answer will, I believe, be sufficient. If the pretensions of the colonies had not been abetted by something worse than a faction here, the Stamp Act would have executed itself. Eveiy clause of it was so full and explicit that it wanted no further instruc- tion ; nor was it of that nature that re- quired a military hand to carry it into I execution. For the tmth of this answer I am ready to appeal even to the Americans themselves. As to the merit of having ! foreseen the unavoidable consequences of an inconsistent irresolute system of mea- sures, I shall place it as low as your corre- spondent can desire. Even he might have foreseen what has happened without wait- ing for the event. But to foretell those consequences ; — to speak truth to the nation ; — to warn even an adversary of his danger ; to persevere in this upright manly conduct, is indeed a merit of another sort, and reserved for other virtues.^ Your correspondent confesses that Mr Grenville is still respectable ; yet he warns the friends of that gentleman not to pro- voke him, lest he should tell them what they may not like to hear. These are but words. He means as little when he threat- ens as when he condescends to applaud. Let us meet upon the fair ground of truth, and if he finds one vulnerable part in Mr Grenville's character, let him fix his poison- ed arrow there. 'The following letter from IVIr G. Grenville to Mr Knox, formerly under secretary of state to lord Hillsborough, is extracted from the second volume of a small work published by Mr Knox, entitled 'Extra Official State Papers,' and is here copied to give the reader an idea of the political sentiments entertained by Mr Gren- ville with respect to America, as developed by himself in his private correspondence with this gentleman. Dear Sik, ]roolton, 28 A>/£-//si, 176S. The account which you gave to me in your letter of the 23rd of this month, of the late transactions at Boston, seems so natural a con- sequence of the measures taken in Great Britain, and the state and temper of the government here, that whatever degree of concern it may give me, I cannot feel the least surprise at it. If the eyes of those who are most interested in this most unhappy situation had been sooner opened to the most obvious truths, many mischiefs might have been prevented ; if the authentic proofs which they have now received of what has happened, is not sufficient to convince them, I will venture to foretell without a spirit of pro- phecy, greater calaiuities -will, when it is too late, rouse them ayid the -whole kin^domfrom tlu lethargy, as to all public ifieasures, into zvhich they have been plunged. I have long feared that the conduct holden in Great Britain ■would encourage and delude the subjects 0/ A merica, till they would come to extremities 0/ one kind, ■u.'hij.h luould too probably end in extremities on the other side. I may appeal to you, as a private man, and as a member of par- liament, to my public declarations, that my ! opinions upon this subject have ever been uni- formly the same. Thej' will still continue to be , so, until I see much better reasons for changing [ them, than any which I have yet heard. What I prospect there can now be that they will be [ attended with success, I cannot pretend to an- swer ; but if there is no plan formed upon the sound principles of this constitution, supported both by firmness and tamper, I can answer, that no good success in the present difficult situation, can arise from one desultory measure after another. The respect and affection of its sub- jects is the basis on which every wise govern- ment must be founded ; but if that foundation has been once overturned, it is not the work of a day to temper the materials, so as to unite and rebuild them, especially if the workmen shall be daily changed, and c.-tch work by a different rule and hne from that of his predecessor. I am, &c. Edit. GEO. GRENVILLE. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 391 LETTER XXXII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 10 August, 1768. Your new correspondent Vir- gin ius might have saved himself the trou- ble of dating his letter from the Carolina ^ coffee-house. We are a little better ac- quainted than he imagines with the style of the secretary of state's office, as well as with the facts respecting sir Jeffery Am- herst's dismission. When he calls lord Boutetort the best of men, I suppose he means the best of courtiers. If bowing low and carr>-ing the sword of state con- stitute merit and services, I confess there are few men to whom government is more indebted than to his Lordship. As to those insinuations which Virginius calls malevo- lent, it would have answered his purpose a little better if he could have proved them false. Why does he not? Because they are not only true, but notoriously true. What say you to the copper mines, Vir- ginius ? I fancy his Lordship would not have been so fond of residing in Virginia, if he could have continued to reside here either with safety or convenience. Reflec- tions on characters merely private, ought, I own, to be discouraged. But let it be remembered that this courtier might have lived and died in obscurity, if he had not forced himself into the public notice, by robbing another man of an appointment, expressly given him in reward for the most honourable national ser\-ices. The discon- tent of the province of Virginia at being governed by a lieutenant-governor instead of a governor is a mere fiction trumped up by lord Hillsborough and his secretary to serve this dirty purpose ; it was never heard of before, and if sir Jeffery Amherst was really desired to repair to his government, it was not only a most scandalous breach of conditions with him, but a most im- pudent mockery. Lord Hillsborough knew it was impossible he could return to America to be under the command of general Gage, and that therefore he might put the alter- native to him with safety. By this farce lord Hillsborough thought he could throw a colour upon the matter, and that the nation would be misled by it. What a poor contemptible artifice ! Thus it usually happens with bunglers. They cannot even be mischievous with de.xterity, nor do a public injury without insulting the public understanding. LUCIUS. LETTER XXXIII. TO thj: printer of the public ADVERTISER. Sir, 19 August, 1768. The greatest part of my property having been invested in the funds, I could not help paying some attention to rumours or events, by which my fortune might be affected : yet I never lay in wait to take advantage of a sudden fluctuation, much less would I make myself a bubble to bulls and bears, or a dupe to the pernicious arts practised in the alley. I thought a prudent man, who had any thing to lose, and really meant to do the best for himself and his family, ought to consider of the state of things at large, of the prospect before him, and the probability of particular events. A letter which appeared some days ago in the Public Advertiser, revived many serious reflections of this sort in my mind, because it seemed to be written with candour and judgment. The effect of those reflections was, that I did not hesitate to alter the situation of my property. I owe my thanks to that writer that I am safely landed from a troubled ocean of fear and anxiety, on which I think I never will venture my for- tune and my happiness again. Perhaps it may not be useless to individuals to see the motives on which I have acted. In the first place, I consider this country as in a situation the like of v/hich it never experienced before, but which the greatest empires have experienced in their turn. The successes of the late war had placed us 392 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. at the highest pinnacle of military glory. Every external circumstance seemed to contribute to our prosperity ; the most formidable of our enemies were reduced, and commerce had promised to increase with the extent of our dominion. But at this point I fear we met with our ne plus ultra. The greatness of a kingdom cannot long be stationary. That of Great Britain carried in itself an interior principle of weakness and decay. While the war con- tinued, our superiority at sea gave us an exclusive commerce with the richest quar- \ ters of the world, and supplied us with wealth to support such efforts as no nation ''' ever made before. But when the conclu- ' sion of peace had restored our rivals to the enjoyment of their former trade, the very efforts which had maintained tlie war ren- dered it impossible for us to meet those rivals upon equal terms in foreign markets. The national debt had risen to a point so far beyond the reach of economical specu- lations, that the diminution of the principal almost ceased to be a question, and the ministry found difficulty enough in provid- ing funds for payment of the interest. Here then we find an interior principle of decay, the operation of which is not less certain than fatal. The increase of your debt requires a proportionate increase of trade, at the same time that it not only prevents that increase, but operates in the contrary direction. A newspaper will not admit of such a deduction, or I would un- dertake to demonstrate, that all the profit- able part of our foreign trade is lost, and that in what remains the balance is con- siderably against us. But the fact is notorious. The situation of our East-India trade is so far altered for the better, that we do not send such quantities of bullion as heretofore to China, and indeed we have it not to send. Yet the resources of this trade are at the best but precarious : nor is the balance of it even now clearly in our favour. A single defeat in India (an event not quite out of the limits of possibility) would go near to annihilate the company. But it was in the colonies that our best and surest hopes were founded. Their exclu- sive commerce would have supported our home manufactures, when other markets failed, and rewarded us in some measure for that security and extent of dominion which the blood and treasure of this coun- try had purchased for them. Here too our most reasonable expectations are disap- pointed. Not only the merchant who gives credit on the security of personal good faith is ruined by it, but, in a public view, the sum of the debts of individuals is held out in terrorem, to awe us into a compliance with pretensions which shake the founda- tion of our political existence. We shall be woefully deceived if we form our calcu- lations of the real state of trade, on the large commissions, long credit, or extensive enterprises of particular merchants. The commercial prosperity of a nation depends upon the certainty of the return, not on the magnitude of the venture. As things are now managed in the city, the greatest house falls first, and draws with it the ruin of a multitude of little ones. Next to the parties immediately concerned, the public creditors will be the first to feel the conse- quences of this ruinous system. The funds allotted for their security, depend chiefly upon the produce of the customs ; these depend upon your trade, and it requires no prophet to foretell, that a false and ruinous system of trade cannot long be maintained. It begins with private beggary, and ends in public ruin. I do not pretend to say that the landholder will be quite at his ease, when public credit is shaken. But his at least is a solid security ; the other a mere bubble, which the first rude breath of ill- fortune or of danger may reduce to nothing. I wish it could be proved, that any one circumstance in this representation is false or exaggerated. On the other hand, if it be true, the concealment of a moment more or less signifies nothing. It is agreed on all hands, that we are in no condition to meet a war. Our enemies know and presume upon it. The experience of many centuries sufficiently proves, that their natural restlessness will not long permit MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 393 them to observe the conditions of any peace. At present they have other addi- tional motives to draw them into action. The articles of the last peace dishonoured them in the eyes of Europe. Necessity alone compelled them to submit to it. As long as the necessity subsists, the peace will be maintained. In the mean time, they hazard such strokes as would be a just foundation of a war, if we had strength or spirits to renew it. Dunkirk remains un- demolished, and Corsica i is added to the dominion of France. They know the miserable state of our finances, the distrac- tion and weakness of our government, and above all, the alarming differences which threaten a rupture with our colonies. To suppose that they will not take advantage of these circumstances, is supposing that a few years have changed the stamina of a French constitution. On the other hand, to say that they are as little in a condition to make war as ourselves is mere trifling. Their enterprises prove the contrary. Their finances are upon a much better footing than ours, and at the worst, they have a remedy, which a British parliament will never make use of, but in the last e.vtrem- ity. The French apply it without scruple, and, as far as I can observe, without any bad effect to themselves. In short, they consider our weakness more than their own strength, in adherence to their old policy, que la/oiblesse de I'ennemi faii notre pro- pre force. A prudent man, whose property is in the funds, would do well to consider the truth of this representation. What security has he, when the slightest rumour of bad news from America robs him of four or five per cent, upon his capital, w^hen worse news from that quarter is expected every hour, and when the expectation of a foreign war is founded on facts and reasoning strong enough to constitute the clearest moral certainty? To say that public credit has hitherto passed safely through the fiery * See Letters III. and XII., in which the sub- ject is again mentioned by the author and ex- plained in the notes. — Edit. trial of war and rebellion, proves nothing. No conclusion can be drawn from a debt of forty-six millions, at which it stood in 1740, to the present debt of one hundred and forty millions. At that time our re- sources were hardly known, at this period they are known and exhausted. We are arrived at that point when new taxes either produce nothing, or defeat the old ones, and when new duties only operate as a prohibition ; yet these are the times. Sir, when every ignorant boy thinks himself fit to be a minister.2 Instead of attendance to objects of national importance, our worthy governors are contented to divide their time between private pleasures and ministerial intrigues. Their activity is just equal to the persecution of a prisoner in the King's Bench, 3 and to the honourable struggle of providing for their dependants. If there be a good man in the king's service, they dis- miss him of course ; and when bad news arrives, instead of uniting to consider of a remedy, their time is spent in accusing and reviling one another. Thus the debate concludes in some half misbegotten mea- sure, which is left to execute itself. Away they go : — one retires to his country-house ; another is engaged at a horse-race ; a third has an appointment with a prostitute; — and as to their country, they leave her, like a cast off mistress, to perish under the dis- eases they have given her. ATTICUS. LETTER XXXIV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 23 August, 1768. Amidst the general indignation which has been excited by the marked affront lately put upon sir Jeffery Amherst, it is odd to find people puzzling themselves about the motives which have actuated ad- ministration in this extraordinary procedure. ^ The duke of Grafton was first lord of the Treasury at this period. — Edit. 3 Wilkes.— Edit. 394 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Nothing is more short and easy than the solution of this affected difficulty. They were ordered to act in this manner. The public knows, and can iknow, no other reason. The ministry know, and de- sire to know, no other reason. They have not the slightest quarrel with sir Jeffery Amhers:. They have not the most trivial regard f:: lord Boutetort. Some of them arc known even to hate his Lordship ; the rest are scarcely acquainted with him ; but they have received the order, and that is enough for them. Their whole political system is wrapped up in one short maxim — ' My aitt/ior a.c\d disposer I what thou bid'st, Unargued I obey ! ' In this lesson they are perfect to a miracle ; and the signal proof they have just given of their daring and determined servility, shows them altogether worthy of that confidence which the favourite so wisely reposed in them (during his pleasure), the depositaries of his intentions, and the trustees of his power. But although it be in vain to seek for any higher principle than blind obedience in the formal and executive members of the ministry, it is worth while to examine a little more minutely the motives which might actuate in this affair, the secret but deliberative and guiding part of adminis- tration. Can we believe from the monstrousness, or can we doubt from the notoriety, of the fact, that the political principles held by the present governor of Virginia, during the greatest part of his Ufe, and avowed almost without a mask, could be his sole recommendation to that employment ? Can we believe that these principles constitute such a transcendent degree of merit, as makes it necessary to reward its possessor at the expense of the national honour, gratitude, and safety ? Such merit must be served in any way, and at any price. A peerage, which every one knows could not be had without the royal countenance, was not sufficient. It was too little that he was put into an honourable employment near I the person of his sovereign. After an un- successful attempt to reward him further by a violation of our laws in an illegal patent, he is now to be provided for by the ruin of our affairs iu a critical and import- ant government. As a part of this system, and in order to give it a due roundness and relief, it was thought proper not only to affront living merit, but to insult and trample upon the sacred ashes of the dead. It was not forgot under whose patronage sir Jeffery Amherst first appeared in the world. It was not forgot tliat he was one of the many public benefits derived to this country from that great school of military knowledge and loyal sentiments, the family of the late duke of Cumberland. Here was a glorious opportunity of cherishing a true friend to despotism, and at the same time of insult- ing the memory of him who had been tlie heavy scourge, and (it was once hoped) the final destroyer of that cause. This oppor- tunity was not lost. To return : I have said that the justly obnoxious principles at which I have hinted, constitute, or seem at least to con- stitute, the sole merit of the new governor. If the friends of the ministry can discover any other, they would be very kind to men- tion them. The public looks upon this transaction in a very serious light. Nothing but the strongest conviction that the very salvation of America depends upon the abilities of lord Boutetort, can reconcile them to the affront which has been put upon sir Jeffery Amherst. They derive no consolation from beii^.g told that this meritorious commander had received a previous intimation to repair to his government, with which he showed himself unwilling to comply. They are as dissatisfied as ever ; first, because the fact itself, standing upon no higher authority than ministerial assertion, will be disputed. Falsehood is a servile vice ; and to the im- putation of that vice people in a slavish condition, whether low or high (for servi- tude, as well as hell, has its ranks and dig- nities), will always be subject ; especially if ministers are known to have found the MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 395 dexterous art of splitting themselves, and possessing one character in which to pro- mise, and another in which to act.^ But with all the advantage of their sup- ple habits, and of their double characters, will they venture to assert, that the arrange- ment in favour of lord Boutetort was not determined upon before they had con- sulted sir Jeffery Amherst concerning a residence in Virginia? In the next place, did they not know that his residence in the character of governor in America, where he had before commanded in chief, was a thing incompatible with all the ideas entertained by military men concerning rank and pre- cedence ? And if so, was not the order for residence given (if it was given) that it might be disobeyed ? Is it not an heavy aggravation, instead of the least excuse for their offence ? Lastly, the public would be glad to know how it comes that this grand ministerial reformation was taken up in this single instance ; it made no part of a general arrangement. If it were done in consider- ation of the colonies, let me ask, whether the people of Virginia have lately com- plained of the absence of their governor, under which they have acquiesced upwards of fifty years ? If it was done on the part of Great Britain, again let me enquire whether the lieutenant-governors, who have acted during those fifty years, have wanted authority, knowledge, or capacity ? If they did, in what manner is the defect supplied by the new appointment? Is the new governor invested with any larger powers than the late lieutenant-governors ? Or is he endued with a greater degree of experi- ence, knowledge, or sagacity for the exer- cise of those powers ? No, no ; the manner of filling the vacancy made by the removal of sir Jeffery Amherst sets in the broad glare of day-light the true reasons for making it ; it was not done to reform a pubUc abuse, but to accommodate a private job ; it was not Virginia that wanted a ' See Miscellaneous Letter, No. XXI. Edit. governor, but a court favourite that wanted the salary. I cannot help observing in the ministerial writings with which the papers have been j lately filled, that much scurrilous abuse has been thrown out against the Whig party and Whig principles. Permit me to con- gratulate the ministers on this well-chosen topic : the defence is worthy of the cause. They tell us, that all party distinctions ought to be done away, and that men of all kinds ought to have an equal share in pub- lic employment. This notion, taken with due corrections, has some sense, but in their application much absurdity. No man would prevent the public from being served by the abilities of any person, because he might have the misfortune in some time of his life to be mistaken in his political opin- ions or connexions. But every Whig thinks it fair, that persons under such cir- cumstances should be obliged to produce some other merit besides those mistakes ; and that they should give some other proofs of their conversion to the principles of our happy establishment, than their ne- cessity, or their desire of partaking in the emoluments which it has to bestow. This surely is the sentiment and lan- guage of candour and moderation. This ought to be the inviolable rule where the question is concerning offices of trust, and which require weight and ability for their execution. When the question is concern- ing the mere graces of the crown, the rule is, to become even more severe ; and every lover of the constitution must think it a crime hardly less than treason in those who shall advise a court to discountenance the fiimilies which have promoted the revolu- tion, and at the same time to load with its favours those who (reconciled by profit, not by opinion) have ever been the declared enemies both of the revolution, and of every benefit we derive from the happy event. You may hear again from Your humble servant, VALERIUS. 3g6 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XXXV. TO THE EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH. My Lord, 29 Ati^^ust, 1768. The honourable lead you have taken in the affiiirs of America, hath drawn upon you the whole attention of the public. You declared yourself the single minister for that country, and it was very proper you should convince the world you were so, by marking your outset with a coup d'eclat. The dismission of sir Jeffery Amherst has given a perfect establishment to your authority, and I presume you will not think it necessary or useful to hazard strokes of this sort hereafter. It will be adviseable at least to wait until this affair is forgotten, and, if you continue in office till that happens, you will surely be long enough a minister to satisfy all your am- bition. The world attributes to your Lordship the entire honour of sir Jeffery Amherst's dismission, because there is no other person in the cabinet, who could be supposed to have a wish or motive to give such advice to the crown. The duke of Grafton and the chancellor were once lord Chatham's friends. However their views may now be altered, they must know it would disgrace them in the eyes of the public, to offer an unprovoked outrage to a man whose con- duct and execution had contributed not a Uttle to their patron's glory. The duke of Bedford and his friends have uniformly held forth sir Jeffery Am- herst as the first military man in this coun- try ; — they have quoted him on all occa- sions, when military knowledge was in question, and even been lavish in his praise. Besides, they openly disclaim any share in this measure, and they are believed. The earl of Shelburne usually finds him- self in opposition, therefore is not too often consulted. In this instance he certainly did not concur with the majority. He still is, or pretends to be, attached to lord Chat- ham, and I fancy he is not yet so cordially reconciled to the loss of the American de- partment, as to dishonour himself merely to oblige your Lordship. You will not venture to insinuate that sir Jeffery Amherst was dismissed by the ad- vice of lord Granby or sir Edward Hawke. Military men have a sense of honour which your Lordship has no notion of. They feel for a gallant officer who had his full share in the toils and honour, and had some right to a share, in the profits of the war. They feel for the army and the navy. Lord Granby himself has some emoluments be- sides his power, and sir Edward Hawke has his pension. Nobly earned I confess, but not better desen-ed than by the labours which conquered America in America. Besides, my Lord, the commander-in-chief is the patron of the army. It was a com- mon cause which he could not desert with- out infamy and reproach. Lord Granby is not a man to take his tone from any minis- ter. Where his honour is concerned, he scorns to adopt an humble ministerial lan- guage ; he never would say — that indeed sir Jeffery Amherst zuas rather unreasona- ble — that his terms were exorbitant, that he had still two regiments left ; atid might well be contented. — This is a language it is impossible he should hold, while he himself is master-general of the ordnance, colonel of the blues, and commander-in-chief, with a whole family upon the staff. He knows the value, and could not but be sensible of the loss, of those honourable rewards which his distinguished capacity, his care of the I public money, and his able conduct in ' Germany had justly entitled him to. I think I have now named all the cabinet but the earl of Chatham. His infirmities have forced him into a retirement, where I presume he is ready to suffer, with a sullen submission, every in- sult and disgrace that can be heaped upon a miserable, decrepit, worn out old man. But it is impossible he should be so far active in his own dishonour, as to advise the taking away an employment, given as a reward for the first military success that distinguished his entrance into administra- tion. He is indeed a compound of contra- MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 397 dictions, but his letter to sir Jeffery Amherst stands upon record, and is not to be ex- plained a\vay. You know, my Lord, that Mr Pitt therein assured sir Jeffer}- Amherst, that the government of Virginia was given him merely as a reward, and solemnly pledged the royal faith that his residence should never be required. Lost as he is, he would not dare to contradict this letter. If he did, it would be something more than madness. The disorder must have quitted his head, and fixed itself in his heart. The business is now reduced to a point ; cither your Lordship advised this measure, or it happened by accident. You must suffer the whole reproach, for you are entitled to all the honour of it. What then is apparently the fact ? one of your cringing, bowing, fawning, sword-bearing brother courtiers ^ ruins himself by an enterprise,- which would have ruined thousands if it had succeeded. It becomes necessary to send him abroad. Sir Jeffery Amherst is one of the mildest and most moderate of men ;— ergo, such a man will bear any thing. His government will be a handsome provision for Boutetort, and if he frets — why he may have a pension. Your emissaries lose their labour, when they talk with so much abhorrence of sine- cures, non-residence, and the necessity of the king's service. You are conscious, my Lord, that these are pompous words with- out a shadow of meaning. The whole nation is convinced that the fact is such as I have stated it. But to make it a Uttle plainer, I shall ask your Lordship a few questions, to which the pubhc will expect, and your reputation, if you have any regard for it, demands, that you should give an immediate and strict answer, 1. When the government of Virginia was offered to sir Jeffery Amherst, did he not reply, that his miUtary employments took up all his time, and that he could not accept the government if residence were expected ? 2. Did not Mr Pitt, then secretary of state, assure him in the king's name, that * Lord Boutetort. ' The W y Company. it was meant only as a mark of his Majesty's favour, and that his residence would never be expected ? 3. Has there ever been any further mark of favour conferred upon this gentleman, for all those important services, which suc- ceeded the conquest of Cape Breton ? But now for questions of a later date. 1. Was not lord Boutetort's appointment absolutely fixed, on or before Sunday the 31st of July ? 2. Had sir Jeffery Amherst the least inti- mation of the measure before Thursday the 4th of August ? 3. Was it not then mentioned to him in general terms, as a measure merely in con- templation, without the most distant hint that lord Boutetort, or any other person, was actually in possession of his govern- ment. 4. Did not lord Boutetort kiss hands the next day, that is, on Friday tlie 5th of August ? 5. Did you not dare to tell your sove- reign that sir Jefteiy Amlierst was perfectly satisfied, when you knew your treatment of him was such as the vilest peasant could not have submitted to without resentment ? Finally, my Lord, is it not a fact, that sir Jeffery Amherst, having been called upon some time ago to give his opinion upon a measure of the highest importance in America, gave it directly against a favourite scheme of your Lordship ; and is not this the real cause of all your antipathy to him ? Your heart tells you that it is. Now, my Lord, you have voluntarily embarked in a most odious, perhaps it may prove to you a most dangerous, business. Your Pylades will sneak away to his govern- ment ; but you must stand the brunt of it here. For the questions which I have pro- posed to you, I must tell you plainly, that they must and shall be answered. You may affect to take no notice of them, perhaps, and tell us yoic treat them with the contempt they deserve. Such an expe- dient may be wise and spirited enough when applied to a declaration cf rebellion on the part of the colonies, and God 398 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. knows it luis succeeded admirably. But it shall not avail you here. Num iicgare audes ? Quid iaces ? Convincntn si nrgas. LUCIUS. LETTER XXXVI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, '^'^ August, tjG'S. I SHALL not pretend to enter into the merits of sir Jcffery Amherst's dismis- sion froni his government of Virginia. I'lverybody knows he deserves a great deal of the public : and if what I have heard be true, even the present administration do not refuse it him. But there are a number of busy incendiaries, who use every means to poison the minds of the good people of England, and to abuse those in power, whoever they are. These neither inquire into the truth of the matter, nor do they fail to show the most disagreeable view of every action of the ministry. An impudent varlet, Y. Z., in this day's paper, talks of forty or fifty lives lost in St George's fields. When was it? Others have heaped toge- ther a parcel of ill-natured lies, and given it the name of an account of the dismission of sir Jeffery Amherst. The particulars of sir Jeffery Amherst's dismission, I am told, are as follow : for very urgent reasons it had been determined the governor-general of every province in America should reside. Upon which lord Hillsborough wrote a letter to sir Jeffery, acquainting him of this resolution. After making very honourable mention of his service in America, how much his country was obliged to him for that activity, steadi- ness, and courage, which so eminently dis- tinguished the commander, and which from his example diffused itself through the whole army, by which means the British arms were crowned with success, and the war so happily concluded in that part of the world ; he mentioned the very high opinion his Majesty had of him both as a man and as a soldier, and how nuich it would be to his satisfaction, was it suitable to sir Jeffery's inclinations and circum- stances, to go to Virginia and take upon him the supreme command in that pro- vince : but if it was not convenient, he might depend on it, that his Majesty would take the earliest opportunity of doing jus- tice to his merits, by making him a recom- pence equivalent at least to the loss of his government. This letter was scarce finished when sir Jeffery Amherst called at lord Hillsbo- rough's on some other business. His Lordship took that opportunity to explain the intentions of administration by such a mcasm-e, gave him the letter, and sir Jef- fery seemed to be convinced of the necessity of the arrangement, acquiesced in the pro- posals made to him, and went away to all appearance well satisfied. If it was next day, or not, I know not, but sir Jeffery very soon after this demand- ed an audience of his Majesty, and resigned the command of his regiments. This not being accepted of, and the min- istry willing to keep such a man in the service, and not wishing to give cause for his resignation, endeavoured to reason with him ; upon which he (sir Jeffery Amherst) delivered or sent to the duke of Grafton the following articles of accommodation. 1. A British peerage to himself, and failing heirs of his body, to descend to his brother the colonel. 2. A recompence equivalent to the loss of his government. 3. An exclusive right of working the coal mines at Louisburg to him and his heirs for ever. 4. A grant of lands in America to a cer- tain extent. 5. And in case it should be judged ex- pedient to create American peers, that he should have the pre-eminence. The duke of Grafton on receiving this, begged to see sir Jeffery. Who sent him word, if the interview was intended to in- | duce him to lower his demands, it was | totally unnecessary. His Grace then went MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 399 to him, and gave him the following answers. 1. British peerages were generally given to such, whose opulent fortunes enabled them to support that high dignity. This reason he apprehended sir Jeffery could not plead. 2. It always had been his Majesty's in- tentions to make him a recompcnce equi- valent to his government. 3. Reiisons political and commercial for- bade the working of the American coal mines at all. 4. He might have the grant of lands in America, when, where, and to what extent he pleased ; but he did not apprehend there was the least reason to make the fifth demand, as he supposed a creation of American peers would never take place. Sir Jeffery Amherst's regiments are not given away. I shall make no comment on this. I tell it as a fact, which I have heard from what people call good authority. The dismission of an experienced and deserving commander requires some attention ; and there can be no harm in making the public acquainted with it. The number of falsehoods that have been spread abroad about this trans- action have induced me to send you this. I must tell you, however, that my in- formation is second-hand ; but it may have this good effect, even if not true, to induce those who know the contrary to do as I have done. I shall therefore conclude with this question : are these things true or not? CLEOPHAS. * This letter was at length published, Nov. 2, and is as follows. Sir, Harcover Sqiiarc, 27 July, 1768. I AM commanded by the king to acquaint you, that his Majesty, upon a consideration of the dispatches lately received from Virginia, thinks it necessary for his service, that his go- vernor of that colony should immediately repair to his government ; and at the same time, to ex- press to you the high opinion his Majesty has of your ability to serve him in that situation. But it is not the king's intention to press you to go upon that service, imless it shall be perfectly agreeable to your inclination, as well as entirely convenient to you. His Majesty does not forget, that the government of Virginia was conferred upon you as a mark of royal favour, and as a LETTER XXXVII. TO THE EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH. My Lord, i September, 1768. In the ordinary course of life, a regularity of accounts, a precision in points of fact, and a punctual reference to dates, form a strong presumption of integrity. On the other hand, an apparent endeavour to perplex the order and simplicity of facts, to confound dates, and to wander from the main question, are shrewd signs of a rotten cause and of a guilty conscience. Let the public determine between your Lordship and me. You have forfeited all title to re- spect ; but I shall treat you with tenderness and mercy, as I would a criminal at the bar of justice. In your letter signed Cleophas, you are pleased to assume the character of a person half informed. We understand the use of this expedient. You avail yourself of every thing that can be said for you by a third person, without being obHged to abide by the apology, if it should fail you. My Lord, this is a paltry art, unworthy of your station, unworthy of every thing but the cause you have undertaken to defend. While you pursue these artifices it is im- possible to know on what principles you really rest your defence. But you may shift your ground as often as you please ; you shall gain no advantage by it. Your Lordship, under the character of Cleophas, is exactly acquainted with particulars, which could only be known to a few per- sons, w'nile you totally forget a series of facts known to thousands. You can repeat every article of your own letter to sir Jef- fery Amherst,! though your own memory reward for the very great services you have done for the public, so much to your own honour, and so much to the advantage of this kingdom, and therefore his Majesty is very solicitous that you should not mistake his gracious intention on this occasion. If you choose to go immediately to your go- vernment, it will be extremely satisfactory to his Majesty ; if you do not, his Majesty wishes to appoint a new governor, and to continue to you in some other shape, that emolument which was, P 2 "-) 400 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. be too weak to recollect on what day lord Boutetort's appointment was fixed, on what day he kissed hands, and on what day the design was opened to sir Jeffery Amherst. These, it seems, are circumstances of no importance, and to say the truth, I believe they are such as you w ould willingly forget. I am glad to find, however, that the ac- knowledgment of sir Jeffery Amherst's merit and sen-ices could not be more full and formal than as it is stated in your letter to him. Upon that point then we are agreed. You say sir Jeffery Amherst, at your first conversation, seemed satisfied. My Lord, I must tell you, that when a secretary of state assures sir Jeftery Amherst that any particular measure is necessary for the king's service, he is too good a subject to set his private interest in opposition to the public welfare. But did you tell him that his government had been given away four da}s ])efore ? Did you not speak of it as a measure in futunim, which was not to take place till he was perfectly satisfied ? In short, did you tell him that lord Boutetort was to kiss hands next morning ? Answer these questions like a man and a gentle- man. When sir Jeffery Amherst found that all this pretended necessity of the king's service ended in a provision for a ruined courtier, he felt the indignation of a man as I have said before, intended as a mark of the royal sense of your meritorious services ; it is a particular pleasure to me to have the honour of expressing to you these very favourable senti- ments of our royal master. To add any thing from myself, would be a degree of presumption ; I will therefore only request the favour of your answer, as soon as may be convenient, and take the liberty to assure you, that I am, HILLSBOROUGH. The following: short note was published im- mediately in reply to it. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 5 Novetnher, 1768. To prevent any impression which may arise to the prejudice of sir Jeffery Amherst from a letter circulated by the earl of Hills- borough, and now in print, it is only necessary to observe that it is dated the 27th of July, and who has received an affront, not an injury. Your emissaries affect to say, that he was desired to repair to his government, and upon his refusal was dismissed. This you know was not the fact, so that every reason- ing built upon it falls to the ground. You never did nor could propose to him, to return to America in a rank subordinate to general Gage. It never was a question ; and indeed how should it, when his government was given away on the 31st of July, and he had not the most distant intiination that such a measure -was thought of, until Thursday the 4th of August. Mark these dates, my Lord, for you shall not escape me. After the affront had been fixed upon him in the grossest manner, he was desired to consider what satisfaction he would accept of. He then sent to the duke of Grafton the demands, which you have stated to the public. These, and the answers to them, shall now be considered. The word demand is peremptory, and unfit to be made use of by a subject in a request to the crown. It 7^1?^ not made use of by sir Jeffery Amherst, though, for the matter of it, I assert without scruple that a man of distinguished public merit, who has been signally insulted, is not in the case of a suppliant, but has a right to a signal re- paration. The duke of Grafton's idea of the proper object of a British peerage differs very that the government of Virginia was given to lord Boutetort on Sunday the 24th. This bein ; the fact, the humble fawning language of th ; secretary of state's letter, inste.ad of a compl • ment, is a real mockery and insult. A true idea of the treatment which sir J. A. has received, can only be had by observing the order of the facts. The government is given away on Sun- day. The secretary of state writes his letter on Wednesday. He and sir J. A. meet on Thurs- day. Not the most distant hint is given him that his govemrnent is actually disposed of, and lord Boutetort kissed hands next morning, 'i'his, Sir, is the treatment which sir J. A. considers as an affront, not an injury, and which he resents as he ought. If lord H. had not published his letter, I should not have thought of reviving a question on which the public was before com- pletely satisfied. A. B.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 401 materially from mine. His Grace, in the true spirit of business, looks for nothing but an opulent fortune, meaning, I presume, the fortune which can purchase as well as maintain a title. We understand his Grace, and know who dictated that article. He has declared the terms on which Jews, gamesters, pedlars, and contractors (if they have sense enough to take the hint) may rise without difficulty into British peers. There was a time indeed, though not within his Grace's memory, when titles were the reward of public virtue, and when the crown did not think its revenue ill employed in contributing to support the honours it had bestowed. It is true his Grace's family derive their wealth and greatness from a different origin ; — from a system which it seems he is determined to revive. His con- fession is frank at least, and well becomes the candour of a young man. I dare say, that if either his Grace or your Lordship had had the command of a seven years' war in America, you would have taken care that poverty, however honourable, should not have been an objection to your advance- ment ; you would not have stood in the predicament of sir Jeffery Amherst, who is refused a title of honour, because he did not create a fortune equal to it at the ex- pense of the public. For the matter of a recompence equiva- lent to his government, he repeatedly told your Lordship that the name of pension was grating to his ears ; and that he would accept of no revenue that was not at the same time honorary. Your Lordship does not know the difference, but men of honour feel it. If reasons political and commercial forbid working the coal-mines in America, that, I allow, is an answer ad hominem. It may be a true one ; yet I do not despair of seeing these very mines hereafter granted to sup- port the chastity of a minister's whore, the integrity of a pimp, or the uncorrupted blood of a bastard. His Grace is wonderfully bountiful in the article of lands : I doubt not he would with all his heart give sir Jeffery Amherst the fee-simple of every acre from the Mississippi to Cahfornia. But we shall be the less sur- prised at his generosity, when we consider that every private soldier, who served a certain time in America, was entitled to two hundred acres, and that not one man, out of perhaps twenty thousand claimants, has yet settled upon his estate. As to American peerages, if none are to be created, the request falls of course. But if such a creation had been intended, I call upon your Lordship to point out a man better entitled to precedence upon that list than sir Jeffery Amheist. Your last assertion is that his regiments are not given away. It is a matter of per- fect indifference. Yet the public has reason to believe that colonel Hotham is now colonel of the 15th regiment, and that the commission of commandant of the royal Americans only waits until it shall be deter- mined whether general Gage shall be re- called or not . Permit me now to refer your Lordship to the questions stated in my last letter, and to desire you to answer them strictly. If you do not, the public will draw its own conclusions. Your emissaries, my Lord, have rather more zeal than discretion. One of them, who calls himself A Co/isidenife Engllsh- vtan, could not write by authority, because he is entirely unacquainted with facts. His declamation therefore signifies nothing. In his assertions however there is something really not unpleasant. He assures us that your Lordship's great abilities were brought into employment to correct the blunders of Mr Pitt's administration. It puts me in mind of the consulship which Caligula intended for his horse, and of a project which Buckhorse once entertained of oblig- ing the learned world with a correct edition of the classics. LUCIUS. 402 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XXXVin. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 6 September, 1768. When' a worthless administration do a notorious act of injustice to a good man which naturally raises the indignation of the public, they are not satisfied with the first blo'cv, but their emissaries go to work to blacken the character which was fair before, in order to justify the measures of their masters. In this light I must look upon the per- formance of your correspondent Cleophas, Jun. in your paper of to-day. His assertion, ' that the duke of Grafton assured sir Jeffery Amherst that general Gage should be recalled, if sir Jeffery chose to go to his government ' is an absolute falsity ; for (and I speak from very good authority) the matter of the <:///>/ command of the troops never was mentioned, either by the duke of Grafton or any of his col- leagues. Had it been so lord Hillsborough in going his rounds (his Lordship under- stands me) would not have failed to have expatiated fully thereon ; but the letters of your masterly correspondent Lucius have drove his Lordship to the 7ncan and paltry art of employing some of his nameless de- pendants to throw out insinuations, which he knows to he false, yet, judging from the general run of mankind, flatters himself that at least part of them will be believed. My design being only to set the puplic right in regard to the assertion of sir Jeffery Amherst's being offered the chief command of the troops, which, in truth, never hap- pened, I shall take no notice of the other part of your correspondent's letter ; but leave him and his bimgling patrons to find in the list of the army an officer so fit as sir Jeffery Amherst to deal with the refractory colonists, L. L, LETTER XXXIX. For the Public Advertiser. 7 Sept. 1768. Quid enim est inimts, iion dico oraioris, sed homiiiis, quam id objicere adversaria, quod ille si verbo ncgarit, longius progredi non possii qui objecerit ? Ciceko. to the earl of hillsborough. My Lord, The bare assertion of a falsehood requires nothing more than a determined countenance. To maintain a consistent falsehood not only demands a genius of in- vention, but a faithful memory. In your Lordship's letter, signed Cleophas, jim., you are pleased to assert, tliat the duke of Grafton offered to recall general Gage in order that sir Jeffery Amherst might return to America w ith the chief command of the king's forces. Now, my Lord, I absolutely deny the fact, and as the public will not expect me to prove a negative, I shall leave it to your Lordship to produce your evi- dence, if you have any. Really, my good Lord, your letters upon business are drawn up with very little cau- tion. In one article you tell us that the chief command in America was offered to sir Jeffery Amherst, and, in the next, that he has been discovered for some time past to entertain a strong partiality for the re- fractory colonists. If both these facts were true, what an opinion must we conceive of a ministry careless and imprudent enough to intrust a man so biassed with such a command ! You see, my Lord, to what an unfortunate dilemma you have reduced yourself by a weak inconsistent defence. The rage of writing letters has brought many a wiser minister than your Lordship to an untimely end. You seem determined, my Lord, to go through the family of Cleophas. Be it so. If your pedigree extended from Denbigh to St David's, I would not cease to pursue you from father to son, until I had fairly extirpated the whole family. LUCIUS. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 403 LETTER XL. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 7 September, 1768. As I have not the least intention to enter into any dispute with Lucius, in- dulge me but this once, and give me leave to assure you it shall be the last on the subject from me ; and though this man writes so ungenteelly, that he scarce de- serves an answer, yet I could not help thinking this much necessary in justice to a nobleman, whom he has most shamefully attacked in consequence of my letter, but whose character is above the reach of malice, and who will be respected when such pests of society are no more. The account I sent you relative to the resignation of sir Jeffery Amherst I had heard publicly talked of at table, and in a coffee-house ; it was told as no secret ; but was said to be from very good authority. I sent it as a piece of intelligence without either adding or diminishing. I made no comment on it as I intended no offence. Facts were stated as they were told, and as no dates were mentioned, I gave none. I left it to the public to form opinions as they pleased ; to sir Jeffery Amherst's friends to contradict it, if they thought proper ; and it has served as a bone for curs of opposi- tion to snarl at. Though I do not mean to enter into any dispute with this fellow, yet I cannot help making a few obser\'ations on his letter. That the government of Virginia was given away, four days before the intention of administration was mentioned to sir Jeffery Amherst, I have good ground to believe is not fact : and if you, Lucius, possessed but one grain of honesty, and if you had no other intention but to communicate useful information to the public, you would have told them so : that it was apphed for even as soon as it was whispered that such a measure was to be adopted, upon the sup- position that sir Jeffery Amherst would not choose to reside, I can believe : that it was promised to lord Boutetort in case he did not, I can likewise beheve ; and this might have been four, or even fourteen, days, for aught I know, before it was mentioned ; but pray where is the harm in all this ? I fancy no measure of government is entered into immediately on its being mentioned ; it requires some time to digest. And when it was judged expedient, in consequence of the accounts from that province, to send the governor-general to reside in Virginia, it was mentioned in the tenderest manner to sir Jeflfery. No affront was ever intended. Any recompence (if he did not choose to go) in the power of administration, or in the gift of majesty, was offered him. What m.ore could he expect ? He had it in his option to go or not ; and if he did not go, he was promised an equivalent, perhaps more. As soon as this measure was sur- mised, was there any harm in lord Boute- tort's application ? Was there any fault in lord Hillsborough's promising his interest for his friend ? But is this an absolute appointment? No. All the world knows applications are made long enough before vacancies happen, and preferments are promised ; but everybody, except Lucius, can make a distinction between a promise and an absolute appointment. I dare say there were appHcations from more than one quarter before the late archbishop died ; and probably it was promised before the event happened ; but if the see had not be- come vacant, the present archbishop might have remained at Coventry. But speak out, malevolence, speak, envy, disappointment, and ill-nature. What in the name of goodness could be sir Jeffery Amherst's objection to lord Boutetort? Was it because he is a nobleman ? Be- cause he has gone to the chapel at St James's, and has carried the sword of state before his king? Because he never has in- sulted majesty, but has always behaved himself as a dutiful and loyal subject, and respectfully to his sovereign? Are these the weighty motives for objecting to his succession? Or is it still a greater crime to be poor? And do these make it an 40.V MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. affront, not an injury ? Forbid it, heaven ! Forbid it, sir Jeffery Amherst's better ge- nius ! What would you have liad, Lucius ?■ W'ould you have wished to have had the naming of sir Jeffery's successor ? What a pity you had not ! I declare you deserved it ! How could my lord Hillsborough dare to recommend without your permission ! Demands, you say, are unfit to be used from subjects requesting of the crown. Indeed, Lucius, you are right ; but many subjects now-a-days forget that they are so ! and call them by what name you please, I acknowledge these articles of accommoda- tion sent to the duke of Grafton by sir Jef- fery Amherst, or said to be sent, answer exactly to the ideas I have oi demands, and pretty peremptor}' ones too. It is strange, Lucius, that you cannot write one line without abuse. Had you made your remarks upon the duke of Graf- ton's answer to the first article without abusing his Grace, it would have been genteel ; but the scurrilous language you use, even when your arguments are just, proves that you are equally unacquainted with the gentleman, and sense of honour. I believe it is well known that no com- mander-in-chief ever made less during a long war than sir Jeffery Amherst did : and I am very sorry indeed that want of for- tune, the consequence of honesty and in- tegrity, should ever be assigned as a reason to refuse honours to those who deserve them. The honours of this country, and its treasures to support them, have often been lavished on many who deserved them less than the conqueror of America. This I think was the only exceptionable answer from the duke of Grafton. I hope it is not true. W^hatever delicate feelings you, Mr Lu- cius, may have, I know not ; but I am of opinion that sinecure places, non-resident j governments, and pensions, are in fact the same, though different in names : nay, the worst of the whole appears to me to be a non-resident governor. The very word im- plies a necessity of doing something ; in fact he does nothing : he therefore is paid for what he does not, though it is his duty to do it. In short he is paid for a neglect of duty ; but because our language has not annexed the word pension to such neglect, it does not grate his ears. And, after all, what was sir Jeffery Amherst but a pen- sioner of the colony of Virginia? he did nothing for it, and was paid. Our idea of a pension is a reward granted for past services, so was his — such as you, Lucius, such tools of opposition, such state incen- diaries, venal mercenary wretches, are glad to receive rewards of your labours infinitely less honourable than either place or pension. The duke of Grafton's other answers were unexceptionable. As to the regiments being given away, I did not know it, there- fore I am excusable. And now, Mr Lucius, I'll tell you a I secret. Your supposing my letter to come i from my lord Hillsborough, in my opinion ] did credit to the performance, and honour i to me ; but in justice to him I must declare, ! that I am not, know not, never saw, nor never spoke to the earl of Hillsborough in my life — but just as formerly, I am. &.Q.., CLEOPHAS. LETTER XLI. TO THE EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH. My Lord, 9 September, 1768. It is indifferent to the public, whe- ther the letters signed Cleophas are written by your Lordship, or under your imme- diate direction. Whoever commits this humble, begging language to paper, we know to a certainty the person by whom it is held. We know the suppliant style your Lordship has condescended to adopt at routs, at tea-tables, and in bankers' shops. But although you have changed your tone, I am bound in honour not to give you quarter. You have offended heinously against your country, and public justice demands an example for the welfare of mankind. I foresaw Cleophas would soon be dis- avowed. It seems the poor gentleman MISCELLANEOUS LETFERS OF JUNIUS. 405 never saw, nor spoke to your Lordship in his life, but just as formerly. The saving is a good one. You say your character is above the reacli of mahce. True, my Lord, you have fixed that reproach upon your character to which mahce can add nothing. You say it will be respected when such pests of society as I am are no more. I agree with you that it is very little re.spected at present, and I believe I may unluckily have been the spoil of good company ; but I doubt whether ;/// death, or even your own, will restore you to your good fame. Your peace of mind is gone for ever. After the particulars quoted by Cleophas, it looks like trifling with the public, to con- fess that his accounts were collected in a coffee-house, and that he will neither an- swer for facts nor be directed by dates. These are evasions which I scorn to imitate. My authority is indisputable ; — I have stated facts with precision, and marked the dates by which I shall invariably abide, yet Cleophas (alias your Lordship) says he has good ground to believe that the government was not given away four days before sir J. A. was apprised of it ; — he believes indeed that it was previously applied for, and that lord Boutetort had a conditional promise of it. These, it seems, are the articles of his creed ; but, as they ai^ not points of religious faith, to which there might be some merit in sacrificing our understand- ing, I presume the public is not obhged to conform to them. My questions were put strictly to points of fact and time, and have not yet been answered. Places, I doubt not, are often applied for and promised be- fore they are vacant ; but I did not expect to hear so indecent a case supposed and urged by a man in your Lordship's station, as that the see of Canterbury was promised to another, before the death of the late pious and truly reverend incumbent. You say that government was ready to make sir J. A. any recompence : yet, ex- cepting a grant of lands in a wilderness, every one of his requests was flatly denied. You ask if there was any harm in this, or any fault in that. What is this but crying pcccavi, in the very language of misery and despair? It neither suits the spirit which can do wrong with firmness, nor that purity of innocence which is conscious of having done right. If the necessity of sending over a governor to Virginia had really ex- isted, and if your Lordship had thought proper to take an early opportunity of stating that necessity to sir J. A. — if you had previously apprised him of the design of giving him a successor, and if, in con- formity to such declarations, a man of business, of judgment, or activity, had been fixed on, you surely could not have paid too great an attention to sir J. A., and you would have prevented every possible ap- pearance of an intention to affront him. As to the pecuniary injury, I will venture to say, there is not a man breathing who would have been more easily satisfied in that respect than sir J. A. — Compare this supposition with your real proceedings to- ( wards him, and though you cannot blush, I am sure you will be silent. '1 Your questions in favour of lord Route- 1 tort amount to nothing. It is not that he ' is a bad man, or an undutiful subject. But { he is a trifling character and ruined in his , fortunes. Poverty of itself is certainly not a crime. Yet the prodigality which squan- ders a fair estate, is in the first instance dishonourable ; — in the next it leads to every species of meanness and dependence, and, when it aims at a recovery at the ex- pense of better men, becomes highly crim- inal. Will your Lordship, can you, v.ith a steady countenance, affirm that it was the necessities of the state, and not his own, which sent him to Virginia ? Your Lordship may give what name you think proper to the requests proposed by sir J. A. He was desired to specify them to the duke of Grafton, and they were re- fused. It is true, he did not confine him- self to the idea of a bare equivalent for the pecuniary value of his government. A generous mind, offended by an insult equally signal and unprovoked, looks back to services long neglected, and with justice 4o6 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. unites the claim arising from those services to the insult, which of right demands a signal reparation. As you seem, in the duke of Grafton's answer to the first article, to feel and ac- knowledge your weakness, I shall not press you further upon it. The pensions given by the crown have been so scandalously prostituted, that a man of any nicety might well be forgiven, if he wished not to have the title of pen- sioner added to his name. But I shall not descend to a dispute about words. I speak to things. If, instead of the government of Virginia, his late Majesty, on the surren- der of Louisburgh, had thought proper to give sir J. A. a pension, and if this had been the declared motive of giving it, he might have accepted it without scruple, and held it with honour. Instances of pensions so bestowed are not very frequent. Sir Edward Hawke's is one. How widely different is the case in question 1 I will not pretend to do justice to this good man's delicacy and sense of honour : but I can easily conceive how a man of common spirit must be affected, when a place which he possessed on the most honourable terms, is taken from him, without even the de- cency due to a gentleman ; when he sees it given to a needy court dependant, and when the only reparation offered him, is to enroll him in a list of pensioners, among whom an honest man would blush to see his name. If you had not been in such haste to correct the blunders of Mr Pitt's administration, I think your insignifi- cant friend might have appeared in that list without any disgrace to himself, and his distresses might have done credit to the humanity of your Lordship's recommend- ation. You did not know that the 15th regiment was given to Colonel Hotham. — Yet your assertion was direct. For shame, my Lord, have done with these evasions. Poor Pownal^ hangs his head m perfect modesty, and even \o\xr fid us Achates, your unfor- tunate Harrington, disowns you. I shall conclude with hinting to you (in a way which you alone will understand) that there is a part of my behaviour to you, for which you owe me some acknowledgment. I know the ostensible defence you have given to the public differs widely from the real one intrusted privately to your friends. You are sensible that the most distant in- sinuation of what that defence is would ruin you at once. But I am a man of honour, and will neither take advantage of your imprudence, nor of the difficulty of your situation. LUCIUS. LETTER XLII. Secretary to the Board of Trade.— Edit. Plcrisque maris est, prolate rerunt ordine, in aliquetn Icstum atque plausibiletn locntngnavt inaxime possint favor abiliter cxcurrere. QUINTILIAN. TO THE EARL OF IIILLSUOROUGH. My Lord, 10 September, 1768. Your change of title makes no alteration in the merits of your cause. You argued as well, and were full as honest a man, under the character of Cleophas, as you are under that of Scrutator. The task of pursuing falsehood through a labyrinth of nonsense is, I confess, much heavier than I expected. You have a way with you, ray Lord, which blunts the edge of attention, and sets all argument at defiance. But I hold myself engaged to the public, whose cause is united with that of sir Jeffery Am- herst. The people of this country feel as they ought to do your treatment of a man who has served them well ; and the time may come, my Lord, when you in your turn may feel the effects of their resent- ment. You set out with asserting, that the crown has an indisputable power of dismiss- ing its officers without assigning a cause. — Not quite indisputable, my Lord ; — for I have heard of addresses from parliament, to know who advised the dismission of par- ticular officers. I have heard of impeach- ments attending a wanton exertion of the MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 407 prerogative, and you perhaps may live to hear of them likewise. Another assertion of the same sort has been thrown out by your emissaries, and is now gravely maintained by your Lordship, — viz. that the promise conveyed to sir J. A. by Mr Pitt was in itself an absurdity, and that no succeeding minister is bound to make good an engagement entered into by his predecessor in office.^ I shall leave my Lord Privy Seal to explain to you the modves on which Mr Pitt acted.^ The i promise arose from his own motion, and if he has not spirit enough to maintain it, he deserv'es the contempt w ith which you treat him. In the mean time, I shall presume that a lieutenant-governor was then thought as efficient an officer as a governor, and that this post was bestowed on sir J. A. not as the salary of future duties, but as the reward of services already performed. In the second part of your assertion, you wilfully confound the general measures of govern- ment with the particular promise of a king made to an individual. Even ministers, my Lord, miglit, without any injury to their characters, preserve the faith and integrity of their office. But whatever latitude they may claim for themselves, the honour of a king ought to be sacred, even to his success- or. The proposition that ministers are not bound by the engagements of their prede- ' The reference is to the letter signed Scruta- tor, in which the writer observes as follows in respect to the subject in question : — ' An absurd promise is asserted to have been made to sir Jeffery Amherst at the time of his appointment to the government of Virginia, that his attend- ance on his government should never be re- quired; and a torrent of obloquy has been poured upon lord Hillsborough for not keeping a promise, which it is not even insinuated that his Lordship ever made. I can scarce think that any man could have been so infatuated as, at any time, to make such a preposterous promise, — a promise in itself void by a settled maxim of law, as repugnant to the grant. — But if any man could be so infantinely weak, it is his business alone to answer for the breach.' — Edit. * Mr Pitt was at this time lord privy seal with the title of lord Chatham. — Edit. 3 Scrutator concludes his letter in the follow- ing words : — ' Our vigilant minister is vehemently exclaimed against, because lie showed himself prepared on cessors, if taken generally, is fiilse. There is no breach of public faith which may not be justified on such a principle. Treaties at this rate may be violated without national dishonour, and the most solemn assertions from the throne contradicted without re- serve. You forget that you are mixing the permanent dignity of the crown with the fluctuating interests and views of its serv- ants. Yet I shall now allow you more^ my Lord, than I believe you expect. I shall admit, without hesitation, that the promise made to sir J. A. could not be so absolute, as not to be revocable in a case of urgent necessity. If such a case had been stated, and demonstrated to sir J. A., he would not have staid to be solicited. He would either have gone himself, or cheerfully resigned his government to his Majesty's disposal. The question turns then upon the degree of that necessity. Make it evident to the public, and I shall then only complain that you have done a right thing in a manner the most indecent and absurd. You will remember, my Lord, how much the issue of this question depends upon lord Boute- tort's character, for the public will not easily be persuaded, that a conjuncture which did not rise beyond the level of lord Boutetort's abilities, could be difficult, urgent, or important.' the instant, to supply the vacant place of the recreant knight. According to the ideas of the politicians of the bon ton, who always substitute personal to national considerations, there ought to have been a decent interval allowed either for the gentleman to repent, or for us, like fashion- able widows, to mourn, before a successor were appointed in his room— though in that interval the colony should be lost. — I honour lord Hills- borough for having his man ready, ready not only for his place, but for the province ; ready not only to kiss hands, but to take his passage. And from the watchful activity his Lordship has exerted in every known instance in his arduous employment, I have not the least doubt but that if lord Boutetort had either refused to go, or on any pretext delayed his departure, lord Hills- borough had still some third man in his eye, who would have made ample amends for the de- ficiencies of both. ' I wish this may prove a lesson to all future ministers of state, to keep a tight rein upon all officers in their departments, lest anyone should cry out and affect to be surprised, when suddenly called upon, to do his duty, as he prizes his salary.' — Edit. P* 2 4o8 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. You say the facts on which you reason are vtiiversally admitted — a gratis dictum which I flatly deny. If, instead of wander- ing into wild declamation, you had found it convenient to answer my questions strictly, we should have joined issue upon our facts, and the point would long since have been determined. Permit me to re- fresh your memory with some of them once more. 1. Was not lord Boutetort absolutely appointed on the 31st of July ? 2. Was it mentioned in any shape to sir Jeffery Amherst before the 4th of August ? 3. Was it not then mentioned as a mea- sure in contemplation only ? 4. Did not lord Boutetort kiss hands next morning, that is, Friday the 5th in- stant ? 5. Did not sir Jeffery Amherst's opinion in council defeat an American scheme formed by you and lord Barrington, and is '■ There were several replies to this letter. One by an IndeJ>endcnt Country Genilevtnn just arrived in town, and dated from the Bell Inn, and another, signed Chrononhotonthologos, seem to have obtained some attention from the public, and the latter especially, in consequence of the writer's having discovered that Lncius had made a mistake, not in the facts of the transaction, but in one of the dates, by asserting that sir Jeffery Amherst came to town on Thurs- day, August 4th, instead of one week earlier, Thursday, July 28. Both these letters were re- plied to with much spirit by the following, signed Correftor. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 14 Septemher, 1768. I AM not surprised to find the tools 0/ power alarmed at the sensible, />ointed, and masterly letters of your correspondent Lucius ; but the little arts they have as yet used to baffle his arguments, have only served to expose their own weakness. I hope the gentleman at the Bell Itin took the opportunity of a dry day to get to town for further information ; for in good truth, if he is still siorm-staid by the lainy weatlur, he had much better smoke a pipe with Boniface his landlord, than trouble the public with nods, for such I call his answers to the queries of Luteins. My troubling you at present is not to answer such a driveller ; but on reading this morning the letter in your paper, signed with the long ■name, I found that, at last, Mr Lucius was catched. Your correspondent however deals very tenderly with him, being sensible, I sup- not this the true cause of your rancour against him ? It is unworthy of the character of a gen- tleman to endeavour to amuse the public with idle declamations, while such questions as these remain unanswered. LUCIUS.i LETTER XLIII. TO THE EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH. My Lord, 15 September, 1768. There is no surer sign of a weak head than a settled depravity of heart. A base action is a disorder of the mind, and next to the folly of doing it, is the folly which defends it. Had the letter signed Lucius never been answered, you would not have so shamefully betrayed the weakness of your cause, and your silence might have been interpreted into a consciousness of pose, of the ticklishness of the ground. As an admirer of the spirit of Lucius, and being thoroughly acquainted with the tiines and cir- cumstances in dispute, allow me to give the true edition, by which it will appear that Mr Chro- nonhotonthologos does not mend the matter by his wonderful discovery. Lucius begins on Thursday, the 4th of August, whereas in truth it was on Thursday, the 28th of July, that sir Jeffery Amherst came to town, and finding that lord Hillsborough had been at his house, he immediately waited on his Lordship, when he had the Jirst intimation of his affair, lord Hillsborough's letter having been sent to sir Jeffery 's house in the country. The very next day, viz. Friday, the 29th, lord Boutetort kissed hands on his appointment to that government, which the day before had been offered to sir Jeffery ; and on the 30th sir Jeffery sent the requests in writing to the duke of Grafton which have been by the ministerial hirelings termed demands, and which have not been fairly repre- sented. Sir Jeffery did not fix on the coal mines as the only grant, but left it to administration to give that, or any other which might be more convenient, to enable him to support the dignity he requested ; nor did he ask for a separate grant of lands as has been asserted. That sir Jeffery Amherst speaks of lord Hillsborough in terms like a gentleman I can easily believe, as he is not capable of acting otherwise to a nobleman who has the honour of being one of his Majesty's servants ; but that he was pleased at the treat- ment he received, I absolutely deny, as it must be evident to the world, from what followed the appointment of lord Boutetort, that he thought \\\ixvi&\i grossly affronted. Corrector.— EDIT. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 409 innocence. The question is now exhausted, for the public is convinced. How well or ill we have argued is of infinitely less im- portance than the integrity of facts. Yet even facts, though separately true, will prove nothing, if the order in which they happened be confounded. Take it finally, my Lord, and disprove it if you can. Lord Boutetort's appointment was fixed on or before Sunday. You called at sir ]ef(ery Amherst's on the Wednesday following. He was not in town, but you saw him next day (Thursday). You then told him that such a measure was in contemplation ; but fiir from naming his successor, you did not tell him that his successor was appointed. Yet lord Boutetort kissed hands the next morning (Friday), and the first notice sir Jeffery Amherst received of his Lordship's appointment, was by an express sent to him that evening by his brother. That you are a civil, polite person is true. Few men understand the little morals better, or observe the great ones less, than your Lordship. You can bow and smile in an honest man's face, while you pick his pocket. These are the virtues of a court in which your education has not been neg- lected. In any other school you might have learned that simplicity and integrity are worth them all. Sir Jeffery Amherst was fighting the battles of this country, while you, my Lord, the darling child of prudence and urbanity, were practising the generous arts of a courtier, and securing an honourable interest in the antechamber of a favourite. As a man of abilities for pubHc business, your first experiment has been unfortunate. Your circular letter to the American go- vernors, both for matter and composition, is a performance which a school-boy ought to blush for. The importance and diffi- culty of the occasion gave you a fair oppor- tunity of showing by what talents you were qualified for the station of a minister. The assembly of Massachusets' Bay, not con- tented with their own efforts to throw off their allegiance, solicit the other colonies to unite with them in measures of the same tendency and spirit. A resolution of this extraordinary nature demanded the whole attention of government, and yours in par- ticular. Let us see how you have treated it. Instead of a clear precise instruction to each governor ; — instead of separate in- structions adapted to the temper, circum- stances, and interests of the several pro- vinces, wherein you might have shown your political abilities as well as your knowledge of that countr)', what have you done ? In a circular letter of twenty or thirty lines (con- ceived in the same terms to all the govern- ors) you tell them, ' That this measure is of a dangerous and factious tendency.' A most 'voiidcrful dis- covery. ' That it is calculated to inflame the minds of his Majesty's subjects.' IV/iat else do you i/iiiik was meant by it f ' An unwarrantable combination.' That's the question with THEM, and why did you not prove it so f ' That it excites an opposition to parlia- ment.' ]l'hat other design in the name of folly could be proposed by it I" ' That it subverts the true principles of the constitution.' Which they utterly deny. What are these but the loose hackneyed terms of office, which make no impression because they convey no argument and hardly a determinate meaning. You have not suggested a single motive to anyone of the colonies, why they should not unite with the assembly of Boston. This task you leave to the governors, and if they find it an easy one, so much the better. Your conclusion however is a masterpiece. You desire the governors to prevail with their assemblies to take no notice of the requisi- tion from Boston, which will be treating it with the contempt it deserves. What, my Lord, do you seriously think, that a formal attempt to unite the whole continent of America in rebellion against this country deserves nothing but the silent indifference of contempt? Is this the language of busi- ness or attention? Your letter, my Lord, does indeed deserve contempt, but the enteiprises of the colonies are of other im- 4TO MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. portance. They call for other measures and other ministers, and be assured that, when parliament meets, unless you intend to govern without one, neither you nor your companions will be permitted to ruin this country with impunity. LUCIUS. P. S. A friend of mine has taken the pains to collect a number of the epithets with which lord Hillsborough has been pleased to honour me in the course of our correspondence. I shall lay them before the public in one view, as a specimen of his Lordship's urbanity and singular conde- scension. 1. Wretched scribbler. 2. Worthless fellow. 3. Vile incendiary. 4. False liar, in opposition to a true one. 5. Snarler. 6. Contemptible thing. 7. Abandoned tool of opposition, and diabolical miscreant. 8. Impudent scurrilous wretch. 9. Rascal and scoundrel, passim. 10. Barking cur ; hy way of distinction from 11. Barking animal ; cum viultis aliis. To all which I shall only say, that his Lordship's arguments are upon a level with his politeness. P. S. I acknowledge a mistake the moment I perceive it. I have advanced the transaction between lord Hillsborough and sir Jeffery Amherst too forward by one complete week. But the days of the week, the facts, and the order in which they suc- ceeded one another, are the same. You see plainly that my arguments are not affected by this mistake. If they had, I should have acknowledged it without hesi- tation. LETTER XLIV. TO Tlir: EAUL OF HILLSBOROUGH. My Lohd, 20 September, 1768. Permit me to have the honour of introducing you to a very amiable and valuable acquaintance. Mr Ford iE the gentleman I mean. Your Lordship will forgive the timidity and bashfulness of his first address, and, considering your quality, condescend to make him some advances. There is a similarity in your circumstances, to say nothing of your virtues and under- standing, which may lay the foundation of a solid friendship between you for the rest of your lives. Undoubtedly you are not quite imacquainted with a character, on which you appear to have formed your own. His case was singular, my Lord, and cannot fail of exciting some emotions of sympathy in your Lordship's breast. This worthy man found himself exposed to a most malicious prosecution for perjury. A profli- gate jury found him guilty, and a cruel judge pronounced his sentence of imprisonment, pillory, and transportation. His mind was a good deal distressed in the course of this affair (for he too is a man of delicate feel- ings), but his character, like yours, was above the reach of malice. Not to keep your Lordship any longer in pain, I have the pleasure of telling you that, when law and justice had done their worst, a lady, in whom he seldom places any confidence at cards, was generous enough to stand his friend. Fortune discovered a flaw in the indictment ; and now, my Lord, in spite of an iniquitous prosecution, in spite of con- viction and sentence, he stands as fair in his reputation as ever he did. Your Lord- ship will naturally be struck with the re- semblance between your case and his. Facts were so particularly stated against you that they could not be denied ; — the order in which they happened was demon- strated, and sentence was pronounced by the public. The affair was over, when up gets Tommy Ford, and discovers that the whole transaction passed in the last week of July instead of the first in August. This mistake, as it brought the object nearer to us, I called advancing. In your Lordship's country I presume it may properly be called a retreat. Here, however, the comparison ends. Your friend escaped by a form of law. But you, my Lord, have been tried at MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 411 a tribunal of honour and equity. The pub- He who are your judges, will not suffer my mistake (however it may prove the badness of my heart to acknowledge it) to quash the indictment against you. You are convicted of having done a base and foolish action, in a manner the most despicable and absurd. Your punishment attends you in the con- tempt and detestation of mankind. Your Lordship has been pleased to pub- lish a long letter in the Gazetteer, to prove that all sir Jeffery Amherst's military serv- ices are a mere fiction. You did not sign it indeed, because you had lately signed another, containing the most express and authentic acknowledgment of those services, in a style of applause not very distant from flattery. You will not now, it seems, allow him any share in the reduction of Louis- burgh, or the conquest of Canada. Per- haps, after all, he never was in America. I am not a soldier, my Lord, nor will I pre- tend to determine what share of honour a general is entitled to for success, who must have borne the whole blame and disgrace, if he had failed. Had the event been un- favourable, his officers, I dare say, would have been willing enough to yield their concern in it to their commander-in-chief. As to the rest, I have heard from military men, that the judgment and capacity, which make resistance useless or impracti- cable, are rated much higher than even the resolution which overcomes it. When you, my Lord, and Mr Ford are forgotten, this country will remember with gratitude, that sir Jeffery Amherst had the honour of making sixteen French battalions prisoners of war — that he carried on the whole war in America at an expense less than the fortunes, which some individuals had ac- quired by contracts and management in Germany ; — and that he did fiot put the savings into his own pocket. If a British peerage be too high a reward for these services, at least do him justice. Do not assure the public that he was not contented with a revenue of four thousand pounds a year, when you know that the income of his government and two regi- ments did not exceed two thousand three hundred, and that, until he was positively outraged, he never complained. As I pro- fess dealing in facts, take the account. Government of Virginia 1500 Fifteenth regiment 600 Commandant of the 60th 200 2300 As to a peerage, you would have done well to consider upon what sort of people this honour has been conferred for ten years past. Among the rest, we should be glad to know what were your Lordship's services or merits, when you were created Baron of Harwich. I take for granted that they were of a different complexion from those of sir J. A., since they have been so differ- ently rewarded. Here I shall conclude. You have sent sir Jeffery Amherst to the plough. You have left him poor in every article of which a false fawning minister could deprive him ; — but you have left him rich in the esteem, the love and veneration of his country. You cannot now recall him by any offer of wealth or honours. Yet I foretell that a time will come, when you yourself will be the cause of his return. Proceed, my Lord, as you have begun, and you will soon reduce this country to an extremity, in which the wisest and best subjects must be called upon, and jinist be employed. Till then enjoy your triumph. LUCIUS. LETTER XLV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 6 October, 1768. SiNXE my last letter was printed, 1 a question has been stated in the news- papers, which I think it incumbent upon me, as an honest man, to answer. Admit- ting my representation of the melancholy state of this country, and of public credit. ^lisccllaneous Letter, No. XXXIII.— Edit. 412 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. to be strictly true, ' what good purpose can it answer to discover such truths, and to lay our weakness open io the world ? * One would think such a question hardly wanted a reply. If a real misfortune were lessened by concealment ; — if, by shutting our eyes to our weakness, we could give our enemies an opinion of our strength, none but a traitor would withdraw the veil, which covered the nakedness of his country. But if the contrary be true ; if concealment serves only to nourish and increase the mis- chief, the conclusion is direct. A good subject will endeavour to rouse the atten- tion of his country ; — he will give the alarm, and point out the danger, against which she ought to provide. The policy of con- cealment is no better than the wisdom of a prodigal, who wastes his estate without re- flection, and has not courage enough to exnniine his accounts. In my last letter, I foretold the great fi\ll of the stocks, which has since happened, and I now do not scruple to foretell that they must and will fall much lower. Yet I am not moved by the arts of stockjobbers, or by temporary rumours, magnified, if not created, for particular purposes in the alley. These artifices are directed to maintain a fluctuation, not a continued fall. The principles on which wr reasoning is found- ed, are taken generally from the state of France and of this country. When I see our natural enemy strong enough not only to elude a material article of treaty,i but to set us at defiance while they conquer a kingdom ; - and when I combine this ap- pearance of strength with their natural restlessness, I cannot doubt of their taking the first opportunity to recover their lost honour, by a fresh declaration of war. On the other hand, considering the hostile tem- per of the colonies towards us, the oppress- ive weight of a monstrous debt (to which a peace of six yea's has scarce given a sen- sible relief), and, above all, the misery. ^ His Most Catholic Majesty, being a branch of the Bourbon dynasty — in the refusal of his ministers to discharge the Manilla ransom. — Edit. weakness, and distraction of our Interior government, I cannot have a doubt that our enemies now have, or in a very httle time will have, the fairest opportunity they can wish for to force us into a war. The con- clusion, to be drawn from these premises, is obvious. It amounts to a moral certainty, and leaves no room for hope or apprehen- sion. To these, which are the most important circumstances of our situation, may well be added the high price of labour, the decay of trade, and the ruinous system on which it is conducted. Every minuter article conspires against us. The deficiency of the civil list must be paid, and cannot be paid with less then seven hundred thousand pounds. The India Company will yield to no terms, which are not founded on an ex- press acknowledgment of their exclusive property in their conquests in Asia. How far their pretensions are just is at least a doubtful question. Whether parliament w ill divest them of this property, by a mere declaratory law, is a matter of the most important consideration. It would be a dreadful precedent because it would shake every security of private property. Yet, even if that were determined, another question remains full of difficulty and dan- ger ; — that is, in what manner the public will avail themselves of this great right, decided by nothing but a vote of parlia- ment. Sir, I am not ?.ffected by the rumours of the day. If the stocks rise or fall upon a report of tranquillity or tumult at Boston, 3 I am satisfied that it is owing to the arts and management of stockjobbers. But I see the spirit which has gone abroad through the colonies, and I know what consequences that spirit must and xoill produce. If it be determined to enforce the authority of the legislature, the event will be uncertain ; but if we yield to the pretensions of America, there is no further doubt about the matter. From that moment they become an inde- pendent people, they open their trade with ^ Corsica. — Edit. 3 See note tc Letter XXXIX., p. 240.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 413 the rest of the world, and England is un- done. In these circumstances, calamitous as they are, I yet think the uniform direction of a great and able minister might do much. His earliest care, I am persuaded, would be to provide a fund to support the first alarm and expense of a rupture with France. If prepared to meet a war, he might per- haps avoid it. His next object would be to form a plan or agreement with the colonies. He would consent to yield some ground to the Americans, if it w ere possible to receive a security from them, that they never would advance beyond the line then drawn, upon conditions mutually agreed on. By an equitable offer of this kind, he would cer- tainly imite this country in the support of his measure^ and I am persuaded he would have the reasonable part of the Americans of his side. These, Sir, unfortunately for us, are views too high and important even to be thought of, while we are governed as we are. I would not descend to a reproachful word against men, whose persons I hardly know ; but it is impossible for an honest man to behold the circumstances, to which a weak, distracted administration has reduced us, without feeling one pang at least for the approaching ruin of Great Britain. ATTICUS. LETTER XLVI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 12 October, 1768. I BELIEVE one may challenge any lime or country to produce more noble instances of a free and manly spirit, than have appeared in several of your late cor- respondents. Without direction, without information, without promise or hope of reward, without personal friendship, favour, or acquaintance, several heroes of the pen have boldly stood forth and generously dared to defend a great minister of state, although in the plenitude of his power, and invested with the patronage to an infinite number of lucrative offices. This, I say, is true virtue ; and this virtue your corre- spondents, with various hard names, have solemnly assured us they possess. They have demonstrated, to the satisfac- tion of the public, against the calumnies of a dull writer, called Lucius, that every part of the late conduct of lord Hillsborough with regard to sir J. Amherst is just what it ought to have been ; nothing ill-intentioned, nothing either deficient or redundant ; and that it may well serve for a pattern upon all similar occasions. However, it sometimes happens a little perversely, that the very best actions liave every now and then consequences that are somewhat odd — I do not say absolutely bad ; but only a little imtoward. Thus though lord Hillsborough has done his duty to a miracle in all parts of this business, and that his character comes like gold out of the furnace of this fierce contest ; yet so it happens, that the event, and the sole event, of all this upright intention and wise action is, that the nation has at a critical time lost to her service sir J. Amherst ; and has gained to it lord Boutetort. This is a little crooked with regard to the political effect of the measure ; but I hope it is set to rights by the moral consequence. Rewards and punishments are so distributed as to point out for the future, to all people in the civil or military lines, the conduct they ought to pursue, in such a manner, that it is impossible they should mistake their way. For sir Jeffery Amherst has lost ^2,300 a year by his folly lord Hills- borough and lord Boutetort have each acquired as much by their wisdom. I can- not forbear to congratulate the public upon all these favourable appearances. I am. Sir, Your humble servant, TEMPORUM FELICITAS. 414 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER XLVII. Sir, TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. 15 October, 1768. Your correspondent, who calls himself A Friend to Public Credit, has given lis one of the most extravagant con- ceits that ever entered into the brain of a poHtician. He assures us that a rupture with France or Spain is highly improbable because the secretary of state ^ for that department possesses no share in his master's confidence, and is in open enmity with his colleagues in office. Supposing the argument to be just, let us see how far it will extend. One of his Majesty's ministers is hated and distrusted ; ergo, a war is im- probable. But if two of them should happen to be in that unpleasant situation, the im- probability would increase, and so we should proceed to an inevitable conclusion. If all the ministry were separately suspected by their master, and reciprocally detested by one another (which I fancy is not far from the truth), a declaration of war would be the last tiling to be expected. At this rate the peace of this country is established upon a foundation equally new and secure ; upon the distraction of the councils by which we are governed. What a pity it is that not one article in this pretty syllogism is true ! I agree with your correspondent, that when a nation is governed as we are, our constant prayer should be. Give peace in the time of these ministers, O Lord! But I fear that the same reasons, which ought to keep us quiet, will operate in a contrary direction upon our enemies. I fear they only wait until the differences with our colonies and the divisions among our- selves are arrived at a crisis, and that then they will overwhelm us with an open war. In the mean time the House of Bourbon are labouring to unite their strength, and to extend the bounds of their dominion. Their insatiable ambition will not spare even the father of their church, who must be entirely dispossessed of his territories, unless the Protestant powers interpose in his defence. It was and ought for ever to be our policy to support this prince in his temporal power, without any regard to his religion. If he were a Turk, he ought to be protected in the possession of his domin- ions against the House of Bourbon. Or are we to sink into a lethargic stupidity, while the French conquer Corsica and over- run Italy, and sit with our arms across, until they thunder at our gate ? There is certainly some dreadful infatuation, which hangs over and directs the councils of this country. Our ministers drive us headlong to destruction, while their emissaries insult us with assurances that the divisions among the king's servants form the best security of peace with our enemies. God knows. Sir, it is time to rouse and shake off this le- thargy. It is time for parliament to inter- pose, if yet there be a hope of saving Great Britain. Our last constitutional resource is vested in parliament. By whose advice or neglect the French were suffered to land in Corsica should be one of the first objects of their enquiry, and whether French money has been given or received here. Every measure of government opens an ample field for a parliamentary inquisition. If this resource should fail us, our next and latest appeal must be made to heaven. BRUTUS. Lord Shclburn-. LETTER XLVIII. TO THE PRIxNTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 19 October, 1768. We are assured by the advocates of the ministry, that while lord Shelburne is secretary of state, we can have no reason to apprehend a rupture with France or Spain. This proposition is singular enough, and I believe turns upon a refinement very distant from the simplicity of common sense. But, admitting it to be self-evident, the conclusion is such as I apprehend your r MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 415 correspondent, who signs himself A Friaid to Public Credit, did not clearly foresee. If lord vShelbume's remaining m office con- stitutes a security of peace, his being sud- denly removed must amount to a declara- tion of war. Now, Sir, the fact is, that his Lordship's removal has been for some weeks in agitation, and is within these few days absolutely determined. ^ If I were a party-writer, the indiscretion of the minis- terial advocates would give me as many advantages as even the wretched conduct of the ministry themselves. But I write for the public, and in that view hold myself far above a little triumph over men, whose compositions are as weak as the cause they defend.3 In my former letters I have given you a melancholy but a true representation of the state of this countr\'. Every packet from America and the continent confirms it. The demonstration of facts follows the probability of argument, and the prediction of the present hour is the experience of the next. If you will now permit me to offer my opinion of the great persons, under whose administration we are reduced to this deplorable state, the public will be enabled to judge whether these are the men most likely to relieve us from it. The curiosity of personal malice shall make no part of this enquir)'. As public men we have a right to be acquainted with their real characters, because we are interested in their public conduct. When the duke of Grafton first entered into office, it was the fashion of the times to suppose that young men might have wisdom without experience. They thought so themselves, and the most important affairs of this country were committed to the first trial of their abilities. His Grace had honourably flesht his maiden sword in the field of opposition, and had gone through all the discipline of the minority ^ Lord Shelburne resigned October 21, 1768. — Edit. ^ See Private Letter, No. 5, in which the author makes a similar remark upon the writers in defence of the then administration. — Edit. 3 Sec notes in p. 136. When, [upon the in- with credit. He dined at Wildman's, railed at favourites, looked up to lord Chatham with astonishment, and was the declared advocate of Mr Wilkes. It after- wards pleased his Grace to enter into ad- ministration with his friend lord Rocking- ham, and, in a very little time, it pleased his Grace to abandon him. He then accepted of the Treasury upon terms which lord Temple had disdained. Yqx a short time his submission to lord Chatham was unlimited. He could not answer a private letter without lord Chatham's per- mission. I presume he was then learning his trade, for he soon set up for himself. Until he declared himself the minister, his character had been but little understood. From that moment a system of conduct, directed by passion and caprice, not only reminds us that he is a young man, but a young man without solidity or judgment. One day he desponds and threatens to resign. The next, he finds his blood heated, and swears to his friends he is de- termined to go on. In his public measures wc have seen no proof either of ability or consistency. The Stamp Act had been re- pealed (no matter how unwisely) under the preceding administration. The colonies had reason to triumph, and were returning to their good humour. The point was decided, when this young man thought proper to revive it. Without either plan or necessity, he adopts the spirit of Mr Gren- ville's measures, and renews the question of taxation in a form more odious and less effectual than that of the law which had been repealed. With respect to the invasion of Corsica, 3 it will be matter of parliamentary enquiry, whether he has cjirried on a secret negotia- tion with the French court, in terms con- tradictory to the resolution of council, and to the instructions drawn up thereupon by his Majesty's secretary of stflte.-* If it shall vitation of the Genoese, the French mvaded Cor- sica, a remonstrance was presented by the Eng- lish minister at Paris ; but here the resistance dropped. — Edit. * A motion which tended to an enquiry of this kind was made in the House of Commons by 4t6 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. appear that he has quitted the line of his department to betray the honour and security of his country, and if there be a power sufficient to protect him, in such a case, against public justice, the constitution of Great Britain is at an end. His standing foremost in the persecution of Mr Wilkes, if former declarations and connexions be considered, is base and contemptible. 1 The man whom he now brands with treason and blasphemy, but a very few years ago was the duke of Graf- ton's friend, nor is his identity altered, except by his misfortunes. — In the last instance of his Grace's judgment and con- sistency, we see him, after trying and deserting every party, throw himself into the arms of a set of men, whose political principles he had always pretended to abhor. These men I doubt not will teach him the folly of his conduct better than I I can. They grasp at every thing, and will soon push him from his seat. His private history would but little deserve our atten- tion, if he had not voluntarily brought it into public notice. I will not call the amusements of a young man criminal, though I think they become his age better than his station. There is a period at which the most unruly passions are grati- fied or exhausted, and which leaves the mind clear and undisturbed in its attention to business. His Grace's gallantry would be offended if we were to suppose him within many years of being thus qualified for public affairs. As for the rest, making every allowance for the frailty of human nature, I can make none for a continued breach of public decorum ; ^ nor can I be- lieve that man very zealous for the interest of his country, who sets her opinion at defiance. This nobleman, however, has one claim to respect, since it has pleased our gracious sovereign to make hirn prime minister of Great Britain. H.-ins Sloane, Esq., but the itnin/liie/iced, un- placed, wipensioricd majority, thought proper to put a negative upon it. ' See Letter XI.— Edit. ' See Letter XIV., and Miscellaneous Let- ter, No. XX.— Edit. The chancellor of the Exchequer 3 is a moderate man, and pretends to no higher merit than that of an humble assistant in office. If he escapes censure, he is too prudent to aim at applause. The necessity of his affairs had separated him from earlier friendships and connexions, and if he were of any consequence, we might lament that an honest man should find it necessary to disgrace himself in a post he is utterly un- fit for. But we have other objects to attend to. It depends greatly upon the present management of the finances, whether this country shall stand or fall. A common clerk in office may conduct the ordinary supplies of the year, but to give a sensible relief to public credit, or to provide funds against a rupture abroad, are objects above him. To remove those oppressions which lie heaviest upon trade, and, by the same operation, to improve the revenue, demands a superior capacity, supported by the most extensive knowledge. To vulgar minds it may appear unattainable, because vulgar minds make no distinction between the highly difficult and the impossible.^ The earl of Hillsborough ^ set out with a determined attachment to the court party, let who would be minister. He had one vice less than other courtiers, for he never even pretended to be a patriot. The Oxford election gave him an opportunity of showing some skill in parliamentary man- agement, while an uniform obsequious sub- mission to his superiors introduced him into lucrative places, and crowned his ambition with a peerage. He is now what they call a king's man ; ready as the closet directs, to be any thing or nothing, but always glad to be employed. A new de- partment, created on purpose for him, attracted a greater expectation than he has yet been able to support. In his first act of power he has betrayed a most miserable want of judgment. A provision for lord 3 Lord North. — Edit. 4 See lord North's talents further discussed in Letter XXXIX., where the writer does not appear to entertain a much higher opinion of them than in his present address. — Edit. 5 Minister for the colonial department. — Edit- MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 417 Boutetort was not an object of importance sufficient to justify a risk of the first impres- sion which a new minister must give of himself to the public. For my own part I hold him in some measure excused ; be- I cause 1 am persuaded the defence he has delivered privately to his friends is true, ' That the measure came from another and a higher quarter.' But still he is the tool, and ceasing to be criminal si^iks into con- tempt. In his new department I am sorry to say he has shown neither abilities nor good sense. His letters to the colonies contain nothing but expressions equally loose and violent. The minds of the Americans are not to be conciliated by a language, which only contradicts without attempting to persuade. His correspond- ence, upon the whole, is so defective both in design and composition, that it would deserve our pity, if the consequences to be dreaded from it did not excite our indigna- tion. This treatment of the colonies, added to his refusal to present a petition from one of them to the king (a direct breach of the declaration of rights), will naturally throw them all into a flame. I protest, Sir, I am astonished at the infatuation which seems to have directed his whole conduct. The other ministers were proceeding in their usual course, without foreseeing or regard- ing consequences ; but this nobleman seems to have marked out, by a determined choice, the means to precipitate our de- struction. The earl of Shelburne had initiated him- self in business, by carrying messages be- tween the earl of Bute and Mr Fox, and was for some time a favourite with both. Before he was an ensign he thought himself fit to be a general, and to be a leading minister before he ever saw a public office. The life of this young man is a satire on mankind. The treachery which deserts a friend, might be a virtue, compared to the * Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. — Edit. * Lord Camden. — Edit. 3 See Letter LIX.— Edit. ■< Lord Chatham was at this time so severely tortured and worn away by the gout, that it was supposed he would never be able to resume an fawning baseness which attaches itself to a declared enemy. Lord Chatham became his idol, introduced him into the most diffi- cult department of the state, and left him there to shift for himself. It was a master- piece of revenge. Unconnected, unsup- ported, he remains in office without interest or dignity, as if the income were an equiva- lent for all loss of reputation. Without spirit or judgment to take an advantageous moment of retiring, he submits to be in- sulted, as long as he is paid for it. But even this abject conduct will avail him nothing. Like his great archetj'pe, the vapour on which he rose deserts him, and now, ' Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops.' '■ I cannot observe without reluctance, that the only man of real abilities in the present administration, is not an object either of respect or esteem. The character of the lord chancellor - is a strong proof that an able, consistent, judicious conduct, depends upon other qualities than those of the head. Passions and party, in his Lordship's un- deistanding, had united all the extremes. They gave him to the world in one moment, the patron of natural hberty, independent of civil constitutions ; in the next, the as- sertor of prerogative independent of law.^ How he will advise the crown in the present crisis, is of more importance to the public than to himself. His patronage of Mr Wilkes, and of America, have succeeded to his wish. They have given him a peer- age, a pension, and the seals ; and as for his future opinions, he can adopt none for which he may not find a precedent and justification in his former conduct. The earl of Chatham — I had much to say, but it were inhuman to persecute, when Providence has marked out the example to mankind ! ^ active part in politics. His Lordship had re- signed his post of lord privy seal three days previous to the date of this letter, and was suc- ceeded in that office, on the 2nd of November following, by the earl of Briitol.— EciT. 4i8 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. My lord Granby is certainly a brave man, and a generous man, and both with- out design or retlection. How far the army is improved under his direction, is another question. His German friends will all have regiments ; and it is enough to say of his Lordship that he has too much good humour to contradict the reigning minister. The length of this letter will not permit me to do particular justice to the duke of Bedford's friends ; neither is it necessary. With one united view they have but one character. My lord Gower and lord Wey- mouth were distressed, and Rigby was in- satiable. The school they were bred in taught them how to abandon their friends, without deserting their principles. There is a littleness even in their ambition ; for money is their first object. Their professed opinions upon some great points are so dif- ferent from those of the party with which they are now united, that the council- chamber is become a scene of open hostili- ties. While the fate of Great Britain is at stake, these worthy counsellors dispute without decency, advise without sincerity, resolve without decision, and leave the measure to be executed by the man who voted against it. This, I conceive, is the last disorder of the state. The consultation meets but to disagree. Opposite medicines are prescribed, and the last fixed on is changed by the hand that gives it. Such is the council, by which the best of sovereigns is advised, and the greatest nation upon earth governed. Separately the figures are only offensive ; in a group they are formidable. Commerce languishes, manufactures are oppressed, and public credit already feels her approaching dissolu- tion : yet, under the direction of this coun- cil, we are to prepare for a dreadful contest with the colonies, and a war with the whole House of Bourbon. I am not surprised that the generality of men should endeavour to shut their eyes to this melancholy prospect. Yet I am filled with grief and indignation, when I behold a wise and gallant people lost in a stupidity, which does not feel, because it will not look forward. The voice of one man will hardly be heard when the voice of truth and reason is neglected ; but as far as mine extends, the authors of our ruin shall be marked out to the public. I will not tamely submit to be sacrificed, nor shall this country perish without warning. AITICUS. LETTER XLIX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 26 October, 1768. The great abilities which have distinguished the character of the earl of Rochford, have justly procured him the love of his countrymen, and have entitled him to the favour and protection of his so- vereign ; it was therefore with universal approbation that the public received the promises of his advancement at this im- portant crisis to the important office of secretary of state. It was with a degree of hope, to which they have long been unac- customed, that they flattered themselves foreign business would now be no longer neglected. They had reason to expect much from a man to whom nature had been lavish, and whose natural talents, great as they were, must have been con- siderably augmented by a long residence and a constant attention to business in courts, which are perhaps superior to all others in the arts and mysteries of negotia- tion. It was now that they felt themselves secure in the assurance that the correspond- ences with the courts of Paris, Madrid, and Turin were to be carried on by a man above all others qualified for so arduous a task ; by a man who had gained great reputation as an ambassador in each of them. It was in vain that the enemies to admin- istration endeavoured to suggest that that nobleman was not singled out on account of his superior abilities, but on account of his neutrality and non-attachment to any particular men or measures ; it was in vain that they represented his nomination as a mere act of necessity, resulting from the MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 419 incapacity of the leaders to promote any other without widening their bottom, which was a measure that, above all others, they most apprehended. These suggestions had little or no effect ; they were either totally disbelieved or dis- regarded ; the consequence was good, and the public were not at all curious to know the cause ; their joy, that such a measure was to take place, was only equalled by their surprise ; and as their joy proceeded from a reflection of the past, as it related to lord Rochford, they were inattentive to the present, as it related to others. What pity it is that they were so soon disappointed, and that a joy so well found- ed was destined to be of so short a dura- tion. In proportion as they were elevated with the hopes of his being taken into office, so are they dejected by the manner of his appointment. The course and order of business appears to have been violated, and that vacancy, to which his Lordship ought to have succeeded, and which he was so well qualified to fill, has been suffered to be possessed by another altogether a stranger to the principal wheels of those machines, which it becomes his duty to regulate ; and the abilities of the earl have been as far as possible thwarted by his being plunged into a correspondence with courts, of whose maxims and interests he is no better qualified to judge than any other of his Majesty's servants who would make use of as much attention, and who may be happily endowed with as much penetration. It is now then that the public have both cause and inclination to ask a question, which they before thought useless and im- pertinent : it is now that with horror they reflect on the intelligence communicated by your correspondent Atticus ;'^ it is now that they tremble at the thoughts of a secret negotiation with the French court in relation to Corsica ; and it is now that they ask, Why was lord Rochford appointed ' See the preceding letter. — Edit. ' See this subject further discussed in Letter L— Edit. \1 secretary of state, and for the northern de- partment? 3 WHY? LETTER L. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 27 October, 1768. When an anonymous writer tells the public, that a great minister, who hap- pens to be his particular friend, has given him assurances of any sort, with regard to state affairs, the authority is doubly sus- picious. In the first place, that such writers should have such friends is not, in the highest degree, probable. In the next, it is much to be doubted, whether minis- ters of state always tell the tmth even to their most intimate acquaintance. I take for granted, the author of the letter, signed Plain Truth and Justice,^ \s a modest man, since he expects an implicit reliance on the bare assertion of a person entirely unknown to us. But I fear he will find himself a little disappointed, for the public is not to be imposed upon by such gross artifices. The letters, in which your correspondent At- iicusho-d foretold the decline of public credit, seemed to rest upon a very different footing. He made no assertions of his own, because he neither required nor expected any reli- ance on his personal credit or authority. He stated facts too notorious to be disputed, and he reasoned upon them in a way, which there has yet been no attempt to answer. This is the fair ground on which his oppo- nents ought to meet him. Vague assertions have no claim to credit, and, if they had, would amount to no proof. What ministers are pleased to say, or what their friends say for them, is but of little moment. A man, who in the present crisis would direct his conduct upon sure grounds, ought to ex- amine the real state of public affairs, and, according as he finds them, act with pru- 3 He alludes to a correspondent in the Public Advertiser, who had replied to his former letter, under this signature. — Edit. 420 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. dence for hin)self and his family. I know that an artful combination in the alley, may, for a short time, raise or sinlc the price of stocks a trifle. But no arts, no combination, can support them against the reality of national distress. The maxim holds through life. A beggar may cut a figure for a day, but his ruin is inevitable, and his creditors perish with him. Your correspondent assures us that no money will be wanted for the ensuing year. With all due respect to an anonymous as- sertion, I should be glad to know by what sort of reasoning he would support it. Do the ministry mean to leave the debt on the civil list unpaid ? I will tell him that they cannot, dare not do it. This debt amounts to above si.x hundred thousand pounds, and if they can pay it without money, so much the better. — Have they made any agreement with the East-India Company ? No — Have they made any provision for outstand- ing navy and victualling bills ? I answer, they must whether they will or no. — Have the Bank agreed to continue creditors for the last million they advanced to govern- ment? I answer, that the Bank have no confidence in the present administration, and will not trust them. As to taking the four per cents, entirely out of the market, Mr Grenville, or an able financier, who possessed the confidence of the public, might perhaps accomplish it, but it is not an object within the reach of the present Treasury board. They talk of it in their dreams, and forget it when they wake.^ These, Sir, are considerations independ- \ ent of a war, which hangs over us, and of 1 a contest with the colonies, which in no way I can end favourably for this country. As to ; moderate qualifying measures, I know but one which the Americans will accept of, and that is an absolute release from all subjection. They will reject with disdain an offer to be represented in parliament, because they 7oi// be independent. They found the effect of their last combination, and when they demand a repeal of an act of * See Letter XXXIX., in which the failure of lord North to effect this object is censured the legislature, it must be done without conditions. But, in the name of common sense, what useful purpose will our submis- sion answer ? Upon the repeal of the Stamp Act, our exports to America, instead of doubhng, as had been promised, diminuh- ed considerably. What are we doing then, but surrendering the first essential rights and principles of the constitution for the sake of a bribe, of which we are cheated at last? — We may retire to our prayers, for the game is up. BRUTV3, LETTER LI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 14 November, 1768. \\'hen I foretold the approach of a foreign war, the certainty of a rupture with the colonies, and the decline of public credit, my opinion was chiefly founded on the character, circumstances, and abilities of the present administration. Fortune has but little share in the events most interest- ing to mankind. Individuals perish by their own imprudence, and the ruin of an empire is no more than the misconduct of a minister or a king. Without the credit of personal reputation, divided as a min- istry, and unsupported by talents or ex- perience, his Majesty's servants had left the field of national calamity wide open to pre- diction. It seems they were determined to accomplish more than even their enemies had foretold. For my own part, I am not personally their enemy, and I could have wished that their conduct had not made the name of friend to the ministry irrecon- cileable with that of friend to Great Eritcan. The most contemptible character in pri- vate life, and the most ruinous to private fortunes, is that which possesses neither judgment nor inclination to do right, nor resolution enough to be consistent in doing wrong. Such a man loses all the credit of by the author, and explained in a note appended to it.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 431 firmness and uniformity, and suffers the j whole reproach of weak or malicious inten- tions. In politics, there is no other min- isterial character so pernicious to the hon- ] our of a prince, or so fatal to the welfare of [ a nation. It is of the highest importance I to enquire, whether the present ministry deserve it. j The name of lord Chatham's administra- tion was soon lost in that of the duke of Grafton. His Grace took the lead, and made himself answerable for the measures of a council, at which he was supposed to preside. He had gone as far as any man in support of Mr Pitt's doctrine. That par- liament had no right to lay a tax upon America, for the sole purpose of raising a rez'enue. It was a doctrine on which lord Chatham and the chancellor^ formed their administration, and his Grace had con- curred in it icith all his sincerity. Yet the first act of his own administration was to impose that tax upon America, which has since thrown the whole continent into a flame. A wise man would have let the question drop ; a good man would have felt and adhered to the principles he pro- fessed. While the gentle Conway breathed into his ear, he was all lenity and modera- tion. The colonies were dutiful children, and Great Britain a severe parent. A com- bination to ruin this country was no more than an amicable agreement, and rebellion was a natural right confirnied by the revo- lution. But now it seems his Grace's opin- ions are altered with his connexions. The measures of the colonies are subversive of the constitution ; they manifest a disposition to thnno off their dependence, and vigorous measures must be enforced at the point of . the sword. In vain may we look for the \ temper and firmness of a great minister ; — ' \ we shall find nothing but the passion or I weakness of a boy ; — the enervated languor of a consumption, or the false strength of a delirium. The same inconsistency will be found to prevail through every measure and opera- Lord Camden. — Edit. tion of government. Perhaps there may be discovered something more than supine- ness in the first neglect of Corsica, and something worse than inconsistency in the contradiction given to lord Rochford's spirited declaration to the court of France. - His Grace has lately adopted the opposite extreme, and scruples not to give an alarm- ing shock to public credit, by hints little short of a declaration of war. What is this but the undetermined timidity of a coward, who trembles on the brink, until he plunges headlong into the stream. In one gazette we see sir Jeffery Amherst dismissed ; in the very next we see him re- stored, and both without reason or decency. The peerage, which had been absolutely refused, is granted, and as in the first in- stance the royal faith was violated, in the second the royal dignity is betrayed. But this perhaps is a compliment to the duke's new friendship with the earl of Hillsborough. Without approving of Mr Wilkes's con- duct, I lament his fate. The duke of Grafton, who contributed to his support abroad, has given the mandate for his ex- pulsion. But I trust there is yet a spirit, which will not obey such mandates. This honourable enterprise will probably be de- feated, and leave the author of it nothing but a distinguished excess of infamy, the last consolation of a profligate mind. Is it possible, Sir, that such a ministry can long remain united, or support them- selves if they were united? The duke of Grafton, it is true, has no scruple nor de- licacy in the choice of his measures. They are the measures of the day, and vary as often as the weather. But his companions had each their separate plan, to which, foi the credit of government, and the benefit of this countrj', they have severally adhered. The intrepid thoughtless spirit of the com- mander-in-chief looks no further than to the disposal of commissions. He is the friend and patron of the military. With this character he suffers the army to be robbed of a regiment, by way of pension to - See Letter XIL— Edit. 45.2 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the noble disinterested house of Percy ; and sir Jeffery Amherst to be sacrificed without pretending to the credit of restoring him.^ His Lordship's conduct perplexes me. I am at a loss which to admire most ; the penetrating sagacity with which he under- stands the rights of the army, or the firm- ness with which he defends them. When an ungracious act was to be done, the earl of Hillsborough was chosen for the instrument of it. He deserved, since he submitted to bear, the whole reproach of sir Jeffery Amherst's dismission. The gal- lant knight obtains his price, and the noble earl, with whatever appetite, must meet him with a smile of congratulation, and. Dear sir Jeffery, I most cordially wish you joy! After all, it must be confessed, there are some mortifications which might touch even the callous spirit of a courtier. The chancellor of the Exchequer has many deficiencies to make good besides those of land and malt ; and to say the truth, he has a gallant way of doing it. He gallops bravely through thick and thin, as the court directs, and I dare say would defend even an honest cause with as much zeal and eloquence, as if he were ordered to show his parts upon nullum tonpus,- or a Cumberland election. It would be unjust to the duke of Bed- ford's friends to attribute their conduct to any but the motives which they themselves profess. Mr Rigby is so modest a man, that the imputation of public virtue, or pri- vate good faith, would offend his delicacy, if he did not feel, as he certainly does, the genuine emotions of patriotism and friend- ship warm in his breast. They argued not ill for ambition, while they asked for no- thing but profit ; and when the duke of Grafton has exhausted the treasury, he will find that every other power departs with the power of giving. ■ . ■ In this and my former letters I have pre- sented to you, with plainness and sincerity, the melancholy condition to which we are ^ See Letter III.— Edit. ° See Letter LVII., and editor's note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. XIV. — Edit. reduced. The characters of a weak and worthless ministry would hardly deserve the attention of history, but that they are fatally united, and must be recorded with the mis- fortunes of their country. If there be yet a spark of virtue left among us, this great nation shall not be sacrificed to the fluctuating interests or Nvayward passions of a minister, nor even to the caprices of a monarch. If there be no virtue left, it is no matter who are ministers, nor how soon they accomplish our destruc- tion. ATTICUS. LETTER LIL TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 21 November, 1768. It will soon be decided by the highest authority whether the justice of our laws, and the liberty of our constitution, have been essentially violated in the person of Mr Wilkes. 2 As a public man his fate will be determined, nor is it safe or neces- sary at present to enter into the merits of his cause. We are interested in this ques- tion no further than as he is a part of a well-regulated society. If a ir.ember of it be injured, the laws and constitution will defend him. But where is the law to en- force the engagements of private faith, or to punish the breach of them ? Where shall he apply for redress, with whom all ties of honour, professions of friendship, and obligations of party have been violated or betrayed ? A man so injured has no redress or consolation, but what he finds in the resentment and generous sympathy of man- kind. The violation of party faith is of itself too common to excite surprise or indignation. Political friendships are so well understood, that we can hardly pity the simplicity they deceive ; and if Mr Wilkes had only been 3 Upon the issue of the General Warrant. Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 433 deserted, he would but have given Qs one example more of the folly of rel}ing on such engagements. But his, I conceive, is a singular situation. There is scarce an in- stance of party merit so great as his, or so ill rewarded. Other men have been aban- doned by their friends : — Mr Wilkes alone is oppressed by them. One would think that the first lord of the Treasury ^ and the chancellor - might have been contented with forgetting the man, to whom they principally owed their elevation ; — but hearts like theirs are not so easily satisfied. They left him unsupported when they ceased to want his assistance, and, to cover the reproach of passive ingratitude, they pursue him to destruction. The bounds of human science are still unknown, but this assuredly is the last limit of human de- pravity. Notorious facts speak for them- selves, and, in this case, an honest man will want no spur to rouse his indignation. Men of a different character would do well to consider what their security is with a minister, who breaks without scruple through all engagements of party, and is weak enough to set all pubhc shame at defiance. There is a firmness of character, which will support a minister, even against his vices ; but where is the dependence of his friends, when they have no hold either on his heart or his understanding? Detested by the better part of mankind, he will soon be suspected by the worst, for no man relies securely on another, whom he thinks less honest and less wise than himself. In the present instance the duke of Graf- ton may possibly find that he has played a foolish game. He rose by Mr Wilkes's popularity, and it is not improbable that he m^y fall by \t. JUNIUS. i'he duke of Grafton. — Edit. * Lord Camden. — Edit. LETTER LIII. For the Public Advertiser. 15 December, 1768. TO THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE GRENVILLE. Sir. If there be any thing improper in this address, the singularity of your present situadon will, I hope, excuse it. Your con- duct attracts the attention, because it is highly interesting to the welfare, of the pubUc, and a private man, who only ex- presses what thousands think, cannot well be accused of flattery or detraction. If we may judge by what passes every day in a great assembly, you already possess all the constituent parts of a minister, except the honour of distributing, or the emolument of receiving, the public money. These, in the contemplation of the present ministry, are the most essential ornaments of office. They are the decus et tutamen of a respect- able administration, and the last that a prudent administration will relinquish. As for the authority, the credit, or the busi- ness of their offices, they are ready to resign them to you without reluctance. With regard to their appearance and behaviour within-doors, these docile creatures find a re- lief in jjvwr understanding from the burthen of thinking, and in your direction from the labour of acting. This, however, is no more than the natural precedence of supe- rior abilities and knowledge. Folly cannot long take the fas of wisdom, and ignor- ance, sooner or later, must submit to ex- perience. Yet, considering what sort of heads you have to deal with, the task of giving them instruction must be a heavy one. The triumph is hardly equal to the labour which attends it. To convey in- struction into heads which perceive no- thing, is as hard a task as to instil sen- timents into hearts that feel nothing. In both these articles, I think, his Majesty's present servants are invulnerable. They are of so strange a composition, that knowledge will neither penetrate the sub- 424 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. stance, nor shame stick upon the sur- face. They have one short remedy for every inconvenience, a remedy which tyrants make use of, and fools profess, without scruple or management. Force is their grand a)-canum imperii. If this be the executive power of the crown, they possess and exert it to a miracle. Red and brown makes all the difference. To Southwark the guards are detached in their uniforms ; — to Brentford they march like gentlemen, with orders to change their colours in the blood of this country. This, Sir, is the last irresistible argument of kings ;— the only one which your abilities cannot answer, nor your integrity oppose with effect. In vain shall you demand an account of the most flagrant waste of public money. The ministry are sure of being protected by the ruffians who received it. The murder of his Majesty's English subjects calls aloud, but calls in vain, for justice. To complain is dangerous, to prosecute might be fatal. We are arrived at that dreadful crisis, at which open murders may well be succeeded l)y secret assassination. May heaven avert the omen ! Your weight and authority in parliament are acknowledged by the submission of your opponents. Your credit with the public is equally extensive and secure, be- ^ The warm attachment of Jlxius to every i part of the conduct of this distinguished states- man, may perhaps be conceived to import some- thing more than a mere political concurrence of sentiment, and to indicate an ardent personal friendship. The editor has found it necessary to glance at such an idea on several former oc- casions. Yet, for the honour of Junius, it ought to be observed, that there were few poHtical characters of the day who were more entitled to his panegyric. Upon which subject the reader will not be displeased at being presented with the following brief sketch of IMr Grenville's character from the pen of a gentleman to whom these notes have been already indebted, and who had repeated opportunities of forming a correct estimate of his worth. It is e.vtracted from the second volume of ]\Ir Kno.x's E.xtra Official State Papers, from which a letter written bv Mr Grenville, on the subject of American politics, has been selected in note to IMiscellaneous Let- ter, No. XXXI., p. 390. The anecdote respect- ing Florida and Louisiana is infinitely creditable to his 'shrewd inflexible judgment' as a states- man, and his conduct as a minister is in many cause it is founded on a system of conduct wisely adopted and firmly maintained. You have invariably adhered to one cause, one language, and when your friends deserted that cause they deserted you. They who dispute the rectitude of your opinions, admit that your conduct has been uniform, manly, and consistent. This letter, I doubt not, will be attributed to some party friend, by men who expect no applause but from their dependants. But you. Sir, have the testimony of your enemies in your favour. After years of opposition, we see them revert to those very measures, with violence, with hazard and disgrace, which, in the first instance, might have been conducted with ease, with dignity and moderation. While parliament preserves its constitu- tional authority, you will preserve yours. As long as there is a real representation of the people, you will be heard in that great assembly with attention, deference, and respect ; and if, fatally for England, the designs of the present ministry should at last succeed, you will have the consolation to reflect that your voice was heard, until the voice of truth and reason was drowned in the din of arms ; and that your influence in parliament was irresistible until every question was decided by the sword. ^ respects not unworthy the imitation of those who hold the same dignified situations in the present day. ' Mr Grenville, under a manner rather austere and forbidding, covered a heart as feeling and tender as any man ever possessed. He liked office as well for its emoluments as its power ; but in his attention to himself he never failed to pay regard to the situations and circumstances of his friends, though to neither would he warp the public interest or service in the smallest degree ; rigid in his opinions of public justice and integrity, and firm to inflexibility in the construction of his mind, he reprobated every suggestion of the political expediency of over- looking frauds or evasions in the payment or collection of the revenue, or of waste and extra- vagance in its expenditure. But although he would not bend any measure out of the strict line of rectitude to gain popularity, he was far from being indifferent to the good or ill opinion of the pubhc ; and that tediousness and repetition which his speeches in parliament and his trans- actions with men of business were charged with, were occasioned bj- the earnestness of his desire MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 425 LETTER LIV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Mr WoODFALL, T2 April, 1769. The monody on the supposed , death of Juxius is not the less poetical for being founded on a fiction. In some parts of it there is a promise of genius which de- serves to be encouraged. 1 My letter of to satisfy and convince those he addressed of the purity of his motives and the propriety of his conduct ; and while there remained a single reason in his own mind, that he thought would serve those purposes, he could not be content to rest upon those he had already adduced, however convinced and satisfied his hearers appeared to be with them. ' Inheriting but a small patrimonial fortune, he had early accustomed himself to a strict ap- propriation of his income, and an exact economy in its expenditure, as the only sure ground on which to build a reputation for public and private integrity, and to support a dignified independ- ency ; and it was the unvaried practice of his life in all situations, as he has often told me, to live upon his own private fortune, and save the emoluments of whatever office he possessed ; on which account he added ; " The being" in or out makes no difference in my establis'hment or man- ner of life. Every thing goes on at home in the same way. 'I'he only difference is, that my children's fortunes would be increased by my being in, beyond what they would be if I re- mained out, and that is being as little dependent upon office as any man who was not born to a great estate can possibly be ; " and he manifested that independence at a time and in a manner but little known, and as the relation can now do no harm, I shall repeat the account he gave me of it. He had accepted the jeals of one of the secretaries of state in lord Bute's administration, and by so doing drew upon himself the resent- ment and abuse of the then popular party, and of some of his own nearest relations ; his return, therefore, to them, was rendered impracticable upon any occasion, and he had every motive to induce him to remain with his present connexion. Notwithstanding which, he very soon hazarded his continuance in ofifice in support of his opinion, of what ought to be done for the advantage of the public, on the following occasion : ' While the peace was negotiating, the expe- dition against the Havannah was carrying on, and as the chance of its success or failure was not very unequal, the negotiators agreed to leave it out in their uti possidetis, considering the event as perfectly neutral : so that if, after the preliminaries were signed it was found to be taken, it was to be restored without compens- ation. Before the preliminaries were signed, however, the account of its capture was received, and Mr Grenville immediately proposed that it should now be included in the iiii possidetis, and compensation for it insisted upon, for as the event was decided before the preliminaries were .signed, either party was at liberty to avail them- selves of it. Lord Bute thought the treaty was too far advanced to make any advantage of the event being in our favour, and he feared that our making any fresh demand, would not only protract but break off the negotiation, and pre- vent the peace taking place immediately, which he thought so necessary for the nation. Mr Grenville was clear in his opinion of our right to make the demand, and firm in insisting that it should be made, and proposed two alternatives for consideration. The one, that if we judged it best to get the entire possession of the continent of North America, France haviqg already agreed to cede all Canada, that we should insist upon Florida and Louisiana : the other, that if we thought it necessary to increase our possessions in the West Indies, beyond the three neutral islands, which France had also agreed to give us, we should ask Porto Rico, and the property of what we held upon the Spanish main ; and he left the earl with declaring that he would resign the seals, if one of those alternatives was not adopted and insisted upon. After consulting with Mr Fox and lord Egremont, lord Bute agreed to make the demand of Florida and Loui.siana, and instructions to that purpose were immediately dispatched to the duke of Bedford, who made so able and strenuous an application in consequence of them, that the duke de Choiseul not only consented to cede Louisiana, but ob- liged the Spanish minister to cede Florida also, without sending to his court for fresh orders, and the preliminaries were not delayed more than a fortnight by the demand and acquisition of that immense territory.' IMr Grenville, shortly previous to his death, introduced the act for determining controverted elections, from a thorough conviction, as he declared to Mr Knox, ' that the ruin of public liberty must ensue, unless some check was given to the abominable prostitution of the House of Commons in elections, by voting in whoever has the support of the minister.' The good effects of this excellent act is on all sides the theme of praise so often as a controversy occasions the necessity for an appeal to its decision, the im- partiality of which has hitherto never been dis- puted. — Edit. '■ These verses were written by the present sir John Macpherson, formerly governor-general of India. He was the author of several letters in answer to Junius, under the signature of Foe- tikastos. The lines here referred to were as fol- low. A MONODY ; OR THE TEARS OF SEDITION ON THE DEATH OF JUNIUS. Qtcis tibi Siltcre furor ? And are those periods fiU'd with tuneful care, Thosr, thoughts Avhich gleam'd with Cicero- nian ore. 436 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Monday will, I hope, convince the author that I am neither a partisan of Mr Wilkes, nor yet bought off by the ministry.^ It is true I have refused offers, which a more prudent or a more interested man would have accepted. Whether it be simplicity cr virtue in me I can only affirm that I am in earnest;^ because I am convinced, as far as my understanding is capable of judging, that the present ministry are driv- ing this country to destruction ; and you, I think, Sir, may be satisfied that my rank and fortune place me above a common bribe. JUNIUS. Are they, my Junius, pass'd like vulgar air, Droop'd is thy plume, to rise on fame no more ? Thy plume ! — It was the harp of song in prose : Oft have its numbers sooth'd the felon's ear, Oft to its tunc my Wilkite heroes rose With couch'd tobacco pipes in act to spear. Wlicre now shall stormy Clodius and his crew, My dear assembly to the midnight hour, Ah ! where acquire a trumpeter ! — since you No more shall rouse them with tliy classic power. Accurs'd Silurus ! blasted be thy wing f 'I'hat grey Scotch wing which led the unerring dart ! In virtue's cause could all that's satire sting A bosom with corruption's poison fraught ? Impossible ! — then hear me, Fiends of H — II, 'J'his dark event, this mystery unfold ; Poison'd was Junius? No ; 'Alas, he fell 'iNIidst arrows dipp'd in ministerial gold.' Then hear me, rioters, of my command, Condemn the villain to a traitor's doom ; Let none but faithful knaves adorn my band ; Go, sink this character into his tomb. Here sunk an essayist of dubious name, Whose tinsell'd page on airy cadence run. Friendless, with party — noted, without fame. Virtue and vice disclaim'd him as a son. POETIKASTOS. Clodius and Silurus, mentioned in the above lines, were at this time frequent writers in the Public Advertiser ; the former against adminis- tration, the latter in favour of it. .Silurus, assum- ing a personal knowledge of the writer of the Letters of Junius, thus describes him. ' I know Junius, and I am not surprised that he calls aloud for blood. Bred among the dregs of mankind, he imbibed their vices, and acquired that hardness of heart which is usually produced by crimes. Possessed of some ambition, versed in the low arts of adulation, he wrought himself into the confidence of the vain by mimanly flat- tery, and rose from obscurity by nieans which dishonoured his patrons. Smooth in his lan- LETTER LV. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE M.\RQU1S OF GR.\NBY. My Lord, 6 May, ij6q. You were once the favourite of the public. As a brave man you were ad- mired by the army, as a generous man you were beloved. The scene is altered, and even your immediate dependants, who have profited most by your good nature, cannot conceal from you how much you have lost both in the affections of your fellow-soldiers, and the esteem of your country. Your character, once spotless, once irreproacha- ble, has been drawn into a public question ; attacked with severity, defended with im- prudence, and, like the seat of war, ruined by the contention. Profligate as we are, the virtues of the heart are still so much respected, that even the errors and sim- plicity of a good man are sacred against censure or derision. To a man of your Lordship's high rank and fortune, is there guage, he gained the ear without persuading the heart ; and by the help of a good memory, some anecdotes, and trite observations, acquired the reputation of a genius among some slight cha- racters in the literary world. Dark, cunning, deceitfully self-denied, he covered himself with such an appearance of opennessand candour, that even some judges of human nature thought him honest, many believed him honourable, few sus- pected the soundness of his head, none the good- ness of his heart. ' Such was Junius before public business called forth the latent and deformed features of his mind : the real man stood then confessed ; his speclousncss was found to be a mask for hvpo- crisy ; his candour a veil for deceit ; his learning discovered to be mere plagiarism ; his boasted parts to consist altogether in memory. The flimsy affected, though unafTectlng, superficial- ness of his private discourse was soon traced in the hollow and round periods of his public de- clamations. Detestation took the place of esteem in the minds of many, hatred took possession of a few, and a contempt for him of all. Detected, detested, despised, In his rtvi/ character, he now assumes 2i fictitious name, for Junius cannot deceive, but where he is unknown. ' 27 Maixh, 1769. Silurus.' ' The letter here referred to, is that addressed to the duke of Grafton, on Mr Weston's supposed vindication of his Grace, for the pardon of M'QuIrk. See Letter IX.— Edit. = See Private Letter, No. 63.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 427 any thing in the smiles of a court that can balance the loss of that affection (for surely it was something more cordial than esteem) with which you were universally received upon your return from Germany ? You were then an independent gallant soldier. As far as you thought proper to mix in politics, you were tlie friend and patron of the people. Believe me, my Lord, the highest rate of abilities could never have given you a more honourable station. From the moment you quitted that line, you have perhaps been belter able to gratify some interested favourites, but you have disgraced yourself ; — and, to a man of your quality, disgrace is ruin. You are now in the lowest rank of minis- terial dependants. Your vote is as secure to administration as if you were a lord of trade, or a vice-treasurer of Ireland, and even Conway, at your Lordship's expense, has mended his reputation. I will not enter into a detail of your past conduct. You have enemies enough already, and I would not wish you to despair of recovering the public esteem. An opportunity will soon present itself. The people of England are goaJ-natured enough to make allow- ances for your mistakes, and to give you credit for correcting them. One short question will determine 3'our character for ever. Does it become the name and dig- nity of Manners to place yourself upon a level with a venal tribe, who vote as they are directed, and to declare upon your honour, in the face of your country, that Mr Luttrell is, or ought to be, the sitting member for the county of Middlesex ?i I appeal, bona fide, to your integrity as an honest man ; — I even appeal to your under- standing. YOUR REAL FRIEND. * For an explanation of the subject here alluded to, see Private Letter, No. 2. See also p. 146, note. — Edit, "^ Sir William Blackstone. For the detail of MacQuirk's crime and pardon, see Letter VIII. —Edit. LETTER LVI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 6 June, 1769. I WISH the duke of Grafton had thought proper to take the opinion of our gracious Queen's solicitor-general ^ before he pardoned MacQuirk. That worthy lawyer is never at cross-purposes with him- self, and I dare say would have maintained the same doctrine in his closet, which he has delivered for the instruction of the pub- lic. He says in his last volume, page 12, ' that the pains of death ought never to be inflicted, but when the offender appears incorrigible : which may be collected either from a repetition of minuter offences, or from the perpetration of some one crime of deep malignity, which of itself demonstrates a disposition without hope or probability of amendment ; and in such cases it would be cruelty to the public to defer the punish- ment of such a criminal, till he had an opportunity of repeating perhaps the worst of villanies.' What would this most respectable of all possible lawyers have thought of granting a pardon to a culprit, who had not only been convicted of a repetition of offences, and those not minute but atrocious, but who had actually committed murder ? He cer- tainly would have called it something more than cruelty to the public. His knowledge of the laws would have told him that the purpose for which this villain was employed by the ministry, was treason against the constitution ; 3— that it was the highest ag- gravation of the crimes he committed in prosecution of it ; — that murder, simply considered, is only an injury to the indi- vidual who suffers ; or in the most enlarged sense, to society, in the loss of one of its members ; — but that when it is connected with, and founded on, the idea of destroy- ing the constitution of the state (which, as 3 In reference to sir W. Blackstone's opinion relating to the Middlesex election. See Letter XVIII.— Edit. 428 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. far as Mr MacQuirk's labours could be supposed to operate, was certainly the case), it then comprehends every quality, which can make an offence of this sort criminal in the eye of the law ; — the injury to the in- dividual ;— a breach of the public peace and security in a civil light ; — and a viola- tion of that political system, on which the liberty and happiness of the community de- pend. Mr Blackstone would have told the fiery duke, that to pardon such an offender would not only be a most scandalous evasion of law and justice, but the grossest insult to the common understanding of the nation. His Grace must then have applied to some lawyer of a more flexible character. There is a man, for instance, who seems to have hoarded up a treasure of reputation, not to last him through life, but to squan- der away at one moment, with a foolish indecent prodigality ; — who is not ashamed to maintain an oral doctrine directly op- posite to that which he had written, nor to deceive the representative, after instructing the collective body of the nation. This man would willingly have accommodated his authority to the purposes of administra- i tion ; and as for himself, he could suffer no loss, for which the vanity of an author would not have sufficiently consoled him. The respect due to his writings will pro- bably increase with the contempt due to his character, and his works will be quoted, when he himself is forgotten or despised. SIMPLEX. LETTER LVH. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, io June, 1769. I AM an old reader of political controversy. I remember the great Wal- JUNius's charges. First/act. That lord Chatham was the first object of the duke of Grafton's political attach- polean battles ; and am not a little diverted with the combats of party at this time. They are still carried on with ability and vigour. Long habit has taught me to pass by all the declamation with which the champions parade. I look upon it as no better than those flourishes of the back sword with which the great masters of mj 1 time in the amphitlieatre entertained the , spectators, merely to show their dexterity, but which made no part of the real engage- / ment. I regard as nothing the trappings of panegyric with which they decorate their friends. I entirely overlook the dirt with which they so very liberally bespatter their enemies. Whenever :i/uct is touched upon, there I fix. When a distinct charge is made upon a minister, I look for a distinct and particular answer, that denies, or admitting, explains, or in some favourable manner accounts for \\\Q.fact charged. If instead of this I find nothing more than a long paper, in which the author of the charge is called a thousand names, and the person accused is hfted up to the skies as a miracle of ability and virtue, I am obliged, as an equitable judge, to consider the cause not as defended, but as utterly abandoned ; and the court must enter an admission by his own advocates of the charge against him. The conduct and character of the duke of Grafton have been for some time the object of controversy. In what manner have they been attacked and defended ? Take as a specimen tlie controversy of the last week. Junius, whom the ministerial writers appear very much to dread, and affect very much to despise, has made se- veral particular charges upon his Grace. In one column I will state the charges, in the other the reader will see the answers, and he will thereby be the better enabled to judge of the -"oirit in which this dispute is carried ou AnsTver. The wicked for the sake of mischief ap- prove of your bold falsehoods, and the MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 429 raent ; yet he deserted him, and entered with lord Rockingham into an administra- tion in which lord Chatham refused to engage. Second fact. After uniting with lord Rockingham, the duke of Grafton deserted and betrayed him. Third fact. That, after entering again into adminis- tration with lord Chatham, the duke of Grafton forced him (lord Chatham) to with- draw his name from it. Fourth fact. That the duke of Grafton is chargeable with great inconsistencies with himself in the frequent variations in his opinions and conduct with regard to America, according to the various changes he has made in his connexions. Fifth fact. The duke of Grafton had been the friend of Mr Wilkes, and is become his persecutor. The above charges are, with several others, to be found in the last letter of Ju- nius. The ministerial advocate, Anti Maluorida,^ has since addressed a letter to him, in which the above paragraphs, in the second column, arc the only answers which I could discover. The same charges had been made by Junius and others several times before. Always the same reply. Ju- nius and many others say (and I fancy they speak the sense of the nation), that the duke of Grafton imposes upon his sovereign, betrays his connexions, persecutes the man who was his friend, idly irritates the colo- nies, wickedly alienates their affections from * A writer in the Public Advertiser in favour of administration, but whose letters do not appear envious love a strain of defamation, which brings down to their own mean level the most worthy and most exalted characters in the nation. Aftnver. To retaliate upon you the abuse which you have presumed to throw upon the duke of Grafton would be raising you into a con- sequence, to which the meanness of your birth, the depravity of your heart, and the unsoundness of your head, can never have any title. Answer. By specious conversation you imposed upon the weak, by open and impudent flattery you gained the confidence of the vain, and you won the favour of the proud by mean unmanly sycophancy. Answer. Void as you are of every sense of shame, can you without a blush (but a blush sel- dom tinges those happy countenances which have been bathed in the Liffy), can you recommend to the people of England, as ministers, men, whose weakness or villany they have already experienced in office? Answer. The abilities, the integrity, the dignity of mind, as well as the nobility of family which distinguish the duke of Grafton, have ren- dered him superior to your abuse. their mother country, invades the liberties of the people, abuses the prerogative of the crown, and has actually subverted the con- stitution : and when Junius civilly asks the reason of all this— Sir (says he), you are a rascal. Now, Mr Woodfall, I shall make but one reflection, and that I shall borrow from sir John Brute : — ' This may be a very good answer for aught I know at cross-purposes, but it is a damned whimsical one to a people in our circumstances.' Yours, &c. AMICUS CURI^. to have merit enough to entitle them to be r^ printed.— Edit. Q ,_J 430 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER LVIII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Mr "Woodfall, 5 September, 1769. Amidst the great number of cor- respondents who have raised your paper to a superiority over the rest, I don't re- member to have observed lately any of the female sex. To a woman of spirit, the most intolerable of all grievances is a restraint on the liberty of the tongue. I can't bear to see the men have it all to themselves ; and shall certainly burst if I am not permitted to put in a word. Much has been said of late about grievances and apprehensions, instructions and petitions, elections and expulsions. Now, Sir, I want to enter the list with one of the most celebrated of your political correspondents : here I throw down my glove, and am in hopes it will be taken up by— Junius. Some people per- haps may blame me for meddling with politics, a science fit only for the men ; but Junius has no right to find fault, for Ju- nius has been the aggressor, by making such frequent incursions into scandal, the natural province of the women. However, I will do your correspondent Junius the justice to say, that I think him a very fine writer, a great master of com- position, and indeed, upon the whole, I have not seen a prettier fellow — upon paper, j His former letters have consisted of general j declamation or pointed personal abuse. In both of these he has proved himself an adept. There is a great deal of oratory in his declamations, though he is perhaps too flowery and metaphorical, and seems as fond of point and antithesis as any woman is of point lace and French silk. As to his personal attacks, they are irresistible ; no character can stand before him ; — he is the very butcher of a reputation. ' Heaven preserve the characters of all 7ny tribe from Junius!' In the art of exaggeration \\q has no equal ; molehills he magnifies into mountains, and views your smallest pecca- dillo through a double ?nicroscope. Should there be the least spot or speck on your reputation, Junius can spread it out (with the help of a few drops of ink) till it covers you all over, and makes you as black as a fiend ; in short Junius is chief japanner or calumniator-general to the opposition : he is employed to besmear the ministry with his very best liquid blacking, and when he has written them out of otifice, he will no doubt change his colours, take a different brush, and white-wash their successors. I wish he may make as distinguished a figure in the sweet work of panegyric as he has done in the painful task of calumny and detraction ! But of all kinds of abuse, private SCAN- DAL seems to be his favourite morsel ; Junius lays hold of a scandalous anecdote with as much keenness as a spider seizes an unfortunate fly ; be crawls forth from the dark hole where he lay concealed ; how eagerly he clutches it ; with what a mali- cious pleasure he drags it along ; his eyes gloat upon it with cruel delight ; he winds it round and round with his cobweb rhe- toric, and sucks the very heart's blood of family peace ! Various have been the conjectures formed on the question — 'Who is this Junius?' I have heard at least twenty persons named whom suspicion points the finger at ; nay, I have been assured at different times that each of them was the author in question. They could not all be the writer ; perhaps none of them is.— But in spite of all the curiosity which is imputed to our sex, I de- clare sincerely, that I would not give a pin for the secret. 'Tis indifferent to me who the man is; and whether he was first dipped in the Thames or the Tweed, the Liffy or the Shannon. But though I can't tell who Junius is, I will tell you what he is like. Junius is like a racer in the field of politics, who walks \ over the course alone ; no one venturing to \ start against him. I have for some time j had a violent inclination to enter at the post, although I am sensible the odds at starting I would be greatly against the filly ; but for j all that, perhaps, I should be up with him MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 431 at the long ruir.. But I have run out my simile, and therefore must beg leave to take a fresh one. Your paper, Mr Woodfall, is become the grand political cockpit, and Junius struts about in it like a cock whom nobody can match ; suppose that I were pitted against him ; how do you think the bets would go ? And what are the odds that he does not come off hen-pecked ? If I should happen to get the better of him, it will be as much a matter of public won- der as the late afiair of the hen in Scotland- yard, who ' attacked a prodigious large rat that was carrying off one of her chickens, and after fighting a considerable time, killed the rat, to the great joy and surprise of the spectators." And besides how great will be the honour accruing to our sex from such a victory ! It will be recorded amongst the most famous exploits in the annals of female prowess ; and I shall be ranked with the most renowned heroines of antiquity, Tliomyris and Semiramis, Judith and Deborah . But perhaps the defeat of this political Holofernes may not be so very difficult ; and indeed on a nearer view he does not appear half so formidable. When Junius stalked upon the heights of declatnation, he appeared of more than ordinary size, but now that he has descended to the plain ground of reason and argument, he appears nearly on a level with common men. His letters on the Middlesex election are most sophistically dull, unless where he throws in some personalities by way of giving spirit ar.i flavour to his political olio. How- ever, I don't believe that with all his soph- istry he has made a single convert to his opinion. I fancy there is hardly one cool, moderate, impartial person in England who does not think that the House of Commons are the only judges of their own privileges ; that no power on earth can force a member upon them, whom they have declared in- capable of being elected ; and that if any person under such known and declared in- capacity happens to have the greatest num- ber of votes, the candidate who has the next greatest number of legal votes must of course be the sitting member. This opinion seems to me to be perfectly agree- able to reason, to common sense, and the principles of the constitution, and (notwith- standing the delusive appearance of peti- tions obtained we all know how) I do verily believe it is the opinion of every candid, impartial, unprejudiced person in England ; in short, of all those who are not the tools of faction, or the dupes of party. I am. Sir, Vour humble servant, JUNIA.i LETTER LIX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, J September, i-jeg. I FIND myself unexpectedly mar- ried in the newspapers, without my know- ledge or consent. Smce I am fated to be a husband, I hope at least the lady will perform the principal duty of a wife. Mar- riages, they say, are made in heaven, but they are consummated upon earth, and since Junia has adopted my name, she cannot, in common matrimonial decency, refuse to make me a tender of her person. Politics are too barren a subject for a new- married couple. I should be glad to fur- nish her with one more fit for a lady to handle, and better suited to the natural dexterity of her sex. In short, if Junia be young and handsome, she will have no | reason to complain of my method of con- ducting an argument. I abominate all tergiversation in discourse, and she may be assured that whatever I advance, whether it be weak or forcible, shall, at any rate, be directly in point. It is true I am a strenu- ous advocate for liberty and property, but when these rights are invaded by a pretty woman, I am neither able to defend my money nor my freedom. The divine right of beauty is the only one an Englishman ' This letter was claimed, as the production of his own pen, by the late Mr Caleb Whitefoord. — EDiT. Q 2 432 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ought to acknowledge, and a pretty -woman the only tyrant he is not authorized to re- sist. JUNIUS.i LETTER LX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Mr Woodfall, 8 Sept. 1769. It is hard to determine whether the actions of the present ministry more excite abhorrence and indignation, or the writings of their advocates contempt and ridicule : every action of the former is an invasion of our liberty or our property ; every line wrote in their defence by the latter is an insult to our understanding, and a base mockery of our .sufferings. I have never yet known a bad cause made better by a bad defence. I cannot conceive what induces his Grace of Grafton to employ such a set of wretches to laugh at us, whilst we are burning at the stake to which he has tied us. It is as void of policy as it is full of inhumanity. Oppres- sion is more easily borne than insult ; and the duke of Grafton, with his now directors, the Bloomsbury gang, may find that it is dangerous to despise those whom he has deeply injured. Why does he let loose upon us his troops of fools and madmen, and buffoons and buUies ? He would do more wisely to employ them in their proper places, reserving them to excite the mirth, and add to the wit, urbanity, and elegance of the midnight festivity of his kindred and ^ Junius repented that he had written this letter as soon as it had appeared. He regarded it as idle and improper ; and it was on this occasion that he addressed to Mr Woodfall the private note, No. 8, dated lo Sept. 1769; in consequence of which the following observation appeared in the notice to correspondents in the Public Advertiser of 11 Sept. ' We have some reason to suspect that the last letter signed Junius, inserted in this paper of Thursday last, was not written by the real FuNius, though we imagine it to have been sent Dy some one of his waggish friends, who has taken great pains to write in a manner similar to that of Junius, which observation escaped us at friends, Weymouth, Gower, and Rigby, at Bedford-house. If the freeholders of this country, alarmed at the invasion of their last and dearest right, the freedom of election, beg in the humblest terms for redress, Poetikastos dances before them in a fool's coat, squirts dirty water in their faces, and then cries out to the great joy, and with the loud applause of \\\Q. gajjg, — 'You are redressed.' To every other complaint, whether of the dis- graces which we suffer abroad, or of the oppressions which we feel at home ; whe- ther the cry be for property ravished from us, for our hberties infringed, for the laws perverted, for the constitution overturned, we have much the same answer. Silurus is let loose from his cell to vent his mad- ness, and cover us with his filth. — Pericles^ stands by him calling out rogue and scoun- drel ; and then with one voice the minister who employs, and the wretches who are employed, cry out. — 'We have defeatcvl them ; they never dare appear again ; we have hanged them up to public scorn : you are a coward, cries one ; I will cudgel you, says another ; I will lay you a bet of 14,000 guineas, bawls a third.' ^ Does the duke of Grafton really think that such actions as his are sufficiently defended by such arguments as these ? Are those the lawyers whom he has retained against that dreadful day — for that day will come — when a brave, a haughty, and a spirited, though patient, people, shall de- mand vengeance on his head for all the dis- graces and injuries which he has heaped that time. The printer takes the liberty to hint that it will not do a second time.' — Edit. ' Poetikastos, Silurus, and Pericles were writers in the Public Advertiser in favour of ad- ministration. — Edit. 3 A challenge had been absurdly given to Junius by several writers in the Public Ad- vertiser, as well as by sir William Draper ; and one correspondent, as here referred to, had the egregious folly to propose a bet of 14,000 guineas, being, as he stated, his whole fortune, 'that he could produce in six months a counter- petition, signed by 4.000 freeholders, ail men of sense, begging his Majesty to confine the ring- leaders of the opposition, and bind them over to their good behaviour.' — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ^33 upon theirs? Are these to be his intercess- ors to a misguided and betrayed king for mercy ? Enjoy with your associates, my Ix)rd, their buffoonery and their scurrihty wliilst you may : the day is not far off — if the Almighty has not in his wrath given up this country to that worst of punishments, that most intolerable of all tyrannies, the government of insolence without spirit, violence without vigour, ambition without dignity, obstinacy without resolution, and ignorance without diffidence — the day is not far off, when these insults will be retorted most severely, and humanity itself will not be able to keep them from your head, though that head should be on the block. AUGUR. LETTER LXI. TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTOK.l My Lord, io November, 1769. The facihty with which you aban- doned your earliest connexions in friend- ship and politics, was, I doubt not, a lead- ing recommendation to establish your credit at St James's. A gracious discern- ing prince, who, even at the moment of his accession, had fortitude enough to get the better of every predilection which he might be supposed to have inherited from his ancestors in favour of the friends of the House of Hanover, must have observed with pleasure that your Grace was equally ready to desert the friends who contributed most to your advancement, and to adopt new principles of government. I will not com- plain of a change of system, for which you had so powerful a precedent, and which you have found so favourable to your ambition. | But there are rules of decency, my Lord, ! * This letter was printed by the desire of I Junius in the Public Advertiser, but was not ' written by him. See Private Letter, No. ii- It was, however, so generally supposed to have been his, that Junius himself thought it neces- sary to request the printer to publish the follow- ing contradiction in the same journal, Nov. 17. ' We can assure tho public that the letter signed A. 13., relative to the duke of Rutland, is not , which a wiser man would have observed even in the grossest violation of morals. There is a certain sort of hostilities which is forbidden by the laws of war between nations, and by the laws of enmity between I individuals. The contentions of party have I given a fashionable latitude to the principles ! of modern morality ; but still, my Lord, there are some characters too great and 1 venerable to be insulted ; there is yet a ' certain breach of decorum, which the public j will not submit to. Was the duke of Rut- I land the only man in this country at whose ; expense you could gratify lord Denbigh ? ' One would think, my Lord, that if his uni- i form adherence to the principles of the revolution, his steady attachment to the House of Hanover, and the important serv- ices which he and his family had rendered to that House, could possibly be forgotten, there was yet something in his age, his rank, his personal character, and private virtues, which might have entitled him to respect. Was it necessary, my Lord, to pursue him into his own county on purpose to insult him ? Was it proper, was it decent, that while a duke of Rutland is lord- lieutenant, the earl of Denbigh's recom- mendation should govern the county of Leicester P^ Had lord Denbigh no friends in Leicestershire but rank Tories to recom- mend for the commission of the peace ? And is it under a prince, who owes his crown to the Whig interest of England, that a minister dares to send such a mandate to the duke of Rutland ? I know his Grace's spirit, and doubt not of his returning you an answer proper for you and for himself. United as you are, my Lord, with men whose concern for the safety of the church, and whose zeal for ths prerogative of the crown, has been so often unluckily mistaken written by the author of Junius.' — Edit. ^ It refers to certain justices of the peace having been made at the request of lord Den- bigh, by a commission of the lord chancellor (Camden), and others, for the county of Lei- cester, without consulting the duke of Rutland, who was lord-lieutenant, ind who, ex officio, ought to have been honouitd with the nomina- tion. — Eorr. 43'r MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. for simple jacobitism, I take for granted you are as well acquainted with their his- tory as with their principles. You are able to tell us, and surely the public has a right to expect it from you, by what species of merit the earl of Denbigh has contrived to make himself so distinguished a favourite at court. Was it the notorious attachment of his family to the House of Hanover, or his own personal accomplishments? Was it his fortune that made him respectable, or his beggary that made him submissive ? Was it the generous exertion of his great abilities in parliament, or the humble assi- duity of his attendance at lord Bute's levee ? Was it the manly firmness of his personal appearance, or the pliant politeness of his temper? Was it the independent dignity with which he maintains the rank of a peer, or the complaisance with which he accepts and executes the honourable office of a spy? Whatever have been his merits or services, they are undoubtedly of a com- plexion very different from those of the duke of Rutland. His Grace has now wisely exchanged that busy scene, in which he never appeared but with honour, for an hospitable retirement. His age will not permit us to hope that he can long be the object of the spite of such a creature as lord Denbigh, nor of the scorn and insult of such a minister as your Grace. But he will leave a family, my Lord, whose principles of freedom are hereditary, from whose resentment you will have every thing to apprehend. As for himself, I shall only say, that if it were possible for the views and wishes of the Tories to succeed ; if it were possible for them to place a Stuart once more upon the throne, their warmest hopes and ambition might be disappointed. He too, like another judicious prince, might think it the best policy of his government to choose his friends and favourites from among the declared, notorious, determined enemies of his family. The Tories who placed him upon the throne, might be driven disgracefully from his presence ; and, upon the same principle, I challenge your Grace to point out a man more likely to be invited to the place of first minister and favourite, than the duke of Rutland. A. B.i j * The above letter, though avowedly not from I'le pen of Ju.mus, was reprinted in the Public I Advertiser from another journal at his request. I It was replied to a few days afterwards by the L LETTER LXH. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLiC ADVERTISER. Sir, 17 N^ovember, 1769. Junius may change his signature, his manner he cannot change. I'he far- fetched antithesis, the empty period, the pert loquacity distinguish the WTiter ; and the rancorous and impudent falsehood dis- covers the man. In vain has he attempted to conceal himself under initials ; he is aj invariable in the tenor of his diction as he is in the bias of his mind. It was, however, a mark of some judg- ment in Mr to use a new signature in your paper of Friday. A. B. may praise the duke of Rutland, though Junius has infamously traduced the marquis of Gran- by.2 By a mean subterfuge, an appearance of propriety may be preser\'ed among the superficial ; but the generous and discern- ing must despise and detest a man who makes the interest of a profligate party the only standard by wliich he regulates his encomium as well as his abuse. But to set the public right in a matter of fact is the only design of this letter. The insertion of particular persons by mandate, without issuing a new commission of the peace, has been in daily practice ; and is an undoubted power lodged in the great seal ; but in that alone ; nor can any other servant of the crown interfere no more than in a decree of that great officer, the chan- cellor in the Court of Chancery. The principles of that noble Lord arc as letter that follows it ; to withhold which would be an act of injustice. — Edit. * The marquis of Granby, eldest son of the duke of Rutland. — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS 435 well known as those of the remainder of the king's ministers, who, notwithstanding every aspersion to the contrar}- from factious artifices, have on every occasion proved themselves to be the supporters of the real liberty of the people, and of the true spirit of the constitution. Has the lord chancellor in any instance deviated from such a character? And yet if Junius, or his shadow A. B., were right, this noble lord would be termed a Jacobite : ioi if there is any thing improper m the ap- pointment, he is the man who should be charged, and not the duke of Grafton, on whom calumny endeavours to fix the mis- takes of others. Junius, in his zeal for his party, defeats the means he uses to serve them. Un- fortunately for his cause, the attacks he makes upon, and his charges against, the duke of Grafton, require only to be fairly stated to confute themselves; and thus (I will do him the justice to suppose), without racter he wishes to ruin in the eyes of the world. I am. Sir, Your hun^ble servant, MESSALA.i LETTER LXIIL TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 17 November, 1769. I WILL not pretend to say that the inclosed letter is a very severe libel on its right honourable author ! And yet, Mr Woodfall, you may safely print it ; for though we have laws against self-murder, there are none against self-libelling. A curious collection of correspondence, both political and amorous, has lately fallen into my hands, with which I shall from time to time furnish you, reserving the most ex- traordinary of both kinds till the last, four la bonne bouche. X. X.2 ^ To this letter A . B. gave an answer, but as it decidedly was not written by Junius, we have omitted it. — Edit. ^ Mr Onslow was at this time persecuting Wilkes with all the acrimony in his power, in unison with the duke of Grafton, both of whom had a few years hi lore professed the warmest friendship for Wilkc. Mr Home, not then at enmity with Wilkes, had just published the fol- lowing letter of a similar kind, of which Wilkes had given him a copy : TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 14 July, 1769. Many of your readers having seen an abuse on Mr Home, for the publication of a letter from Mr Onslow to Mr Wilkes, are de- sirous of seeing that original. I COPY OF A LETTER FROM GEORGE ONSLOW, ESQ. TO JOH.N WILKES, ESQ. E tuber Court, 21 September, 1765. Mv Dear Old Friend, Havixg been most shamefully silent to you during the remainder of an opposition which did honour to every man concerned in it, and to the credit of which you so much contributed, I now begin my correspondence with you, at my first entering into office with, and under, an ad- ' ministration, whose principles, I hope and be- lieve, will authorize your giving equal support to, in their very difterent situation. If they did not, as I know they do, revere and hold sacred those sentiments they avowed during the two last years, and in abhorrence those vile and detestable ones of persecution and injustice, by which the public were so injured in your person, I should be ashamed of what I am now proud of — bearing the small share I do among them. — Public marks of this, as well as private ones, I hope will soon take place. Honest Humphrey has dined with me here to-day, and we have just drank your health, as we have often done. Honest as he is, I never felt him more so than your last letter to him, which he has just now showed me, has made him appear to me, in having done justice to my very sincere and constant regards to, and ad- miration of, you. Every word of this letter of yours .dated the 26 Aug. from Geneval I sub- scribe to, and think and persuade myself the completion of our patriot, not selfish, wishes (for such they are not) will soon appear among many other proofs of integrity, steadiness, and virtue, in the present ministry, and of their being as inimical as ever to those whom they have been opposing, for having acted contrary to ail these principles. Your friend, Mrs Onslow, has been enjoying with us, in infinite mirth, your last specimens of notes on different parts of great Churctiill's works, viz. Hogarth, Talbot, and tht scoundrel Bishop. They are specimens indeed of your amazing wit and abilities ; and when he has more of them he has promised me a copy. Believe me, my dear John, your mentioi.ing me as you do gratifies my pride, as it will always 436 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. My Dear Wilkes, I AM very sorry to have been pre- vented seeing you to-day ; but I hope to have a good account of you by the return of my servant who brings you this : perliaps you may be better if more of your friends besides myself have missed troubling you to-day ; as I'm sure quiet and keeping down your wonderful flow of spirits must do you good. To most men in your situa- tion such a caution would surely be need- less, because men of less greatness of mind, and of a less noble spirit than yourself, would yield to such a load of damnable persecution, from the most dangerous ad- ministration that ever was in this country. But lionest men like yourself know how to despise it atid them, and to rise superior to them all. If I had a mind to raise your indignation, I would bid you think of the similarity of these times to those you and I have talked of with abhorrence ; but as I mean always to add to your comfort and satisfaction, I will desire you to think of the similarity of your own circumstances to those of the many great and good men that lived in those times, and suffered as you do now. Remember how greatly they were thought of, and how their characters are respected now, and remember, and be assured to your comfort, that let the iron hand of power fall ever so heavy on you (it can't AiU very heavy from your innocence) every honest man, and every gentleman, must bestow the same degree of applause on you as they must of abhorrence and detestation on your and iheir country's enemies. I will certainly call on you to-morrow morn- ing or evening. I have nothing new to do to show myself your friend and humble serv- ant. I was always so as a public and as a private man. Our good friend Humphrey and I are at this moment in your service, and from us both you shall soon hear, particularly as to the contents of your letter of the 26th. I beg you to believe that I most truly and affection- ately am your faithful, humble servant, Geo. Onslow. Postscript. Postpone your judgment till you hear again from me, on what I lament as much send you. I hope it is not so fo you that I am unalterably, Dear Wilkes, Your faithful and affectionate Curzon-st., Monday night, humble servant, 21 NozK 1763. GEORGE ONSLOW. Mrs Onslow sends you her comps. I wish you would appoint honest, faithful Humphrey to meet me at your hciise pre- cisely at one o'clock on Wednesday. I have a thousand things to say to him. LETTER LXIV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 20 Nov. 1769. I CANNOT but admire the easy as- surance with which that modest gentleman, who writes for the Gazetteer, informs us that he has gained a complete victory over Junius. It is not the first time that the silence and moderation of Junius have been mistaken for submission, nor is this the first blockhead who has plumed himself upon an imaginary triumph over the favourite of the pubhc. — I wish, however, if he be in the secret, that he would tell us plainly whether the officers of the guards are to be tried or not? If they are not, the observa- tions, made by Junius upon the conduct of the ministry, return with double force. If they are, Junius is right, and acts hon- ourably in not pushing his inquiries further. 1 As to the facts, it is unnecessary for him to say any thing in support of them. They are so notorious, that the parties themselves cannot, dare not deny them. If captain Garth did not wilfully abandon his guard, why does he not demand a court-martial as you can do, and think of as you do — Mr Pitt and lord Temple's being not in employment. — Edit. * Junius, in Private Letter, No. 11, assigns the following reason for thus declining it : ' The only thing that hinders my pushing the subject of my last letter, is really the fear of ruining that poor devil Gansel, and those other block- heads.'— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 437 to dear his character ? And would not the ministr\", for their own credit, take care that captain Dodd should be brought to a trial if they were not absolutely certain that a court-martial must cashier them ? Truly, Sir, these gentlemen have a bitter enemy in I Modcs/us.'^ It appears to me that he has some secret rancour against them, which nothing can satisfy but the loss of their commissions. X. X. LETTER LXV TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 23 Xov. 1769. Junius and his journeymen have engrossed the whole alphabet ; but from A. B. to X. X. the style and manner of the shop are easily discovered. From alpha to omega, the saniR attention to a period, and the same neglect of good sense, manners, and propriety. However, Mr X. X. in to- day's Public Advertiser has even out- Heroded Herod. It was certainly un- pardonable presumption in the modest gentleman who writes for the Gazetteer to assume the merit of a victory over the young gentleman who writes for the Public Advertiser. But Te Dciims have been sung before on as slender foundations. The young gentleman, with that fire and spirit which accompanies green years, threw down his glove to the world, and challenged all mankind to contradict the truth of certain facts, or the justice of certain observations. He proposed, if not a reward to the cham- pion who should vanquish him, at least a punishment to himself if vanquished , nor that a slight one, if he were, as X. X. says he is, the favourite of the public. The modest gentleman ventured to take up the glove, and with a boldness not very con- sistent with his name, demonstrated that the narrative was false in every circum- stance material to the question ; and the ^ Modesttis, as before observed, was a Air Dalrymple, a Scotch lawyer. — Edit. observations not only ridiculous in the view of supporting the conclusion attempted to be drawn, but in a supreme degree injudi- cious to the cause they were intended to promote. To this Junius, with prudence beyond his years, makes no reply, and Modcsius, after a decent forbearance, presumes to put him in mind of his challenge. This produced the letter signed Junius, in your paper one day last week ; in which, to speak negatively, he neither supports the truth of his narrative, nor the justice of his observations, and in which, to speak posi- tively, he gives up both. Not fairly, nor with the candour of a gentleman, who is convinced of his rash and dangerous mis- take ; but with the struggles and evasions of a culprit who is convicted of a crime. Upon this true state of the dispute. Mo- dest us most impudently assumed to himself the victory ; and I must confess he seemed to have the appearance of a claim to it. But Mr X. X. has clearly demonstrated the contrary ; and the method this honour- able gentleman has taken to chain victory to the triumphant car of the public's fa- vourite adds greatly to his merit. •■.. A person of vulgar understanding would have descended into a tediotis detail ; he would have endeavoured to show by argu- ment and fact that Junius was in the right, and Modestus in the wrong. But Mr X. X., another Alexander, cuts the Gordian knot at once, and annihilates the preten- sions of Modestus with a single ^^•ord. There is so much energy, so much elo- quence, so much of the polite scholar, the gentleman, and the patriot, in the term blockhead, that if Modestus possesses but a shadow of what its name imports, he must fairly confess himself routed ; and instead of Te Deum, I would advise him to sing De profundis. It was to be sure the height of insolence in Modestus to attack the favourite of the public; but it maybe pleaded in his excuse, that the public has several favourites who are shrewdly suspected to be unworthy of its favour ; and Junius has staked and 43t MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. forfeited that favour of which he had much reason to be proud. But pray, Mr X. X., have not you been guilty of a trifling error, by substituting the public in place of the mob? You wish to know whether the officers are to be tried or not. For answer give me leave to ask you whether you have learned to read ? Had that essential part of your education been attended to, you would not have been so ignorant of what has been explained again and again, and you would not have been so iUiberal to imagine you could better a bad cause by calling names; an argument which deserves no answer but the strapado. But your education did not depend on yourself, and perhaps you are left-handed, ^vhich I have been told by many intelligent Hibernians, your countrymen, is an insur- mountable bar to scholarship ; yet common sense is the portion of the unlearned as well as of the learned, and though you may be but an indifferent scholar, there was no oc- casion to insult her in the way you have done. The world hitherto has believed that Junius was rather unfriendly to the officers concerned in general Gansel's rescue, when he publicly aggravated their offence from a common breach of the peace to an outrage against the constitution ; and it believed, that Modesfus was not their enemy for en- deavouring to show that Junius was in the wrong, and representing all the circum- stances of excuse which the nature of the case afforded. But here also Mr X. X. has convinced the world of its mistake : and it stands on his infallible authority, that Junius is a faithful friend to these officers, and Modestus a rancorous and in- veterate enemy, whom nothing can satisfy but the loss of their commissions. The force of genius is certainly wonderful ! It discovers in propositions the very reverse of what they contain. But, Mr X. X., when you address the public again, remember, that though parado.xes astonish, they do not convince against evidence. However, we are but seconds in the quarrel between Modestus and Junius, and we ought not to suffer our principals to proceed to extremities. To soften the ran- cour of their contention, I would propose that some friendly unfriendly greeting (as Shakespeare calls it) should pass between them. They need not exchange armour like Glaucus and Diomede (an example which would afford me many choice allu- sions if I had time to pursue them), but they may exchange names. The propriety of this no man can dispute, for even X. X. will agree with me, that Modestus is a little young, and Junius not a Uttle modest. I am. Sir, Your humble servant, Y. Y. LETTER LXVI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 25 November, 1769. For answer to my last letter, in which I asked a very plain question, viz. Whether the officers of the guards were or were not to be tried for the rescue of general Gansel ? — your correspondent Y. Y. con- tents himself with another question, whether I had learnt to read ? The question is per- tinent enough, and as much to the purpose as if he had enquired the hour of the day. Will this gentleman be so good as to quit all circumlocution, and tell us what we are to trust to? Is captain Garth, who deserted his guard at noon day, an equerry to the duke of Cumberland ? Did he not leave the command of his guard to a person who had as little right to take it as Buckkcrse, and is he or is he not protected by his Royal Highness ? — Is not captain Dodd the old friend of Henry Lawes Luttrell, and the son of the oldest and most intimate crony of lord Irnham ? Have either of the parties denied any one of the facts stated by Ju- nius? — Has not colonel Salter been ordered to hold his peace ? — Has not William viscount Barrington, secretary at war, most infamously neglected his duty in not moving the king to order a court-martial for the trial of these offenders? And has not the MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 439 adjutant-general publicly and repeatedly, though in vain, represented that they ought to be cashiered ? What will the flat general contradiction of an anonymous writer avail against circumstances so particular, so well vouched, that the parties most concerned are ashamed or afraid to deny them ? How is Junius to prove his facts but by such a particularity and precision in the state of them, that no man, who knows any thing of the matter, will venture to dispute the truth of them ? In this case a negative is as strong as a positive proof, and the only proof the thing will admit of. It is abso- lutely incredible that neither captain Garth nor captain Dodd should contradict such facts, as lead immediately to their ruin, if justice were done. — Nothing but shame and self-conviction keep them silent. As to argument, I should be glad to know why the letter signed Moderatus ^ has not been answered? It has not even been attempted. — Depend upon it. Sir, the silence of Junius portends no good to the ministry.2 When he honours them with his notice it is not a momentary blast. He gathers hke a tempest, and all the fury of the elements bursts upon them at once. X. X. Sir, LETTER LXVII. FoJ' the Public Advertiser . 28 November, 1769. To Junius. Though you may choose to vent your illiberal resentment under the borrowed signature of X. X., I, who think scurrility no disgrace to your real name, shall not affect to make a distinction where there is ' Inserted in the genuine edition as Philo Junius, Letter XXXI. — Edit. ' The quotation in the note to the preceding j Letter, from Private Letter, No 11, is followed | by these words : ' But as soon as a good subject | offers.' This was fulfilled in the attack upon the | di:ke of Grafton in Letter XXXIII., for the gift I of a patent place, customer of the port of Exeter, | to colonel Burgoyne who sold it, with the sup- posed knowledge of his Grace, to Mr Hine for no difference. For the same reason I do not plead that, Junius having given the challenge, I am not bound to enter the lists against any other. It is a peculiar advan- tage in this sort of warfare, that when a man is routed in his own person, he can still keep the field under another ; and you in particular have a right to the device, non vultus, non color tmus. After giving up the question as Junius, you come back upon itzs X. X. It would be a labour indeed to answer you the same questions in every form you are pleased to assume. But for once I will take the trouble to repeat what I have already said, not from any merit or novelty in your ques- tions, but to leave you without excuse. Had you turned over to my letter in the Gazetteer of the 13th of November, you would have discovered that the gentleman, who asked Mr X. X. whether he had learned to read, did not put a very imperti- nent question. It is there stated that cap- tain Garth was no otherwise concerned in general Gansel's rescue than by being absent from his guard when it happened. This is undoubtedly a military offence ; and if the friendship of Junius ov X. X. will still insist to have it punished, there is no help for it. But it is not true that captain Garth left his guard to be commanded by any person ; and it is immaterial to the question whether he be equerry to the duke of Cumberland, or protected by him. If the thing is so, I congratulate him : but surely that honour neither makes him a criminal, nor aggravates his supposed crime. With respect to captain Dodd, you have brought a fresh charge against him, to which there can be no defence. He is, it seems, a companion of colonel Luttrell, and his father is the intimate friend of lord ;{^4ooo. This Junius deemed so strong a hold upon the duke, as to advise the printer, on a threatened prosecution for publishing this letter, which contains a very severe statement of the fact, 'not to shew fear, but to tell them he would justify, and subpoena Mr Hine, Burgoyne, and Bradshaw of the Treasury,' as that would ' silence them at once.' See Private Letter, No. 15.— Edit. 440 MISCELL.\NEO.US LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Irnham. I am sorry for it ; but if he is guilty of such a crime I must give him up ; and I do it with the utmost gratitude to the friendly and compassionate Junius, who requires no greater punishment for an offence of this heinous nature, than to ruin the fortune and reputation of the person who committed it. I must also congratulate you upon that candour and moderation with which you declined the contest on this point, lest you should prejudge the trial, civil or military, which I told you w as intended. This cir- cumstance affords so striking a proof of your humanity, that you leave me at a loss in what manner to acknowledge it. But raillery apart. Have you really for- got, or are you so supine, that you could not take the trouble to look over my letter, before you crowded together so many ridiculous questions? It is there affirmed that these unfortunate gentlemen would have been immediately tried by military law, unless it had occurred, that a trial by court-martial might possibly prejudge the civil action intended to be carried on by the party injured. Some reasons for this were given, and such as ought to have satisfied a patriot at least. But I have learned by much observation that nothing will satisfy a patriot but a place. Once more I will state those reasons, and though I do not believe you will feel them, yet I am persuaded every man, who knows or values our constitution, will be convinced of their weight. By the articles of war a military officer who shall oppose or resist the civil magis- trate in the execution of his duty, shall be cashiered ; and the only question that re- mains is, in what manner can the offence be ascertained ? I maintain that a court- martial cannot enter into the question of fact, by leading evidence to prove that the offence was committed, because this would be to deprive an Englishman of his right of trial for civil offences by jury. The legal and constitutional method of procedure in these cases is a common trial at law for a civil offence, and a conviction of the offender at common law is the only evi- dence upon which a court-martial can proceed to inflict the military punishment. This being so, had a court-martial been ordered, or were it now ordered upon these gentlemen, it would be a manifest violation of their privileges as Englishmen ; because the issue is not yet tried at common law ; and till the offenders are tried and con- victed at law, there exists no medium on which a court-martial can proceed. This doctrine may be new to you ; but it is not so to any man acquainted with the constitution of which you pretend to be an assertor. The single point in dispute be- tween us is, whether the ministry acted properly or improperly in the affair of gen- eral Gansel's rescue? You say the minis- ter ought to have ordered a court-martial to try the officers concerned in it immedi- ately ; and because he did not you accuse him to the public. I, on the other hand, affirm, that a court-martial ought not to have been called immediately ; that the officers could not have been tried consistently with the laws of the land ; and if the minister had acted otherwise than he did, he would have been guilty of a very gross violation of our rights. The reasons on which we found this difference in opinion are before the public, and it will judge of them with- out respect to you or to me. Whether the parties have denied the facts or not, whether colonel Salter speaks or holds his tongue, are very immaterial circumstances ; but if my position is right, lord Barrington has not neglected his duty in not moving the king to order a court-martial, which the king could not order in the present state of the case, consistently with that tender re- gard which his Majesty has ever shown for the civil rights of his subjects. To answer directly the question you ask, whether or not the officers are to be tried ? is impossi- ble. It is a future event, and though the present intention of the ministry is, I be- lieve, favourable to the rancour of Junius, no man can tell what ti.me may produce. But the question is certainly premature, and indeed the whole dispute would have MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 441 come more properly before the public after the civil trial, which naturally and neces- sarily must precede the court-martial. No motive engaged me to enter into this altercation, save an honest indignation ex- cited by your malevolence, ignorance, and misrepresentation. I foresaw the illiberal abuse to which I exposed myself, and I re- ceived it as it deserves to be received. I will not do any of your allies the honour to take notice of them, but I recommend it to you to tie up that over-drove animal John Bull, who seems indeed to be stimulated to madness, that he may no longer profane a respectable name, but own that which he received from his godfathers and god- mothers, viz. Patrick O'BuUy. MODESTUS. LETTER LXVIII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 2 Dec. 1769. I never doubted that the unfor- tunate Modestus, if left to himself, would soon ruin himself and his clients. He has now fairly clinched the matter. In his letter of this day his whole defence of the duke of Grafton, and all the weight of his arguments against Junius, are made to rest upon a supposed certainty that, when the common law has taken its course, the officers of the guards will be brought to a court-martial. Here then we join issue with Modestus ; and though near ten weeks have elapsed since the rescue of general Gansel, we are ready to admit that it is not yet too late for the minister to do his duty ; but if, notwithstanding the assurances given us by Modestus, it should appear that there never was an intention to bring these offenders to a trial, how will he answer it to the public, that he has dared to take up such a cause, and to impose so many gross falsehoods upon our credulity ? As a friend, I would advise him to look out in time for some plausible evasion. The ministry have singular reasons for every thing they do, and I will venture to foretell that the officers of the guards will never be brought to a court-martial, because their offence is so great, that they must inevita- bly be cashiered. X. X. LETTER LXIX. TO THE printer OF THE PUBLIC advertiser. Sir, 5 March, 1770. There is a certain set of men, who, upon almost every action of their lives, are insulted with the pity both of their enemies and their friends. They seem to have discovered the art of doing whatever is base and detestable, without forfeiting their claim to the public compassion. A bad man, with resolution and abilities, is a formidable being. His great quahties compensate for the absence of good ones, and though not entitled to esteem, secure him from contempt. — The persons I speak of are not in this predicament : they have nothing elevated in their vices. In vain do they labour to distinguish themselves by the violation of all public duties and private engagements. They still preser\'e their natural mediocrity of character, and have as little chance of being honoured with the detestation, as with the esteem of their country. I cannot mention the name of sir Edward Hawke without concern. How imfortunate it is that a heart, unacquainted with fear, should have so little sense of propriety and decorum ! I should be sorry to puzzle him with intricate questions either of policy or morals, but there are some distinctions within the reach even oi his understanding. In his situation, it particularly became him to regulate his conduct by the judg- ment of the public. Though not ex- pected to think for himself, he might have taken a generous part with the friends of his country, and stiil have been respected for the integrity of his intentions. To what a poor, insignificant condition has he now MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. reduced himself ! Behold him. at such a conjuncture as the present, meanly keeping possession of an office, which he owes to , lord Chatham's friendship, and distin- guished as the only surviving minister (of those introduced into the cabinet by lord Chatham'), who supports the present ad- ministration. What opinion can he de- liver in the House of Commons ? What measures can he maintain in the cabinet ? Instead of the dignity of thundering out secrets of state from the gallery, we see the first lord of the Admiralty skulking into the House, just before a division, as if he thought that everybody had heard the peremptory message sent him by Mr Brad- shaw. As to his opinions in council, he must either adopt a new set of ideas, or, if he presumes to differ from his colleagues, must silently submit to be over-ruled. On these terms he may be permitted to keep an em- ployment, which, since he sold his stock in the beginning of the winter, produces nothing, in addition to the salary, but the means of providing for his friends. The choice of commodore Hill and admiral Geary proves that he can discover latent merit in the most unpromising subjects. By this disposition of the command at Chatham and Portsmouth, he seems to aim at encouraging //////;r services, rather than in rewarding the past ; and as to his economy, was it possible to give a better proof of it, than by turning adrift a multi- tude cf poor artificers to idleness and beg- gary, on purpose to make up four pounds a day for the use of Mr Geary ? Admiral Holburne 's services in America have also been very properly considered. When so many Englishmen vacate their places, it would be strange indeed if a Scot of such distinguished merit had been left unprovided for. Sir Percy Brett resigns, — Mr Holburne succeeds him, and sir Edward Hawke is still first lord of the * See editor's note to Letter XXIII.— Edit. ' This youth goes by the name of Gunpowder Eeauchamp through the whole county, 3 Lord Hertford not long ago had the modesty to desire that his son, a youth of twenty years Admiralty ! Proceed, sir Edward, in this honourable line. Be a spendthrift of your good name. We shall not quarrel with your prodigality, for you have a right to waste the reputation you had acquired. You once contributed largely to save tliis country, and have a creditor's claim to con- tribute to its destruction. The indigent circumstances of lord Hert- ford's family account for and justify their conduct. The same spirit of economy which animated the father to the sale of public employments in Ireland, revives in the son, and finds the best market for the ammunition of the Warwickshire militia.2 Lord Hertford, general Conway, and lord Beauchamp are the very quintessence of courtesy and candour. Undecided in their opinions, disengaged from all attachments, they support no measures without leaving room for explanation, and can reconcile the coldest indifference about the interests of others, with the warmest anxiety for their own. It is unluckily the fate of these moderate, candid persons to be despised by all parties. In vain does the gentle Beau- champ give the Treasury bench the negative assistance of his oratory ;— in vain does his honest father beg an audience for personal solicitation in the closet. General Howard and the secretary at war have still spirit to resist. 3 The promotion goes in the regi- ment, and the military achievements of the younger Conway are left for future con- sideration. Poor lord Hertford ! what is this but a continuation of the duke of Grafton's tyranny ? From one minister we see him regularly kicked down to another. His nephew treats him like a footman, and lord North, with still greater severity, yokes him with general Groeme.* My sincere compassion for lord Cornwallis arises not so much from his quality as from his time of life. A young man by a spirited conduct may atone for the deficiencies of his understanding. Where was the memory old, might be put over the heads of all general Howard's officers. 4 Lord Hertford and this worthy Scotchman are spies in ordinary to the minister for the time being. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 443 of this noble lord, or what kind of intellects must he possess, when he resigns his place, yet continues in the support of adminis- tration, and, to show his independence, makes a parade of attending lord North's levee, and pays a public homage to the deputy of lord Bute ! Where is now his attachment, where are now his professions to lord Chatham ; — his zeal for the Whig interest of England, and his detestation of lord Bute, the Bedfords, and the Tories? Since the time at which these were the only topics of his conversation, I presume he has shifted his company as well as his opinions. Will he tell the world to which of his uncles, or to what friend, to PhHipson, or a Tory lord, he owes the advice which has directed his conduct ? I will not press him further. The young man has taken a wise resolution at last, for he is retiring into a voluntary banishment, in hopes of recovering the ruin of his reputation. These loose sketches are sufficient to mark to you the kind of character, which, with every quality that ought to make it odious, still continues pitiful, and is never important enough in mischief to excite in- dignation. I would not waste a thought in contriving the punishment or correction of such men ; but it may be useful to the pub- ^ The letters under this signature are recog- nised by Junius in his Private Letter, No. 56. — Edit. ^ The following are the particulars of the dis- pute which occurred in presenting the petition of March 6, 1770. •' On Wednesday the 7th, the sheriffs attended at St James's, to know his Majesty's pleasure, when he would be waited on with the city ad- dress, remonstrance, and petition; they were detained till twenty minutes after two, when, the levee being over, they, with the remem- I brancer, were admitted into the closet, when Mr i Sheriff Townshend addressed himself to his Majesty in the following words : 'May it please your Majesty, * By order of the lord mayor, aldermen, and livery of the city of London, in common-hall assembled, we have taken the earliest oppor- tunity, as was our duty, to wait upon your Ala- jesty ; but, being prevented from having im- mediate access to your Majesty by one of your household, who informed us, that it was your Majesty's pleasure to receive us this day after the levee, we wait on your Majesty, humbly to know when your Majesty will please to be lie to see by what sort of creatures the pre- sent administration is supported. It is unnecessary to enlarge the catalogue. With- out name or description, they are distin- guished by a certain consciousness of shame which accompanies their actions. After deserting one party, they dare not engage heartily with the other ; and having re- nounced their first sentiments and connex- ions, are forced to proceed in the humble track of voting as they are ordered, wichout party, principle, or friends. DOMlTIAN.i LETTER LXX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 10 March, 1770. No man is more warmly attached to the best of princes than I am. I rever- ence his personal virtues, as much as I respect his understanding, and am happy to find myself under the government of a prince, whose temper and abilities do equal honour to his character. At the same time, I confess, I did not hear without astonish- ment of the answer which some evil-minded counsellors advised him to return to the sheriffs of the city of London. 2 For a king attended with an humble address, remonstrance, and petition.' To which his Majesty was pleased to return the following answer : ' As the case is entirely new, I will take time to consider of it, and transmit you an answer by one of my principal secretaries of state.' On Thursday evening the sheriffs received the following letter from lord Weymouth : * Gentlemen, St James's, March 8, 1770. 'The king commands me to inform you, in consequence of the message which you brought yesterday to St James's, that he is always ready to receive applications from any of his subjects ; but as the present case of address, remonstrance, and petition, seems entirely new, I am com- manded to enquire of you in what manner it is authenticated, and what the nature of the as- sembly was, in which this measure was adopted ? — When you furnish me with answers to these questions, I shall .signify to you his Majesty's further pleasure. ' I am. Gentlemen, ' Your most obedient ' Sheriffs of London. ' ' humble servant, ' Wevmouth.' 444 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. of Great Britain to take time to consider, sheriffs, I presume, will hardly venture to whether he will or will not receive a petition satisfy so unusual an inquiry upon their own from his subjects, seems to me to amount : bare authority. They will naturally move to this, that he .will take time to consider | the lord mayor to summon another com- whether he will or will not adhere to the • mon-hall, to answer for themselves ; and fourth article of the Declaration of Rights, then, I doubt not, the corporation of the One would think that this could never have city of London will fully explain, to those been a question in the mind of so gracious '■ whom it may concern, 7v/io they arc, and a prince, if there were not some very dan- gerous advice given in the closet. I now hear that it has been signified to the sheriffs, that his Majesty cannot receive the petition, until he is informed of the nature of the assembly in which it was composed. .•\ king indeed is not obliged to understand the political forms and constitution of every corporation in his dominions, but his min- isters must be uncommonly ignorant who could not save him the embarrassment of asking such a question concerning the first body corporate perhaps in the world. The ivhat is the nature of their assembly. After all. Sir, I do not apprehend that the pro- priety of the king's receiving a petition from any of his subjects depends in the least upon their quality or situation. He 'is bound by the Declaration and subsequent Bill of Rights to receive all petitions from his sub- jects. What notice or answer the contents of them may deserve, must be considered afterwards. To refuse the petition itself is against law. I am persuaded, however, that nothing can be further from the inten- tion of our gracious sovereign, than to On the next day the sheriffs went to St James's, and after waiting some time, lord Bolingbroke came out, and enquired whether he was to tell his Majesty that they came with a fresh message, or with a message ? The sheriffs answered, with a message. Soon after the two secretaries of state, lord Rochford and lord Weymouth, came to the sheriffs. Lord Weymouth asked them ' whether they had received his letter, which was written by his IMajesty's order ? ' Sheriffs. ' We have.' Lord lVey>no7tth. ' His Majesty desires to know whether you come in consequence of that letter ; or whether you come on any fresh busi- ness ? ' Slieriffs. ' We come in consequence of that letter.' Lord U'eyvioui/i. 'Would it not be more proper to send an answer in writing through me ?' Sheriffs. 'We act ministerially. As sheriffs of London we have a right to an audience ; and cannot communicate to any other person than the king, the subject of our message.' Lord \Vey»touth. ' I do not dispute your right to an audience ; but would it not be better and more accurate to give your message to me in writing ? ' Sheriffs. ' We know the value and consequence of the citizens' right to apply immediately to the king, and not to a third person ; and we do not mean that any cf their rights and privileges shall be betrayed by our means.' Lord ITeymonth then said, ' His Majesty un- derstanding that you come ministerially author- ized with a message from the city of London, will see you as soon as the levee is over ; ' and being introduced accordingly, Mr Sheriff Towns- hend addressed his Majesty in these words : 'May it }>lease your Majesty, ' When we had last the honour to appear before your Majesty, your Majesty was graciously pleased to promise an answer by one of your Ma- jesty's principal secretaries of state ; but we had yesterday questions proposed to us by lord Wey- mouth. In answer to which we beg leave humbly to inform your Majesty, that the application which we make to your Majesty, we make as sheriffs of the city of London, by the direction of the livery in common-hall legally assembled. The address, remonstrance, and petition, to be pre- sented to your Majesty by their chief magistrate, is the act of the citizens of London in their great- est court ; and is ordered by them to be properly authenticated as their act.' To which his M.ijesty replied as follows : ' I will consider of the answer you have given me.' Whereupon the sheriffs withdrew. On the Monday following the sheriffs received the subjoined letter. ' .S"^ James's, 12 March, 1770. 'Gextle.men, ' The king has commanded me to signify to you his Majesty's pleasure that he will receive on Wednesday next, at two o'clock in the after- noon, the 'address, remonstrance, and petition, which you have informed his Majesty is to be presented by the chief magistrate of the city of London. ' I am, Gentlemen, ' Your most obedient ' Sheriffs of London.' 'humble Servant, ' Wev.mouth.' The address, S:c. was presented accordingly, and for a copy of it see editor's note to Letter XXXVII.— Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ofter a gross affront to the whole city of London. It is evident that the ministry either mean to gain time for carrying some poor counter-measure, by means of the wretched dependants of the court, or to intimidate the city magistrates, and deter them from doing their duty. I think it therefore absolutely necessary for us to rouse in defence of the honour of the city, and demonstrate to the ministry, by the spirit and vigour of our proceedings, that we are not, what they are pleased to repre- sent us, the scum of the earth, and the vilest and basest of mankind. MODERATUS.i LETTER LXXI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 26 yune, 1770. That we may be quietly governed is a very proper petition in the service of the Church of England. If the worst men should be put in authority under the king, they will think it politic to counteract the prayers of the people, and indifferently minister injustice, to the punishment of virtue, and the maintenance of vice. The duke of Grafton has devoted himself to these principles with all the fervour of an enthusiast, nor can we avoid lamenting that so inflexible a bigot should still have failed of martyrdom. His Grace has triumphed over the last moments of his power, nor permitted its extinction till he had dismissed the chancellor, 2 and pro- cured a pension, inadequate, indeed, to former merits for the truly honest Mr Brad- shaw.3 The first occurrence has been sufTiciently canvassed ; the propriety with which his Grace has effected the second occurrence, cannot possibly be felt through all its force, till the deserving object of ^ Letter XXXI., which, in the genuine edition, is signed Phllo Jiiniiis, had, when it originally appeared in the Public Advertiser, the signature of Moderatus affixed to it. — Edit. ' The dismissed chancellor was lord Camden. —Edit. ministerial gratitude has spoken for himself. Come forward, Mr Bradshaw, thou wor- thy, but much injured man, at once con- vince and undeceive the public. Tell them, that if a person should exist, \\ho dares even to insinuate that the following relation is founded upon stubborn facts, he is a gross defamer of unbiassed honour, and would extend that rancorous abuse, which hitherto has preyed upon the fairest and most courtly characters, till it asperse your own. Mrs AlJenby entered into an engagement with Miss Bradshaw in behalf of Mr Alien- by, her husband. It was stipulated that she should give into Miss Bradshaw's hands the sum of six hundred pounds, which was to have been the purchase-money of the place of surveyor of the pines in America. PiXi. application was soon afterwards made for the same place by captain P ,4 who promised that on receiving it he would pay down the sum of eight hundred pounds. In consequence of this promise, the name of Mr AUenby, already inserted in the list of intended promotions, was erased, and the blank filled up with the n:in:e of captain P , to which was added a w ritten asser- tion that his appointment was owing to Mr Allenby's having chosen to decline going. When this affair was examined at the board of treasury, Mrs Allenby was asked where her husband was during this transaction. She answered, 'in Cumberland, assisting in the support of the Portland interest, when Mr Robinson and Mr Jenkinson were doing what mischief they could to oblige sir James Lowther.' The latter part of Mrs Allenby's declara- tion occasioned some little entertainment. She was ignorant that the two intimate friends of the earl of Bute, whose charac- ters she was then drawing, were actually present. Mr Bradshaw pleaded in excuse that his sister, a milliner near Moorfields, was solely concerned in this business. 3 Mr Bradshaw, as often observed before, was the duke of Grafton's secretary. — Edit. •* Who the person here alluded tc is, cannot be ascertained. — Edit. 446 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. When Mr Cooper mentioned to Mr Brad- shaw an intention of lodging a complaint against him, he burst into tears. — They could not have been tears of penitence, or they imply preceding guilt. When Mr Bradshaw shall have excul- pated his conduct, which cannot be arraign- ed without injustice, he may, perhaps, become a conspicuous instance of the pre- valence of example. The voice of injured innocence may sound within a neighbour- ing quarter ; and, as the ostensible premier may be questioned on a similar occasion, his Lordship will have an opportunity to revive this long-forgotten truth. However contemptibly the world may judge of min- isters of state, they are not conscious to themselves of any guilt. Q IN THE CORNER. LETTER LXXII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 27 June, 17 JO. Your correspondent, A Fcllow- ^ A letter under the above signature appeared on the preceding day, recommending Mr Wilkes to stand forward as a candidate for the city of London on the death of alderman Beckford. — Edit. ^ In such popular detestation was the conduct of the ministry and parliament held, with respect to their proceedings in the Middlesex election, that Mr Alderman Townshend went so far as to try the legality of the act of parliament for raising the land-tax, the alderman having refused to pay it on the pretence that the intrusion of Mr LuttrcU had vitiated the parliament, and negatived its power. The trial took place June 9, 1772, and the fol- lowing account of it is extracted from the Public Advertiser of the ensuing day. Yesterday came on in the Court of King's Bench the long-expected cause between Mr Alderman Townshend and the collector of the land-tax. Lord Mansfield had appointed the trial for nine o'clock precisely ; but he delayed it till near eleven, waiting for the attorney-gen- eral, who did not attend. The cause was opened by Mr Davenport ; after which Mr Serjeant Glynn addressed the jury, and informed them I that in common cases it was the custom to con- I tent themselves with proving the trespass, and then leave the justification of it to the defendant ; but he said the present case required a further discussion from him ; that it was an important Labourer in the public Cause,^ has a claim to our attention, rather from the liberality and candour with which he has stated his ideas, than from the force of argument with which he has supported them. He seems to have forgotten that the national resent- ment has not been so much excited by the exclusion of Mr Wilkes as by the insertion of Mr Luttrell. He does not seem to be aware that the discussion of the great ques- tion can never be brought on in a new mode as long as Mr Wilkes is to be the ground-work of the debate : that the argu- ments for incapacitation of that gentleman were merely personal : that they respected the member returned, without any reference to the constituents : and, therefore, that the substitution of other constituents can effect no alteration in the case whilst the person returned continued, the same. Your correspondent would likewise have done well to have borne in mind that the livery of London have, by the most authen- tic act of the corporation, declared to the world, *hat the intrusion of Mr Luttrell has vitiated the present parliament.^ With constitutional point upon which the valuable rights of the whole nation depended. He said, he was directed by his client, Mr Townshend, to conduct the cause as its importance demanded : that therefore he should wave all the informalities in the collector's proceedings : he would admit him likewise to be collector, and that he was authorized by theconunissioners : that the single ground of his pleading would be that the com- missioners themselves were not authorized : for that a House of Commons legally chosen by the people are alone empowered to levy taxes in this country ; and he said, he insisted and would prove by evidence that the persons who passed the act of parliament (under which the collector had seized Mr Townshend's hay) were impro- perly called a House of Commons, because they were illegally and defectively constituted. He said that to the making of all laws and the levy- ing of all taxes, it was formerly necessary that every freeholder should assent individually ; and especially before a tax was to be levied the con- stituents formerly were first referred to, because they were to consent to what they were to pay. Custom and usage (he said) had now made it common for the representatives in parliament to spea'ti for the people, and this was considered the .same as the consent of the people, because they were freely chosen by the people for that pur- pose ; and after every election a formal let- ter of attorney [the indenture) is always given MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 447 what consistency then can the same body of men subscribe to the integrity of the same parliament upon any other terms than the previous extermination of the contam- inating object? The introduction of Mr Wilkes into the House is in itself a circum- stance of little importance. If parhament and the county of Middlesex had gone on in an eternal circulation of expulsions and returns, the essence of that assembly would not have been affected. The indispensable point is, that the corrupt member should be lopped off; a point that will hardly be compassed by an event of such indifference to the public as the mere seating Mr Wilkes in the House of Commons a representative of the city of London. Upon the plan of your correspondent, the prosecutors, indeed, will be changed, by the electors to the person they have chosen. He said, that this implied consent of the people by their representatives depended entirely on their having the free choice of their representatives : for that if their freedom of choice was invaded, the reference and implica- tion were destroyed, and the people would no longer have any the least consent in the making of laws or levying of taxes ; but that their lives and their property would be absolutely at the mercy of any set of men who should call them- •selves a parliament, corrupted by the revenue, and supported by the troops of a weak or a wicked tyrant. He said, that this, as far at least as it related to representation, was the case with the present persons who call themselves a House ; for which, he said, as they were not chosen, so neither are they acknowledged, by the people : the county of Middlesex, he said, was not repre- sented : that one of the members legally chosen by the county had been forcibly and illegally excluded ; and another person as illegally and forcibly substituted in his room. Mr Glynn then gave a verj' striking account of the absurdity and impudence of Mr Luttrell's pretensions, and of the infamy of our , and his abettors and ac- complices. He said, the present pretended House of Commons had superseded the election of the county by an unwarrantable resolution of their own ; and had, by so doing, seized into their own hands and for their own use and emolu- ment, the birth-right of all the people of Eng- land. He proved in the clearest manner that the pretence of Mr Wilkes's incapacity does not exist in the law : and that the people's right of repre- sentation is less than a name if the House of Commons has an indefinite power of expulsion. Mr Glynn said he would produce unquestionable evidence to the points on which he had rested the merits of his cause ; notwithstanding that he thought it unnecessary, because the facts were but the cause will still be the same. It is in the power of administration alone to vary and extend the cause, by arbitrarily incapacitating another member legally elect- ed ; a measure which they do in truth ' tremble at the thoughts of.' In conclusion : the restoration of parlia- ment must begin in the person of Mr Lut- trell ; nor can the injury to the people of England be heightened in the person of Mr Wilkes. Every county, every borough, is already as essentially affected as the county of Middlesex. It is an eternal truth in the political as well as the mystical body, that ' where one member suffers, all the mem- bers suffer with it.' I am, A LABOURER IN THE SAME CAUSE. so notorious and so well known to the jury them- selves, that they could of their own knowledge, agreeably to the laws of the land, give a verdict for the plaintiff even without any evidence. As soon as Mr Glynn had finished his speech and was directing the evidence to be called, Mr Wallace 'the king's counsellor) produced a printed paper, which he said was the act of parliament by which the collector levied the tax. As for the objection that had been made by Mr Glynn relative to the seat of one of the members, or of the legality of the parliament, he said the courts of Westminster-hall had no power to determine. Lord Mansfield then rose and said, that he perceived Mr Glynn wanted that court to retry the judgment of the House of Commons touching the case of the Middlesex election : That is, said his Lordship, he wants to prove that the legisla- ture is dissolved ; and that all the acts of parlia- ment made since the year 1769 are void. The evidence which Mr Glynu wants to produce is not by law admissible, and I will not suflfer it to be given. — ' Gentlemen of the jury, you will find for the defendant.' — The clerk then hurried over the form, and said, — ' Gentlemen of the jury, hearken to your verdict, &c., you find for the defendant, and so you say all.' — Whereupon one of the jury, Mr Long, said that he did not con- sent to that verdict. This dissent caused some embarrassment to lord Mansfield, which he soon got over by saying, ' Gentlemen, you are sworn to give a verdict according to the evidence ; now 710 evidence has been produced to you against the defendant ; therefore you must find for him. You cannot try facts by tiotoriety, that is not law, you must go by evidence, and you have heard no evidence, you must find for the de- fendant.' The jury accordingly acquitted the defendant — Edit. 448 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OB' JUNIUi LETTER LXXIIL TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Southamptoti'Stnet , Bloomsbury, Sir, 27 yune, 1770. Having, to my great surprise, seen in a letter published in your paper of yesterday, signed Q in the Cor?icr, the fol- low ing paragraph : ' When Mr Cooper mentioned to Mr Bradshaw an intention of lodging a com- plaint against hir... he burst into tears.' I think myself bound in honour and in justice to declare, that the whole of this assertion is false and groundless : I never mentioned to Mr Bradshaw any intention of lodging a complaint against him ; I never heard of any such intention ; and I do not know of any circumstance whatsoever that can justify the least imputation on Mr Bradshaw of the nature intended to be con- veyed by the said letter. I am, Sir, Your humble servant, GREY COOPER. LETTER LXXIV. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sik, 30 June, 1770. I RECEIVED the circumstance of Mr Bradshaw's having burst into tears from an authority which I thought at least equal to Mr Cooper's, and therefore I believed and asserted it. I now perceive that I w as mistaken, do willingly give up so capital a point in Mr Bradshaw's case, and join with his honourable friend in declaring, that he has not wept at all about the matter. I have a high opinion of Mr Cooper's in- tegrity, but a much higher of Mr Brad- shaw's. I find the fair image of truth in the first, in the last I expect to meet an oracle. Why will not Mr Bradshaw be so obliging as to step forward, and declare i upon his honour, that he ' does not know of any circumstance whatsoever, that can justify the least imputation on him of the nature which seems to Mr Cooper to have been conveyed by a letter in this paper.' I allow Mr Cooper's evidence as far as it relates to the falling of some few tears to be entirely decisive ; but I am not so courtly as to infer from Mr Cooper's absolute ignorance of the subject an equal one in Mr Bradshaw. It is from Mr Bradshaw, who must know something more of the matter than Mr Cooper, that I expect to be told, that no board was ever held at which this particular subject was introduced, and that Mrs AUenby was not at that time present. May I presume humbly to enquire of Mr Bradshaw if Mr Dyson did not at that time examine Mrs AUenby ; if he did not attempt to browbeat her ; and if a noble Lord had not the humanity to interfere? After all, it maybe worth remarking, that Mr Cooper's testimony seems to relate only to his flzcn intent iotts with respect to lodg- ing a complaint, and his own ideas of the imputations that should arise from trans- actions of this nature. I am. Sir, Your humble servant, Q IN THE CORNER. LETTER LXXV. For the Public Advertiser. 7 y^b', 1770- TO THOMAS BRADSHAW, ESQ. Your honourable colleague, Mr Cooper, bore witness to your innocence. So full a vindication was superfluous. I dare answer for it, that the opinion which the public had conceived of your integrity is still unaltered ; it could not have been lessened although your champion never had appeared ; nor has his entrance within the hsts at dU increased it. I took the liberty to appeal from his decision to your own : you seem determined to be silent. Perhaps the rigour of your situation deprives you of MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 449 any choice between the sacrifice of truth and of yourself. You nobly hesitate to make the first, and tacitly confess, that in one heedless moment throughout a life of unpolluted honesty you may have been to blame. Perhaps you do not think it quite ineligible to let this matter die away. Con- sult the feelings of your heart, and they will tell you that the public forms of justice can avail but little. They will not either yield a shelter to yourself, or enable you to direct the storm against another. I have not written from conjecture, nor can you be ignorant that I have drawn my intelligence from its first source, and not the common falsities of the day. There is a place which once was called the House of Prayer ; I leave it to men more versed in Scripture phrases than myself to tell you what it is at present. Should you hereafter think it proper to discuss this subject there, you possibly may find an individual in that virtuous congregation who will assist the hitherto ineffectual inquiries of Q IN THE CORNER. LETTER LXXVI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 7 July, 1770. I FIND myself engaged at once with two antagonists of very different com- plexions. I must content myself, however, with opposing the same obvious reasoning of a plain man, to the cool circumspect address of The Fellow-labourer in the public Cause, and to the rapid, eager precipitation of his supporter. The latter of these gentle- men, with a temperance that does not seem to belong to him, is peremptorily of opinion, ' that when a particular injustice is founded on, and supported by, a general principle, the appeal should no longer be made to the passions, but to the wisdom of the people.' The reverse is, I believe, invariably true. Prudence may incline us to forget the injury of a moment, the impulse of passion, or the suggestion of j caprice. Let the same injury be offered to us with all the insolence of authority, or even let the authority be pretended to without any actual exertion, and wisdom herself shall call forth every passion to re- sist it. A simple tax of a few shillings, illegally extorted, was sufficient to enlighten the understandings of the whole nation. Every- body perceived that one such instance, supporting itself on a general claim, was equivalent to, and (like an universal pro- position) comprehended a thousand. It did not require the sagacity of a Hampden to deduce the consequences ; but it called for all his spirit to oppose them. I am ready to acknowledge, that ' in rigorous consistency the city of London ought not to return any representative' to St Stephen's Chapel ; I am more ready to dispense with ' the attendance of some of the present city members." But I am still willing to admit the necessity of their de- parting a little from that rigour — because I see no medium between such a temporary accommodation, and either the miseries of civil bloodshed, or (what is infinitely more to be deprecated) the established tran- quillity of servitude. The right of resistance on the part of the people, is the ultimate sanction of our civil liberties. But God forbid that we should be too critically exact in defining the precise boundary where the exertion of that right becomes a duty. The distresses of an intestine war are known, and inevita- ble ; the event precarious. It may be better to submit, for a time, to what even is an irregularity in the most essential part of the state, than instantly to seek redress by violence. Every other conceivable method ought first to be eagerly adopted, and earnestly pursued. Something may be ex- pected from time, from importunity, from fear ; perhaps something even from con- science and remorse. And if, at length, without coming to extremities, the integrity of the legislature should be restored, the tyrannical decisions of an unauthorized 450 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. assembly will of course be abrogated ; their useful acts may receive a ratification from a legitimate parliament. You perceive, Sir, that I am not here maintaining the doctrine asserted in the city remonstrance, but arguing from it. Yet I must beg leave to observe, that the distinction introduced by this correspond- ent, between a speculative and a practical parliament, a parliament dc jure and de facto, is equally novel and monstrous. On this account I cannot but be of opinion that the city should adhere to their consti- tutional speculation, and insist that Mr Wilkes is actual representative of Middle- sex ; although they may without blame, perhaps, acquiesce, for a time, in the pro- ceedings of an assembly, to which they cannot even allow the rank of a convention. For the sake of peace they may be justi- fied in returning Mr Oliver. For the sake not merely of consistency, but of the safety and dignity of the state, Mr Wilkes must not be allowed to quit ' the sure ground on which he stands,' to borrow an expression of his own in an address to his constituents. But, it seems, 'if Mr Wilkes were re- turned by the city, and admitted to take his seat, the unconstitutional principle would be ipso facto overturned.' Let us see, then, how the argument will stand. If the admission of Mr Wilkes would ipso facto overturn the unconstitutional princi- ple, undoubtedly the continuation of Mr Luttrell must ipso facto perpetuate it. — What is this but to make the House of Commons such an absurd monster in poli- tics, as has never yet disgraced the reason or the patience of mankind : a legislative body subsisting by two principles (each in its full force and energy) equal, contrary, and mutually destructive. The Fellow-labourer of this day has, in- deed, candidly admitted, that the exter- mination of Mr Luttrell is the indispensable point, if your other correspondent, who absolutely denies the position, will indulge me in the phrase. Mr Luttrell holds his seat by a very different title from a common determination in the case of a contested return. In the latter instance, the jurisdic- tion of the House is competent ; nor has the constitution hitherto provided an appeal from their decision. In the case before us, a new and unheard of power is supposed to be usurped, and rights beyond the reach of the whole legislature, I mean the funda- mental rights of the people, invaded by a third part of it. By this invasion Mr Luttrell was seated ; upon this principle the return was amended by the House, and his name inserted ; and it is in conse- quence of that alteration that he still ranks as a member of parliament. As long, therefore, as he shall be permitted to sit there, so long will the principle be in force. For in the House of Commons, as in every other court, prove the jurisdiction to be in- competent to the case, and the adjudication falls to the ground. It appears to me that both your corre- spondents have contemplated this subject in too confined a view. For my own part, I think too highly of Mr Wilkes's services to the state, and of the sacredness of our common cause, to wish cither one or the other to be made a mere engine of party, or a scarecrow of opposition. But since the gentlemen from whom I dissent have delivered their sentiments concerning the effect which the proposed measure would probably produce in the House of Commons and in ministry, I too, in my turn, will venture to pronounce, that nothing is so ardently desired by either, as a separatio7i between the county of Middlesex and Mr Wilkes. I am. Sir, Your humble servant, A LABOURER IN THE SAME CAUSE. LETTER LXXVII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 19 November, 1770. A FEW days ago I was in a large public company, where there happened MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 451 some curious conversation. The secretarj' at war ^ was pleased to express himself with imusual simplicity and candour. He assured us that, after having carefully con- sidered the subject, he did not know a single general officer (out of near a hundred now in the service) who was in any shape qualified to command the army ; and for fear we should not believe him, repeated and inforced his assertion five several times. You will allow, Sir, that, at the eve of a foreign war, this is pretty comfortable in- telligence for the nation, especially as it comes from authority. He gave us some consolation, however, by assuring us that he and general Hervey would take excel- lent care of the army, and compared him- self (not unhappily) to an old woman cur- ing an ague with the assistance of doctor RadcliflF. — I don't so much question Mr ITervey's being able to give good advice, as that other little man's being either will- ing or able to follow it ; but I should be glad to know which of them is to be re- sponsible to the country for the manage- ment of the army, or whether they are invested with equal powers ? Is lord Bar- rington the marksman and general Her\-ey only the stalking-horse ? Or does the latter command, and that other only do as he is bid ? This point, I think, ought to be ex- plained ; for if we don't know who com- mands the army, and any mischief should happen, the secretary at war and adjutant- general will of course lay the blame upon each other, and the nation never know which of them ought to be punished. TESTIS. LETTER LXXVIII.2 TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 24 November, 1770. I HAVE never joined in the severe censures which have lately been thrown ' Lord Viscount Barrington. ^ On the outside of Note No. 25, which ac- companied this letter, was written, by the author, upon lord Barrington. The formal declara- tion he was pleased to make (for the in- formation of the House of Commons and of this country), with respect to the shame- ful ignorance and incapacity of all the general officers, without exception, may, for aught I know, be extremely well founded ; and if it were not so, I do not consider the viscount as a free agent. He undoubtedly meant no more than, as a dutiful servant, to obey the orders, and to express the sentiments, of his royal master. The secretary at war, it is true, has a mul- titude of enemies, but the bitterest of them will not affirm that he is positively an idiot, without a single ray of understanding. That would be going a little too far. Yet he must certainly be the very weakest of the human species, if without any plan or purpose whatsoever, he loaded himself with the hatred and resentment of so large and powerful a body of men as the general officers. This, I think, is too absurd to be supposed. Yet I do not pretend to deny the fact. On the contrary, I mean to account for it upon clear and rational principles. — If it be the king's intention (as we have sufficient reason to think it is) to govern the army himself (by which means the disposal of commissions, like every thing else, will ultimately centre in Carlton House); the first step is to possess the public with an opinion, that this mea- sure is not of choice but necessity. When the secretary at war has informed the House of Commons, in the name of his gracious master (for it is not to be sus- pected that he spoke for himself), that all his general officers were no better than drivellers, it follows of course that the secretary at war, with the adjutant-general's advice, must be the ostensible manager of the army ; and then you see. Sir, every thing goes on as her Royal Highness the princess dowager of Wales would have it. Far be it from me to impeach his Ma- jesty's judgment in military matters. Our gracious sovereign cannot possibly have a ' the enclosed strikes deeper than you may im- agine. C — Edit. 452 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. meaner opinion of his general officers than I have. Yet I own there is one circum- stance that a little surprises me. These poor creatures, it is agreed on all hands, have neither capacity nor experience ; but one would think that, as soldiers and gen- tlemen, they might show a little spirit when they are insulted. What, will they go to court again, to bow and cringe and fawn upon ***** who orders his official servant to point them out to their country, as a knot of idiots — asses — mules — beasts of burthen ! This affair. Sir (as many other circum- stances do, and more important ones may do hereafter), puts me in mind of the sin- cere, honest, candid character of that pious prince, Charles the First. When a great number of the first people of this country had hazarded their lives and spent their fortunes in his defence, and when, in the last instance, they had formed a convention at Oxford, which, if not a parliament, was at least a meeting highly respectable, what return did they receive from that devout, religious, grateful monarch? He flattered them to their faces, and the next moment wrote to his wife that they were a base, mutinous set of mongrels, whom he was happy to get rid of. TESTICULUS. LETTER LXXIX. TO thp: printer of the public ADVERTISER. Sir, 8 Dec. 1770. A REPORT prevails that the late premier is very soon to be placed at the head of the Admiralty.— I thought Junius had fairly hissed him off the stage. But since he adventures again to appear before the public, let me do justice to his modesty, and commend him for his discretion, in sinking to an inferior character. I should be sorry to interrupt so natural a descent. By dropping gradually from part to part, he may in time arrive at something that will suit his capacity. Besides the moral fitness of reducing all men to their proper level, there will be a novelty in the public entertainment, when we see the same wretched stroller, who strutted yesterday in Othello, creeping upon the stage to-day in the shape of a candle-snuffer. In the article of firmness, I think this young man's character is universally given up ; but I observe there is still an opinion maintained by some people, that, in point of ability, he is not deficient. For my own part. Sir, I never could discover upon what foundation that opinion rested. Let it be fairly tried by the two great, decisive tests of the human understanding — conduct and discourse. These, I know, are sometimes at variance with each other. An ingenious man may act very absurdly, and we fre- quently see a dull fellow conduct him- self with firmness and propriety. It is the duke's misfortune that he fails equally in both articles ; — that he neither acts with judgment, nor speaks with ability. Look at his conduct from the outset ; — I mean with a reference not to the treachery, but to the folly of the man. His earliest personal attachment in life was to the duke of Portland ; that friendship he has fool- ishly dissolved, without succeeding in his purpose, to oblige sir James Lowther. — His first public connexion was with lord Rockingham. That too is lost, together with the friendship of lord Chatham, for which he sacrificed the marquis. For the solidity of his union with lord Chatham he pledged himself to the public by some very uncommon declarations both abroad and in parliament. Yet from this union and his subsequent friendship, with lord Granbyand lord Camden, the cajolery of the closet soon seduced him. His easy virtue is not made for resistance. — To support his last plan, we have seen him renounce not only ' ail these successive connexions, but every political idea, opinion, and principle of his ! former life, and throw himself, body and I soul. Into the arms of the Bedfords. Here I at least he might have stopped, since there i was not another party in the kingdom to ' which it was possible for him to transfer his MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 453 affections. He had gone resolutely through the whole drudgery of the Middlesex elec- tion. He had paid governor Burgoyne's expenses very handsomely by the sale of that patent to Mr Hine, which the right honourable the House of Commons have not yet thought proper to inquire into. He had shown fortitude enough to drop the prosecution of Mr Vaughan, though urged, insulted, braved to it by every stimulus that could touch the feehngs of a man ; and, in conclusion, he had made himself accessory to the untimely death of Mr Yorke. — I say accessory, because he was certainly not the principal actor in that most atrocious business. After all, Sir, when it was impossible for him to add to his guiltiness, a panic seizes him, he begins to measure his expectations by the sense of his deserts, a visionary gibbet appears be- fore his eyes, he flies from his post, sur- renders to another the reward due to his honourable services, and leaves his king and country to extricate themselves, if they can, from tlie distress and confusion in wliich he had involved them. The danger, as he conceives, being now pretty well over, what plan do you think this worthy, resolute young man pursues at present? While he was first lord of the Treasury, it is well known (and I speak from knowledge when I assert) that he never treated lord North even with the common civility due to his clerk. I appeal to lord North himself, and to every clerk in the Treasury (particularly to Grey Coo- per), whether it was not known to be a difficult matter for the chancellor of the Exchequer to obtain an audience even of Mr Thomas Bradshaw. Would you be- lieve it possible. Sir, that, after these facts, this very duke of Grafton can be so de- graded, so lost to every sensation of pride, of dignity, and decorum, as to be a sup)- pliant beggar for employment to this very lord North ? Yet so it is ; and, if I were to tell you with what circumstances of hu- miliation he accompanies his suit to the be first lord of the Admiralty, that lord North can hardly keep the Aiwning creature from under his feet. — Now, Sir, let any man li\ing, I care not whether friend or foe, review this summary of his life, and tell us in what instance he has discovered a single ray of wisdom, solidity, or judgment? As to the other test of his abilities, I mean his talent for talking in public, I can speak with greater precision, for I have often had the honour of hearing him. With a very solemn and plausible delivery, he has a set of thoughts, or rather of words resembling thoughts, which may be applied indifferently, and with equal success, to all possible subjects. There is this singular advantage in his Grace's method of dis- course, that, if it were once admitted that he spoke well upon any one given topic, it would inevitably follow that he was qual- ified to deliver himself happily upon every subject wiiatsoever. He would be ipso facto an universal orator. Accept of the following specimen of his Grace's elo- quence, and, I promise you, you will be as well able to judge of his oratorial powers, as if you had heard him a thousand times. ' My Lords, ' When I came into the House this day, I protest I did not think it possible, — indeed I had formed in my own breast a resolution to the contrary — but, my Lords, I really thought it impossible that I should be compelled to trouble your Lordsliips with my poor thoughts upon the question before your Lordships. — I never do presume to trouble your Lordships at any time without always feeling a pain, — an internal regret, — a degree of uneasiness, which I can with truth assure your Lordships (and I flatter myself that I shall find credit with every noble lord, who hears me), it is not easy for me to have the honour of describing to your Lordships. My Lords, I am called upon, as I humbly conceive, and I appeal boldly not only to the candour of noble lords, but to your Lordships' severest judgment, whether I am not compelled to minister, the narrative would be nauseous declare my sentiments, as explicitly as I and fulsome. He is so very impatient to now do, upon the motion upon your Lord- 451 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS ships* table. Upon this ground, my Lords, I meet the noble Lord Avithout fear, though I respect his superior abilities, and I pledge wj'self to your Lordships for the truth of what I assert. Otherwise, my Lords, if facts were not as I have stated them, where will your Lordships draw the line? My Lords, I am really rt-jtonished, — yet indeed, my Lords, I ought not to be <7jtonished. The question has been handled with so much ability by other noble lords that I shall content 7;/)'self with this simple, un- adorned declaration of my opinion. Yet I could quote cases, my Lords, which I acci- dentally met with this morning in the course of my reading, which, I doubt not, would convince your Lordships, if convic- tion were in question. But I fear I have troubled your Lordships too long. I shall therefore return to the leading proposition, which I had the honour of setting out with, and move for an immediate adjourn- ment.' This style, I apprehend. Sir, is what the learned Scriblerus calls rigmarole in logic, — riddlemerce among schoolboys, — and in vulgar acceptation, Three blue beans in a blue bladder. It is the perpetual parturi- ence of a mountain, and the never-failing delivery of a mouse. I am. Sir, Your humble servant, DOMITIAN. LETTER LXXX. For the Public Advertiser. 13 Dec. 1770. CHAPTER OF FACTS, OR MATE- RIALS FOR HISTORY. I. Tun House of Lords, justly offended at the accuracy and precision, with which a certain noble duke's oration ^ has been delivered to the public, and con- cluding that the very words must have been taken down in writing by some loreign enemy, have determined to preserve the * See the preceding letter. — Edit. honour of their members, and the credit of their eloquence, by ordering all strangers to be carefully excluded. 2. But not to give offence, the exclusion is made general ; their Lordships very properly considering that the members of the House of Commons are no more fit to be trusted with the debates of a public assembly, than the spies or emissaries of a foreign ambassador, or so many Jesuits in disguise. 3. The right honourable the Speaker of the House of Lords was pleased to sum- mon all the Lords to attend on Monday last, on purpose to inform their Lordships collectively in what corner of the House each Lord separately might find waste paper for his necessary occasions. N. B. It seems to be the fate of this unhappy paper (which always brings nasty ideas with it) to be produced in a most unseemly manner. In the Court of King's Bench, the introduction of it was allowed to be irregular, itnprecedented, and extraju- dicial. — In the House of Lords, it was only silly and ridiculous. — What a strange antipathy some men have to a record ! When they dare not erase, they fairly take post and travel out of it. 4. The bill for regulating contested elec- tions was strenuously opposed by lord North and the rest of the king's servants. Yet every one of the judges who went the circuit last summer, instead of instructing the several grand juries in the old, legal, constitutional way, were ordered to sound the praises of the House of Commons for their singular virtue in passing this and the privilege bill. And now let it be observed, that in the first instance of the operation of this new law (the Shoreham election) not one of the ministers attended. Yet in- trusted as they are with the executive power of the state, it is their particular duty to attend, to facilitate, anJ inforce the execution of the laws ;— and these are the people who deafen us wMth their com- plaints of the licentiousness of the times, and the total want of respect into which the laws are fallen. ^fI^CELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 455 5. So far from performing this duty, it is ' a fact notorious that one Purling, a Carib- bce, has been encouraged by ministr}' to introduce a third candidate at Shoreham, and to give him four of his own votes, in order that by having hvo petitions preferred (a case not expressly provided for by the act) this wise, this salutary law may be defeated in the first instance, and have a contempt thrown upon it. 6. Let it be known to posterity that when lord Mansfield was attacked with so much vehemence in the House of Commons on Thursday the 6th instant, not one of the ministry said a word in his defence. Nobody spoke for ihim but the Carlton- • house junto— Jenkinson and sir Gilbert, j (N. B. Mango is sick.) Even Mr George Onslow, who in general is not very scrupul- ous, confined himself to the defence of Mr Baron Smythe, and did not utter a syllable in favour of poor Mansfield. These facts show plainly, i. How the Carlton-house connexion hangs together. 2. That lord North himself is not over and above pleased with the closet influence of the chief JUGGLER. The great lord Camden did yesterday (nth of December, 1770) address himself directly to lord Mansfield, and declare that he considered the paper delivered in by that lord as a challenge to himself, which he accepted ; that the glove was thrown down, and HE took it up. — That he was ready to meet him in defence of the laws of this country, and vehemently urged that a ' day might be fixed for debating the matter. I But notwithstanding every possible instance I made by the minority Lords, the Chief Just- | ice shrunk from the combat, and would not fix any day. | LETTER LXXXL For the Public Advertiser. 14 Dec. 1770. SECOND CHAPTER OF FACTS, OR MATERL\LS FOR HISTORY. I. The earl of Chatham having asserted, on Tuesday last, in the House of Lords, that Gibraltar was open to an attack from the sea, and that, if the enemy were masters of the bay, the place could not make any long resistance, he was answered in the following words by that great states- man the earl of Sandwich : ' Supposing the noble Lord's argument to be well founded, and suppoxitig Gibraltar to be now unluckily taken, still, according to the noble Lord's own doctrine, it would be no great matter. For although we are not masters of the sea at present, we probably shall be so sometime or other, and then, my Lords, there will be no difficulty in retaking Gib- raltar.' N. B. This earl is a privy counsel- lor, and appeared to have concerted this satisfactory answer with Peg Trentham at the fire-side. 2. Sir Edward Hawke, on Wednesday last, gave the House of Commons a very pompous account of the fleet. Being asked why, if our navy was so numerous and ready for service, a squadron was not sent to Gibraltar and the West Indies? his answer was candid :— ' That for his part he did not understand sending ships abroad, when, for aught he knew, they might be wanted to defend our own coast.' — Such is the care taken of our possessions abroad ' — One great minister tells us they may be easily retaken ;— another assures us that they cannot be defended. Will that man who sleepeth never awake, until destruction comes upon him ! Has he no friend, no servant, to draw his curtain, until Troy is actually in flames ! 3. Lord North informed the House of Commons on Wednesday that, although he wished for an honourable accommoda- tion, he thought it his duty to tell the House, that he feared war was too proba- ble : that he intended to move for a further augmentation of ten thousand seamen, and that, at any rate, he should advise the keeping up the naval and military force j upon the augmented establishment, for that, notwithstanding the language held by the French and Spanish ministers, there was, all over France and Spain, the 456 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. greatest appearance of hostile preparations. 4. The riot in the House of Lords has shocked the delicacy of sir Fletcher Norton. Upon occasion of some clamour yesterday, he called to them with all the softness of a bassoon : Pray, gefitlcmc?i, be orderly ; you are ahnost as bad as the other House. 5. On Tuesday last, lord Camden de- livered into the House of Lords a paper containing three questions, relative to the doctrine laid down in lord Mansfield's paper, which he desired that Lofd would answer, if lie could. Lord Mansfield was very angry at being taken by surprise upon a subject he had never had an opportunity * Nerva was a writer in favour of lord Mans- field upon the subject of his conduct in the cause of the king against Woodfall for printing Ju- Nius's letter to his Majesty; as well as for his posterior proceedings in the House of Peers upon the matter of thii cause ; in the course of which he thought proper, as has been observed already, to summons the House specially, in order to afford him an opportunity of fully explaining himself upon this point : an opportunity, how- ever, of which he was even at last afraid to avail liiniself. See p. ii3, note. 'Ihe letter of Ncn.hen they assess the damages, are not to re- : gard the quality and fortune of the parties, but are to consider the question abstractedly as a question betivcen A. and B, If this doctrine be true in one instance, it w ill be applicable to every case of criminal con- ■ versaiion ; and the consequences of it will : be, that a nobleman with ten thousand a * Mr WTiately had been private secretary to 1 Mr G. Grenville. — Edit. year shall pay no greater damages than a peasant, who labours for a shilling a day ; or vice versa, that the seduction of a duchess and of a milliner stand upon the same foot- ing, in regard to the compensation due to the injured husband. — In a moral view, I confess, the crime is the same. The pun- ishment annexed to it, though not matter of positive law, cannot be regulated by the rules of morality. It must depend on cus- tom, reputation, and the circumstances of the case. The equity of the verdict must be measured by the distinctions of rank and fortune, admitted and established in society, since it is evident that the penalty or satisfaction sufficient for one man, might hardly be felt by another. It is the general doctrine of lord Mansfield, which Junius very truly calls false and absurd ; and I know that it was received in Westminster Hall with universal shame and astonish- ment. As to the idea of lord Mansfield's inclin- ing to favour lord Grosvenor, it is so pre- posterously false and lidiculous, that it would be entirely undeserving of notice, but for one consideration ; viz. — that, if it were triie, it stabs the chief justice to the heart. — Lord Mansfield is charged with gross and infamous partiality to the de- fendant ; — the defence made for him is, that he was grossly and infamously partial to the plaintiff. — Let his friends take their choice. Every honest man will equally de- spise and detest such a judge, whichever way his bad passions incline him. As to the merits of the Grosvenor cause, they are of no consequence in the present question. If it be necessary, however, I am ready to maintain that the verdict was supported by the evidence, and the damages very moderate. If not, why did not Mans- field order a cew trial? \Vhen time, and place, and circumstance are proved, there remains but one possible plea for the duke of Cumberland ; and that, by the bye, is rather a whimsical one, applied to a boy of one and twenty. Yet, for aught I know, it may be very true, that with all his atten- tion to the dear little hair, he was incapa- R 46. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ble of taking the fairest opportunity by the forelock. AXTI-W. L^ilTER LXXXVIL TO THE rKI.XTER OF THE PUDLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 17 yaii. 1771. If sir Edward Hawko had follow- ed the advice and example of his friends, he would not have been reduced to the dis- honourable necessity of quitting the direc- tion of the English navy, at tlie very moment it is going to be employed against the foreign enemies of England. To be left in employment after Chatham, Granby, and Camden had retired ; — to continue in it in company with Grafton, North, Gower, and Hillsborough ; — and at last to be suc- ceeded by lord Sandwich, are circumstances too disgraceful to admit of agg-avation. It is natural to sympathize in the disdesses of a brave man, and to lament that a noble estate of reputation should be squandered away in debts of dishonour contracted w ith sharpers. His Majesty, God bless him ! lias now- got rid of every man whose former services or present scruples could be supposed to give offence to her Royal Highness the princess dowager of Wales. The security of our civil and religious liberties cannot be more happily provided for than while lord Mansfield pronounces the law, and lord Sandwich represents the religion of St James's. Such law and such religion are too closely united to suffer even a moment- ary intervention of common honesty be- tween them. Her Royal Highnesss scheme of government, formed long before her husband's death, is now accomplished. She has succeeded in disuniting every party, and dissolving every connexion ; and, by the mere influence of the crown, has formed an administration, such as it is, out of the refuse of them all. There are two leading principles in the politics of St James's, uhich will account for almost every mea- sure of Government since the king's acces- )n. The first is, that the prerogative is sufficient to make a lacquey a prime min- ister, and to maintain him in that post, without any regard to the welfare or to the opinion of the people. — The second is, that none but persons, insignificant in them- selves, or of tainted reputation, should be brought into employment. Men of greater consequence and abilities w ill have opinions of their own, and will not submit to the meddling, unnatural ambition of a mother, who grasps at unlimited power, at the ha- zard of her son's destruction. They will not suffer measures of public utility, which have been resolved upon in council, to be checked and controlled by a secret influ- ence in the closet. Such men consequently will never be called tipon but in cases of extreme necessity. When that ceases, they find their places no longer tenable. To answer the purposes of an ambitious wo- man, an administration must be formed of more pliant materials, — of men, who, hav- ing no connexion with each other, no per- sonal interest, no weight or consideration with the people, may separately depend upon the smiles of the crown alone for their advancement to high offices, and for their continuance there. If such men resist the princess dowager's pleasure, his Majesty knows that he may dismiss them without risking any thing from their resentment. His wisdom suggests to them that, if he were to choose his ministers for any of those qualities which might entitle them to public esteem, the nation might take part with them, and resent their dismission. As it is, whenever he changes his servants, he is sure to have the people, in that in- stance, of his side. 1 I love and respect our gracious sovereign too much to suppose it possible that he should be any thing more than pabsive in forming and supporting such a systeni of government ; and even this acquiescence j of the best of princes I am ready to attri- ! bute to a most amiable quality implanted in him by nature, and carefully cultivated by art, — unlimited duty and obedience to his ' dear mother.— Few nations arc in the pre- MliiCELLAXEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 463 dicament that we are, to have nothing to complain of but the filial virtues of our sovereign. Charles the First had the same implicit attachment to his spouse ;— but his worthy parent was in her grave. It were to be wished that the parallel held good in all the circumstances. In respect to her Royal Highness, I shall deliver my sentiments without any false tenderness or reserve. I consider her not only as the original creating cause of the shameful and deplorable condition of this country, but as a being, whose operation is uniform and permanent ; — who watches, with a kind of providential malignity, over the work of her hands, to correct, improve, and preserve it. If the strongest appear- ances nsay be relied on, this lady has now brought her schemes to perfection. Every office in government is filled with men who are known to be her creatures, or by mere cyphers incapable of resistance. Is it con- ceivable that any thing, less than a deter- mined plan of drawing the whole power of the crown into her own hands, could have collected such an administration as the pre- sent?— Who is lord North ? — The son of a poor unknown earl ;— who four years ago was a needy comn)issioner of the Treasur)' for the benefit of a subsistence, and who would have accepted a commission of hackney coaches upon the same terms. The politics of Carlton House — Finances picked up in Mr Grenville's ante-chamber, and the elocution of a Demosthenes, en- deavouring to speak plain with pebbles in his mouth, form the stuffing of that figure, that calls itself minister, that does homage to the princess dowager, and says. Madam, I am your man. The stage was deprived of a promising actor when poor lord Hillsborough gave his mind to politics. Yet his theatrical talents have been of use to his fortune. The princess dowager saw what part this man was capable of acting ; and with regard to himself, it signified but little whether he represented Prince Volscius at Drury-lane, or secretary of state at St James's. It is not pretended that lord Rochford's abilities are of the explicit kind. Yet from { a charge d'affaires at Turin, the all-power- ful guiding hand lias raised him to be secretary of state. The princess dowager knows, better than we do, what positive good qualities tliis nobleman possesses. The public only knows that he is a mute in the House of Lords, and that he is destitute of fortune, interest, and connexions. To do him justice, he has all the negative qualifications that constitute merit at Carl- ton House. The character of third secretary is not yet disposed of. Public suspicion gives lord Hillsborough a formidable rival. At the opening of the theatre young Suffolk is to be produced. Prince Prettyman can cant very near as well as Prince \'olscius. Such a pair of actors make tragedy ridiculous. Our enemies at least will laugh at the cata- strophe. But this young man shall be left for abler hands. It requires no vulgar pen to do justice to such a strain of monstrous prostitution. Why is that wretched creature lord Towns- hend maintained in Ireland ? Is it not universally known that the ignorance, pre- sumption, and incapacity of that man have ruined the king's affairs in Ireland ? — that he has, in a great measure, destroyed the political dependence of that country upon j Great Britain ? — But he too is an tmcon- nected being, without any hope of support but in the protection of lord Bute and the I princess dowager. I Why is not a commander-in-chief ap- ; pointed ? Because there is an insignificant j secretary at war, who has no chance of con- I tinning in the receipt of £'2y:x> a year, but by making himself the instrument through I which the princess dowager disposes of ' every valuable commission in the army. ' Why have we not a master-general of the ordnance? Because the gentle Con- ' way knows how to be as pliant as lord Barrington. Why is there no chancellor ? Partly be- I cause there is a convenience in bribing four j of the judges with the emoluments of that office, and partly because no man of credit 464 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. in the profession will submit to act with the present infixmous administration. What merit has lord Halifax?— The issue of general warrants ; — tlie opposition of his privilege for }ears together to the laws of his country ; — prostitution in private life, and poverty in the extreme. Why is the king so fond of having lord Bristol (//'('/// his person 9 If the duties of the noble lord's office had a closer connex- ion with the title of it, as usually pro- nounced, I should understand his Majesty, and admire his attention in paying so delicate a compliment to his Lordship's amours. The last question I would ask is, by what kind of service or ability the earl of Sandwich is distinguished ? Prostitution and poverty maybe found in other subjects, and appearances saved by a decent form- ality of behaviour. The choice and prefer- ence of tl>e most profligate character in the kingdom may suit well enough with the substantial purposes of Carlton House, but how does it consist with the hypocritical decorum of St James's ? What opinion are we to entertain of the piety, chastity, and integrity of the best of princes, when, in the face of England and of all Europe, he takes such a man as Sandwich to his bosom ! — Let us hear no more of the piety of St James's. — To talk of morals or devotion in such company is a scandalous insult to comtuon sense, and a still more scandalous mockery of religion. The princess dowager ha\ing now car- ried her plan of administration into effect, it is not to be wondered that she should be very unwilling to expose herself and her schemes to the luicertain events of a foreign war. She knows that a disaster abroad would not only defeat the cunning plan of female avarice and ambition ; but that it might reach further. — The mothers of our kings have heretofore been impeached ; and if the precedents are not so complete as they should be, they require and will admit of improvement. To maintain this lady in her present state of power and security, there is no insult, no indignity, to which the king of Britain must not submit, — no condition, however humil- iating, which the king and the nation must not accept of without resentment. — At this point, however, her cunning forsakes her. Both she and her ministers deceive them- selves grossly if they imagine that any con- cessions can secure peace with an enemy determined upon war. — She may disgrace the English nation. She may dishonour her son, and persuade him to forfeit his right to precedence among the sovereigns of Europe. The man who receives a blow, and does not return it (whether he be a king or a private person), from that moment stands degraded from liis natural rank and condition. If he be a young man, his infamy is immortal. — Yet I am ready to confess that where two nations upon the whole are peaceably disposed, there is a degree of slight, and ill humour, and even of injury, which, for the sake of peace, may and ought to be dissembled : but a direct, positive, intended insult must always be resented. To flatter ourselves that the moderation of the Spaniards will be pro- portioned to our forbearance, or that, be- cause we have stibmitted tamely to one affront, they will therefore avoid offering us a second, would be arguing in contradic- tion to all reason and experience. If Falk- land Island had never existed, the rancour of the Spaniards would not have failed to discover iiself in some other mode of hos- tility. Their whole history, since the ac- cession of Philip the ^'th, is a continued proof of a rooted antipathy to the name of Englishman ; and I am justified, by a series of indisputable facts, in affirming that from the treaty of Utrecht to this hour, there has never been a single instance of common justice or decency, much less of cordiality or friendship, in the conduct of the court of Madrid towards this country. Lord Sand- wich declared a month ago, in full parlia- ment, that Gibraltar was a place of no con- sequence, and immediately afterwards the princess dowager makes him secretary of state. Whoever compares the sale of Dunkirk with this nobleman's character, must be very much of a sceptic, if he enter- MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUXIL'S. 46 = t;iins any doubt about the fate of Gibraltar, the quarrels of nations bore any resem- But neither this sacrifice, nor even that of | blance to domestic feuds, or could be con- Jamaica, would be sufficient to produce a j ducted upon the same principles. The solid, permanent union with Spain. They I genius of Queen Elizabeth united the may despise us more, but they will never j nation, collected the strength of the people, j and carried it forward to resistance and \ictory. When the dcemon of discord sits liate us less. By the princess dowager's management, instead of avoiding a war we make it cer- | at the helm, what have we to expect but tain. A little spirit at first might perliaps , distraction and civil war at home, disgrace have intimidated the Spaniards. Our no- and infiimy abroad ! torious weakness and shameful submission DO.MiriAX. have only ser\ed to encourage and confirm ' them in their resolution. In point of hon- '. our, we have let the proper moment of resentment pass away. The royal and national honour is so irretrievably stained, that it cannot now be recovered by the most vigorous measures of revenge. — From her Royal Highness's government in time LETTER LXXXVill TO Tin PRIXTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir. 13 Fc-/'. ijji. I Rr.AD with astonishment, and no of peace, we may well conclude in what small indignation, a letter which is at last manner she will conduct a war. Gifted as got into your paper, I mean that from lord slie is, she could hardly fail of success, if | Weymouth to Mr Harris.i The copy ' This letter refers to the much agitated dis- pute concerning the Malouine, or Falkland's Islands, which, without any formal recognition, had, for many years after their first occupation hy captain Byron in 1765, been quietly suffered by Spain to remain in the hands of his Britannic -Al.njesty, who had erected a small fort on the coast of the chief of them named Port Egniont. ! In June, 1769, however, without any complaint or notice on the part of the Spanish government to the court of .St James's, a forcible debarkation was effected on the coast of Port Egmont, by a Spanish armament from Port Solidad, in Buenos \ Ayres ; the whole mass of islands was claimed | by the commander of the expedition in the name 1 of his most Catholic Majesty, whose right was j formally asserted to the \\ hole .Slagellanic region ; the small body of English troops stationed at ' Port Egmont was compelled to submit, and ! turned adrift from the island in two English frigates, which chanced to be in the harbour, to j make the best of their voyage home, and relate ; the historj- of this extraordinary adventure. 1 'J'he English ministry heard the account with indignation ; and the letter from lord Weymouth to Mr Harris, the resident minister at the court of Madrid, referred to above, was the result. I The court of Madrid had offered a convention, or { conditional restoration, and his Lordship's letter ' purports to be a reply to such offer ; it was dated I 17 (Jct. 1770, and the following is the most im- j poilaut passage contained in it. ' His Majesty cannot accept, under a con- vention, that satisfaction to which he has so just a title, without entering into any engagements to procure it. The idea of his Majesty's becom- ing a contracting party upon this occasion is entirely foreign to the case ; for, having received an injury and demanded the most moderate reparation of that injury his honour will permit him to accept, that reparation loses its value, if it is to be conditional, and to be obtained by any stipulation whatsoever on the part of his Majesty.' Vet in direct violation of this demand of an un- conditional restoration and acknowledged so- vereignty, the following declaration and accept- ance were mutually acceded to at London, Jan. 22, 1771. Translation of the Declaration signed and delivered by Prince de I^Iaserano, Am- ba.s.sador Extraordinary from his Catholic Majesty, dated the 22nd day of Januar\- 1771. His Britannic Majesty having complained of the violence which was committed on the loth of i June, 1770, at the island commonly called the ; Great ^Ialouine, and by the English Falkland's i Ishnd, in obliging by force the commander and subjects of his Britannic Majesty to evacuate the port by them called Egmont ; a step offensive to the honour of his crown ;— the Prince de lALi- -serano, amba.ssador extraordinary of his Catholic I Majesty, has received orders to declare, and de- ^ dares, that his Catholic ^Lijesty, consideiing the de.sire with which he is animated for peace? and I for the maintenance of good harmony with his I Britannic Maje.sty. and reflecting that this evtiu might interrupt it, has seen with displeasure this expedition tending to disturb it; and in the persuasion in which he is of the reciprocity of sentiments of his Britannic ]\Iajesty, and of its being far from his intention to authorize anv 466 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. which you have procured I know to be authentic, having read it amongst the thing that might disturb the good understanding ' between tlie two courts : liis Catholic Majesty ' does disavow the said violent enterprise ; — and in consequence the Prince de Maserano declares, ; that his Catholic Majesty cn2:ages to give imnio- diate orders that things shall be restored in the Great Malouine, at the port called Egmont, pre- ' cisely to the state in which they were before the inth of Jnne, 1770; for which purpose his Ca- ■ tholic ^iajesty will give orders to one of his , officers to deliver up to the ofticer authorized by ; his Britannic Majesty, the port and fort called j Kgmont, with all the artillery, stores, and efiects of his Hritannic Majesty and his subjects, which were at that place the day above-named ; agree- ' able to the inventory which has been made of them. The Prince de Maserano declares, at the same time, in the name of the king his master, that the en- gagement of his said Catholic Majesty, to restore to his Britannic Majesty the possession of the fort i and port called Egmont, cannot, nor ought, any I wise to affect the question of the piior right of | sovereignty of the Malouine Islands, otherwise , called Falkland's Islands. In witness whereof, j I, the imdcrwritten ambassador extraordinary, have signed the present declaration with my usual signature, and caused it to be sealed with I our arms. London, the twenty-second day of Jaiujary, one thousand seven hundred and 1 seventy-one. I (L. S.) ;Signed) Lii Prince de Maserano. Translation of the earl of Rochford's Ac- ' ceplance, dated the 22nd day of January, ' 1771, of the Prince de Maserano's Declar- ' ation of the same Date. ' His Catholic Majesty having authorized the Prince of Maserano, his ambassador extraor- dinary, to offer in his Majesty's name to the king of Great Britain a satisfaction for the injury done to his Britannic Majesty by dispossessing him of the port and fort of Port Egmont ; and the said ambassador having this day signed a declaration, which he has just delivered to me, expressing therein that his Catholic Majesty, being desirous to restore the good harmony and friendship which before subsisted between the two crowns, does disavow the expedition against Port Egmont, in which force has been used against his Britannic Majesty's possessions, commander, and subjects; and does also engage that all things shall be im- mediately restored to the precise situation in which they stood before the loth of June, 1770. And that I'lis Catholic Majesty shall give orders in consequence to one of his officers to deliver up to the officer authorized by his Britannic Ma- jesty, the port and fort of Port Egmont, as also all his Britannic Majesty's artillery, stores, and effects, as well as those of his subjects, according to the inventory which has been made of them. — And the said ambassador having moreover engaged, in his Catholic Majesty's name, that what is con- tained iu the said declaration shall be carried papers laid by administration before both Houses. It is the most complete and un- into effect by his said Catholic Majesty ; and that duplicates of his Catholic Majesty's orders to his officers shall be delivered into the hands of one of his Britannic Majesty's principal secre- taries of state within six weeks ; his said Britannic Majesty, in order to show the same friendly dis- positions on his part, has authorized me to declare, that he will look upon the said declara- tion of Prince de Maserano, together w ith the full performance of the said engagement on the part of his Catholic Majest\-, as a satisfaction fur the injury done to the crown of CJreat Britain. In witness whereof, I, the underwritten, one of his Britannic Majesty's principal secretaries of state, have signed these presents with my usual signature, and caused them to be sealed with our arms. London, the 22nd day of January, 1771. (L. S.) (Signed) Rochford. These papers, together with the above letter of lord Weymouth, were laid by lord North before the House of Commons, Jan. 25, 1771 ; and on Feb. 4, the two following queries were moved by lord Chatham, in the ilouse of Lords, for the opinion of the judges. Whether, in consideration of law, the Imperial crown of this realm can hold any territories or possessions thereunto belonging, otherwise than in sovereignty ? 2. Whether the declaration, or instrument for restitution of the port or fort called Egmont, to be "made by the Catholic king to his Majesty, under a rcset~jation of a disputed ri^/ii 0/ so- vereignty expressed in the very declaration or instrnvient stipulating such restitution, ran be accepted or carried into execution without dero- gating from the maxim of law before referred to, touching the inherent and essential dignity 0/ the crozvn 0/ Great Britain ? 'The above queries were not referred to the judges, because lord JNIansfield said, that the answer to them was self-evident, — that they answered themselves ; — by which his Lordship was understood to mean that both queries clearly answered themselves in the negative.'' On the 13th of February an address of thanks for the communication was voted in both Houses of parliament ; that in the Commons, after a very , long deljate, was carried hy a considerable ma- jority, the numbers being for the address 271, against 157, who voted for the amendment. The address of the Lords was much fuller jif approbation than that of the Commons, and w. s, notwithstanding, carried through with a much greater proportional majority ; it was, however, productive of the following nervous and argu- mentative protest, signed by not less than nine- teen peers. MISCELLAXEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 45; answerable condemnation of the infamous convention with Spain tliat tlie mind of DISSENTIENT. 1. Because it is highly unsuitable to the wis- dom and gravity of this House, and to tiie respect I which we owe to his Majesty and ourselves, to carry up to the throne an address approving the acceptance of an imperfect instrument, which ' has neither been previously authorized by any special full p(nvsrs produced by the .Spanish j minister, nor been as yet ratified by the king of Spain. If the ratification on the part of Spain should be refused, the address of this House will appear no better than an act of precipitate adulation to ministers ; which will justly expose the peerage of the kingdom to the indignation of their countrj', and to the derision of all Europe. 2. Because it is a direct insult on the feelings and understanding of the people of Great Britain, to approve this declaration and acceptance, as a means of securing our own and tiie general tran- quillity, whilst the greatest preparations for war are making, both by sea and land : and whilst the practice of pressing is continued, as in times of the most urgent necessity, to the extreme in- convenience of trade and commerce ; and with the greatest hardships to one of the most merit- orious and useful orders of his Majesty's sub- jects. 3. Because the refusing to put the questions to the judges upon points of law, very essentially affecting this great question, and the refusing to address his ^Iaje^ty to give orders for laying before this House the instructions relating to Falkland's Islands, given to the commanders of his Majesty's ships employed there, is depriving us of such lights as seemed highly proper for us on this occasion. 4. Because from the declaration and corre- spondence laid before us, we are of opinion that the ministers merit the censure of this House, rather than any degree of commendation, on ac- count of several improper acts, and equally im- proper omissions, from the beginning to the close of this transaction. For it is asserted by the .Spanish minister, and stands uncontradicted by ours, that several discussions had passed between the ministers of the two courts upon the subject of Falkland's Islands, which might give the British ministers reason to foresee the attack upon that settlement that was afterwards made by the forces of Spain. Captain Hunt also, arriving from thence so early as the third of June last, did advertise the ministers of repeated ivzj-aings and menaces made by Spanish govern- ors and commanders of ships of war ; yet so obstinately negligent and supine were his Ma- jesty's ministers, and so far from the vigilance and activity required by the trust and duty of their offices, that they did not even so much as make a single representation to the court of Madrid ; which if they had done, the injurj- itself might have been prevented, or at least so speedily repaired, as to render unnecessary' the enormous expenses, to which this nation has man can suggest. The whole culprit ministry, together with the king, plead been compelled, by waiting until the blow had been actually struck, and the news of so signal an insult to the crown of Great Britain had arrived in Europe. To this wilful, and therefore culpable, neglect of representation to the court of Spain, was added another neglect, a neglect of such timel}' preparation, tor putting this nation into such a state of defence, as the men- acing appearances on the part of Spain and the critical condition of Euro]:)e required. 'I'hese preparations, had they been imdertaken early, would have been executed with more cflect, and less expense ; would have been far less distress- ing to our trade, and to our seamen ; would have authorized us in the beginning to have demanded, and would in all probability have induced Spain to consent to, an immediate, perfect, and equit- able settlement of all the points in discussion be- tween the two crowns ; but all preparation having been neglected, the national safety was left de- pending rather upon accidental alterations in the internal circumstances of our neighbours, than in the proper and natural strength of the kingdom ; and this negligence was highly aggravated by the refusal of administration to consent to an address, proposed by a noble lord in this House last session, for a moderate and gradual augment- ation of our naval forces. 5. Because the negotiation, entered into much too late, was, from the commencement, con- ducted upon principles as disadvantageous to the wisdom of our public councils, as it was finally concluded in a manner disgraceful to the honour of the crown of Great Britain ; for it appears, that the court of Madrid did disavow the act of hostility, as proceeding from particular instruc- tions, but justified it under hergeneral instructions to her governors, under the oath by them taken, and under the established laws of America. This general order was never disavowed nor ex- plained ; nor was any disavowal or explanation thereof ever demanded by our ministers : and we apprehend that this justification of an act of vio- lence under general orders, established laws, and oaths of office, to be far more dangerous and injurious to this kingdom than the particular en- terprise which has been disavowed, as it evidently supposes, that the governors of the Spanish American provinces are not only authorized, but required, without any particular instructions, to raise great forces by sea and land, and to invade his Majesty's possessions in that part of the world, in the midst of profound peace. 6. Because this power, so unprecedented and alarming, under which the Spanish governor was justified by his court, rendered it the duty of our ministers to insist upon some censure or punish- ment upon that governor, in order to demonstrate the sincerity of the court of Madrid, and of her desire to preserve peace, by putting at least some check upon those exorbitant powers asserted bj' the court of Spain to be given to her governors. But although our ministers were authorized not only by the acknowledged principles of the law 468 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. guilty by their own unanimous voice. No letter of this sort upon so deUcate a matter, secretary of state ever did or would write a without first laying it before his Majesty's of nations, lo call for such censure or punish- ] nient, but also \>y the express provision of the i seventeenth article of tlie treaty of L'trecht, yet i they liave thought fit to ol.'serve a profound silence on this necessary article of public repara- I tion. If it were thuuy;ht that any circumstances appeared in the particular case of the governor, j I to make an abatement or pardon of the punish- j j nient advisable, that abatement or pardon ousht i I to have been the effect of his Majesty's clemen<:y, j 1 and not an impunity to him, arising from the ; ignorance of our ministers in the first principles of public law, or their negligence or pusillanimity in asserting them. I 7. IJecause nothing has been had or demanded as a reparation in damage for the enormous ex- j pense and other inconveniences, arising from the ^ confessed and unprovoked vi(jlence of the Span- ish forces in the enterprise against Falkland's j Islands, and the long subsequent delay of justice. 1 It was not necessary to this demand that it | should be made in any improper or offensive ' language, but in that style of accommodation , which has ever been used bj' able negotiators. 8. Because an unparalleled and most audacious , insult has been offered to the honour of the | British flag, by the detention of a ship of war of his Majesty's, for twenty days after the surrender of Port Egmont, antl by the indignity of forcibly taking away her rudder : this act could not be suppoited upon any idea of being necessary to the reduction of the fort, nor was any such necessity pretended. No reparation in honour has been demanded for this wanton insult, by which his ^I:ijesty's reign is rendered the un- happy sera in which the honour of the British flag has suffered the first stain with entire in\- punily. 9. Because the Spanish declaration, which our ministers have advised his Majesty to accept, does in general words imply his Majesty's disa- vowal of -some acts on his part tending to disturb the good correspondence of the two courts, when it is notorious, that no act of violence whatsoever had been committed on the part of Great Britain. By this disavowal of some implied aggression in the very declaration, pretended to be made for reparation of the injured dignity of Great Britain, his Majesty is made to admit a supposition con- trary to truth, and injurious to the justice and honour of his crown. 10. Because in the said declaration the restitu- tion is confined to Port Egmont, when Spain herself originally offered to cede Falkland's Islands. It is known that she made her forcible attack on pretence of title to the whole, and the restitution ought, therefore, not to have been confmed to a part only, nor can any reason be assigned why the restitution ought to have been made In narrower or more ambiguous words than the claims of Spain, on which her act of violence was grounded, and her offers of restitution origin- ally made. 11. Because the declaration, by which his Ma- jesty Is to obtain possession of Port Egmont, contains a reservation or condition of the question of a claim of prior right of sovereignty in the Catholic king to the whole of Falkland's Islands, being the first time such a claim has ever authen- tically appeared in any public Instrument jointly concluded on by the two courts. No explanation of the principles of this claim has been required, although there is just reason to believe that these principles will ecpially extend to restrain the iil)erty and confine the extent of British naviga- tion. No counter-claim has been made on the part of his Majesty, to the right of sovereignty, in any pnrt of the said island ceded to him ; any assertion whatsoever, of his Majesty's right of so- vereignty, has been studiously avoided, from the beginnings to the accomplishment of this unhappy transaction ; which, after the expense of millions, settles no contest, asserts no right, exacts no reparation, affords no security, but stands as a monument of reproach to the wisdom of the national councils, of dishonour to the essential dignity of his Majesty's crown, and of disgrace to the hitherto untainted honour of the British flag. After having given these reasons, founded on the facts which appeared from the papers, we think it necessary here to disclaim an invidious and injurious imputation, substituted in the place of fair argument, that they who will not approve of this convention, are for precipitating their country into the calamities of war. We are as far from the design, and we trust much furtlier from the act, of kindling the flame of war, than those who have advised his Majesty to accept f>f the declaration of the Spanish ambassador. We have never entertained the least thought of in- validating this public act ; but If ministers may not be censured, or even punished, for treaties which, though valid, are injurious to the national interest and honour, without a supposition of the lireach of public faith in this House, that should censure or punish, or of a breach of the laws of humanity In those who propose such censure or punishment, the use of the peers, as a controul on ministers, and as the best as well as highest council of the crown, will be rendered of no avail. We have no doubt but a declaration more adequate to our just pretensions, and to the dignity of the crown, might have been obtained without the effusion of blood ; not only from the favourable circumstances of the conjuncture, but because our just demands were no more than any sovereign power, who had injured another through inadvertence or mistake, ought, even from regard to Its own honour, to have granted : and we are satisfied that the obtaining sucli terms would have been the only secure means of establishing a lasting and honourable peace. Richmond, Audlev, Bolton, King, m.-vnchester, tokkington, Tankerville, Miltox, Chatham, Auekgavennv, MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OFJL'XIUS. 469 most confidential servants, and taking die kings express orders upon it. It speaks then the unanimous sentiments of them all. His Majesty pronounces in common with the rest his own condemnation in that of this unworthy transaction. The moderate reparation to his Majesty's honour for the ! injury is not obtained unconditionally ; that is, in the only way which he himself and his servants thought indispensable. An humiliating stipulation for referring the discussion of the prior right is a defeasance of the reparation. It wounds irreparably the honour of the king as a private man, and the glory of the kingdom ; but when that stipulation carries along with it also a private insinuation or encouragement to the Catholic King to hope, and most probably, not to say certainly, an express assurance, that not only Port Egmont, now restored to us, but the whole island, shall in due time, as soon as they dare, be surrendered to the crown of Spain. Xo words can ex- press the meanness or folly of such a pro- ceeding. Our tame submission to France in the Ccrsican business has drawn this atrocious insult upon us. This insult, ac- companied with the indignities contained, by the minister's own confession, in the convention, will renew to us, in the mouths of the proud and triutnphant Spaniards, the ignominious title of Giilliiias del mar, and wc shall deservedly become a bye-word of contempt amongst the nations. The only reparation which it can be pretended that Spain makes, is the temporary restitu- tion of Port Egmont. Restoring to me my possessions violently seized is an act of Justice, not of reparation : but with what in- delible shame shall we be covered, w hen it is seen that we pitifully traftic away what was insultingly wrested from us, and yield the whole to the aggressor under any pretence or colour whatever? The insult was com- mitted after repeated notices of our right, in full peace : it was an insult not only to the flag of England hitherto spotless, but to the whole majesty of the kingdom, by direct hostilities committed as in time of actual war, so as to inforcea formal capitu- lation : a proceeding till now unheard of, submitted to w ith a meanness and treachery on the part of our rulers, which nothing can now palliate. We deceive ourselves if we think the peace can be maintained by pusillaniuiity and baseness. Remember ' his Majesty cannot accept under a con- vention that satisfaction to which he has so just a title, without entering into any en- gagements to procure it.' ^ A Me.mber of one House 0/ Par- liament in viourning for the hono7irofhis king and country. W'VCOMBE, Craven, BOVLE, Devo.nshire, FiTZWILLIA.M, ponson'bv, Scarborough, Archer. DISSENTIENT. Because, though the disavo.val may be con- sidered as humiliating to the court of Spain, the declaration and acceptance, under the reserva- tion of the question of prior right, do not, in my LETTER LXXXIX. TO THE PRIXTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 16 Fchnia)-}', 1771. It is proper the public should be informed that, upon lord Gower's election to be a knight of the garter, there were but four knights present, besides the sovereign, and the duke of Gloucester was lugged in to be one of them. He intreated, he begged, he implored, — but all to no pur- pose. Poor Peg Trentham was forced to submit to an election, which, by the statutes of the order, is void. — Ashmole informs us, that ' to make up a complete chapter of election, there should be assembled six knights companions at the least, besides the sovereign ; the due observance of which hath been so strict formerly, that opinion, after the heavy expences incurred, either convey a satisfaction adequate to the insult on the honour of Great Britain, or aftbrd any rea- sonable grounds to believe that peace, on the terms of honour, can be lasting. Radnor. — Edit. ^ See this subject further discussed in Letter XLII., and notes appended to it.— Edit. 470 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. elections have been deferred, where chap- ters have been deficient in that number.' ^ The present way of electing Peg Trent- ham, is, for two reasons, icmarkable. It shows first, in what profound contempt poor Peggy is universally held. And secondly, the pious resolution of our gracious sovereign to introduce a new system of aridimctic. In the decision of the Middlesex election it was resolved that 296 were more than 1143, and now we are told that four are equal to six. — This puts me in mind of lord Marsh's election to the coterie. — All the balls were black ; — but the returning officer, George Selwyn, thought proper to swear he was duly elected, and he took his seat accordinglv. A. B. in point of ignorance, ujwn a level with the people whose conduct they defend. 2 The questions th^y ask are suicide to their own cause. Gibraltar and Minorca were yielded to England by the treaty of Utrecht, to which treaty Sjjain acceded ; and, admit- ting that they have never given up in form their claim to Jamaica, it is also true that, since the treaty of Utrecht, they have never asserted such a claim, much less have Tiv allowed it to be inserted in any treaty between the two crowns. But, Sir, the real question is, not what declarations or pre- tensions Spain may have thought proper to advance, but, what declarations or preten- sions on their part have we admitted and accepted f To support a fair comparison between the terms on which we hold the above places, and those on which Port Egmont is restored, it should be proved that Spain, in some treaty between us and it, has asserted its claim of prior right to Jamaica, Gibraltar, and Minorca, and that we have, with equal formality, accepted a treaty containing such an express rcserva- to the illegally smuggling in a knight upon that most noble order, in the same manner as akniglit for the county of Middlciex has been smuggled into the House of Commons. If this article of news could be true, would not the kingdom have reason to lament that all order, decency, and respect for ancient rules and e: tablishment, is now broken through by the person whose peculiar duty and interest it is to preserve them ? Is the court itself so unpopular, or is the subject of his Majesty's favour so unworthy, that it was, after ten days waiting, impossible to procure the attendance of more than the king's own brother, the lord chamberlain, the auditor of the Ex- chequer, and the duke of Northumberland in flan- nels ? Kisuin icneatls aiiiici ! ^ The following is a copy of the paragrapli which occasioned tiie foregoing essay : ' People who would cavil, and are clamorous .ibout that part of the Spanish declaration, where the king of Spain makes a reservation of a prior claim of right to Falkland Island, would do well to consider, that such reservation is only mere matter of form, and is never likely to produce the smallest misunderstanding between the two crowns, especially when they recollect, or may inform themselves, that Spain never, to this hour, has renounced her formal claim of right, cither to Minorca or Gibraltar, in the treaties subsequent to our possession of those places.'— Edit. LETTER XC. TO TlIC PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 22 Fcbriiayy, 1771. The advocates of the ministry are, ^ I'he s.-ime fact is related, and probably by the same correspondent, in the following article of the Public Advertiser, February 15, 1771. A correspondent has sent us the following remarks on the London Gazette, published by authority. 1'liis lying paper contains the following unpre- cedented article: 'St James's, Feb. 11. This day a chapter of the most noble order of the garter was held in the great council chamber, when Granville Levison Gower, earl Gower, being first knighted, was afterwards elected and invested with the garter, ribbon, and George, with the usual solemnity.' It is most notorious to a great concourse of nobility and gentry then present, that there were only assisting the best of kings, the dukes of Gloucester, Newcastle, and Northumberland ; consequently it is impos- sible that any election can have been made, the statutes of the order requiring the presence of the sovereign with six knights. Tiie best of kings, whose duty it is to preserve the laws in- violable, could, to be sure, on no consideration, not even the election of that most worthy peer the earl Gower into this noble order, be prevailed upon, in the face of all England, to set the example of openly violating the statutes which have hitherto been so religiously respected and observed through so many ages. Had there been an election, the Gazette would have pro- claimed it in the usual form, the knights present would have been enumerated and named. It is impossible that the best of kings can be a party MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 471 tion, and declared ourselves satisjicd with it. The n^.inistry would then have an example in point. 1 VINDEX. LETTER XCr. TO THi: PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC I ADVERTISER. | Sir, 6 March, 1771. Pray tell that ingenious gentle- man Mr Laughlin Macleane,^ that when the king of Spain writes to the king of Great Britain, he omits four-fifths of his titles, and when our king writes to him, his address is always Carole, Dei ^s^ratia, Hispaniarnmt utriusque SiciliiV, et Indi- arum Rcgi Catholico. It was reserved for his present Majesty to say, in a public instrument, ' Falkland Island is one of my possessions, and yet I allow the king of Spain to reserve a claim of prior right, and I declare mj-self satisfied with that reserva- tion.' In spite of Mr Laughlin's disinter- ested, unbroken, melodious eloquence, it is a melancholy truth that the crown of England was never so insulted, never so shamefully degraded, as by this declaration, with which the best of sovereigns assures his people he is perfectly, entirely, com- pletely satisfied. VINDEX. ^ The printer thought proper at the time, with the consent of the author, see Private Letter, No. 33, to break off at this point, and to suppress the remainder of the essay. The autograph of the entire letter is still in the hands of the proprietor of this edition : but it would be a breach of con- fidence to continue it further. Independently of which, he altogether approves of the suppression. — Edit. ^ Laughlin Macleane had been under secre- tary of state during lord Shelburne's possession of the office for the southern department. In his defence of the ministry here referred to, he still discovers a hankering after office, and at least a disposition to forgive them for his dismission. Mr Campbell, however, in his Life of Hugh Boyd, p. 125, tells us that at this very period he pos- sessed ' a mortal hatred for his Grace 'of Grafton,', and indulged his resentment by painting him in the blackest colours ! ! ! ' See observations on this subject in the Preliminary' Essay, p. 51. In LETTER XCII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PLBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 25 March, 1771. However the court might have concealed its designs ; however it might have deluded those who were disposed to be deceived, the imposiiion can e.vist no longer. Tiie triplet union of Crown, Lords, and Commons against England displays itself with a violence and a candour, which statesmen in other conspiracies seldom have adopted. It is no more a question of royal antipathy or feminine unrelenting re- sentment ; it is not a single inconsequent act of arbitrary power ; it is not the offen- sive individual, but the free constitution of this countn,', whose destruction engages the influence of the crown and the authority of parliament. The House of Commons assume a power of imprisonment during pleasure for actions which the laws have not made ciiminal. They create a crime as well as a punishment. They call upon the king to support their illegality by a proclamation still more illegal ; and the liberty of the press is the object of this criminal alliance. They e.xpunge a recognizance ; they stagnate the cause of justice, and thereby assume an absolute power over the law and property of Great Britain. ^ January, in the following year, he received from lord North the collectorship of Philadelphia, and subsequently an appointment to India, in his voyage to which he was lost. — Edit. 3 The whole of this requires explanation. The printers of newspapers having long intended it, now resolutely determined to report the debates of both Houses. Col. Onslow made a motion against them as guilty of a violation of the pri- vileges of parliamL-nt ; and the printers were summoned to attend : Wheble and Miller how- ever refused to obey the order ; and the minister thought proper to issue a proclamation in his iSIajesty's name, and insert it in the Gazette, offering a reward of fifty pounds for apprehend- ing John Wheble, printer of the Middlesex Journal, and John Miller, printer of the London Evening Post, for daring to publish certain speeches delivered in parliament. In conse quence of this proclamation they were both ap prehended ; Wheble by a brother p.-inter of the 4/2 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. The House of Lords liave not been back- ward in their contribution to tlie scheme of name of Carpenter, who owed him a grudge, and Miller by William Whittam, a messenger of the House of Commons. The former was carried before Mr Wilkes, at that time just liberated from the King's Bench, and, as alderman for Farringdon Without, sitting magistrate at Guild- hall : w ho denying the legal authority of a mere proclamation, discharged Whoble, and took a recognizance of liim to prosecute Carpenter for an assault and unlawful imprisonment. !Miller I upon his arrest sent for a constable, to whom he gave charge of the messenger who arrested him, j and inunediately carried hin\ to the Mansion- ; house, where the lord mayor, Mr Alderman \ Wilkes, and Mr Alderman Oliver jointly heard ; the cause, discharged Miller, and signed a war- rant of commitment of the messenger to the Compter for the assault and false imprisonment ; from which, however, he was released upon 1 finding bail. Wilkes at the same time that these | transactions were ofticially entered by the lord i mayor's clerk into the Mansion-house rota book, { addressed a letter to lord Halifax, one of the i secretaries of state, informing him of the steps he had taken. | All was confusion and uproar. The House of Commons supported the legality of the procla- ination : issued an order to prohibit every kind of prosecution or suit froni being commenced or carried on for or on account of the assault and imprisonment of the printers ; ordered the clerk to attend who had entered the proceedings in the Mansion-house minute book ; erased the entire record ; and summoned the different alder- r-en who had officiated to appear at the bar of the House to answer for their conduct. The city first of all, and afterwards the nation at large, was extremely indignant at such illegal violence. The lord mayor's clerk was severely reprimanded at a general court of aldermen for suffering the city minute book to be mutilated ; the Bill of Rights Society complained vehemently against the outrages committed ; — Wilkes refused 1 to obey the summons for his attendance, and the lord mayor and his other colleagues, upon attend- ing and justifying their conduct, were committed to the Tower, for pretended contumacy. It was i on this occasion that the lord mayor ^Crosby) i made the following spirited reply : — j ' Mr Speaker, — an honourable gentleman has talked of the lenity to be shown me on account i of my health, and my being only committed to the custody of the serjeant at arms. I thank j God that my health is better than it has been for some time past. I know that I was pre- ; judged on Monday, and that the string of reso- ' lutions and warrants is now In the gentleman's , pocket. I ask no favour of this House. I crave no mercy from the Treasury-bench. I am ready to go to my noble friend at the Tower, if the House shall order me. My conscience is clear, and tells me that I have kept my oath, and done my duty to the city, of which I have the honour to be chief magistrate, and to my country. I slavery; for they have imprisoned, and they have fined. The crime, like the punishment, will never betray the privileges of the citizens, nor the rights of the people. I have no apology to make for having acted uprightly, and I fear not any resentment in consequence of such con- duct. I will through life continue to obey the lUctates of honour and conscience, to give my utmost support to every part of the constitution of this kingdom, and the event I shall always leave to Heaven, at all times ready to meet my fate.' The lord mayor was accompanied to the Tower by an immense concourse of the livery, as well as of persons not connected with the police of the city, many of them of the utmost respectability ; he was vl>ited by the dukes of Manchester and Portland, earls FItzwilliam and Tankcrville, lord King, admiral Keppel, sir Charles Saunders, Mr Dowdeswell, Mr Burke, and many other commoners ; as also by the two sheriffs, in order to express their entire disapprobation of the pro- ceedings that had taken place against them ; and the thanks of the city were voted unanimously, at a meeting of common council holden March 28, to such members of the House of Commons as had supported the conduct of the lord mayor and his colleagues, and maintained the rights and privileges of the city. The common council voted that all the expenses of the lord mayor's and Mr Oliver's table, S:c. &c., should be de- frayed by the city. The magistrates, in order to obtain their dis- charge, were carried by habeas corpus, first before lord clilef justice De Grey, and afterwards before lord ■NLansfield ; but both judges refusing to discharge them, they were remanded to the Tower. In the mean time, in direct opposition to the order of the House of Commons, the grand jury, at the ensuing quarter-sessions at Guildhall, foimd bills of indictment against Car- penter and Whittam, the messenger of the House, for the assault and imprisonment of Miller and Wheble. The lord mayor and his colleagues remained in the Tower till the 8th of May, on which day his Majesty, by proroguing the parlia- ment, terminated its power of confining them any longer. It is not necessary at this time to enter into the question of the legality or illegality of the power claimed in this instance by the House of Commons, under the specious name of parlia- mentary privilege. 'I'hey virtuajly admitted themselves to have erred, by their subsequent conduct towards Mr Wilkes ; who, though by far the most culpable of the whole ;admittlng cul- pability of any kind', was suffered to remain un- molested, except by serving him with three suc- cttssive summonses to appear at the bar of the House, every one of which he contemptuously refused to obey, unless the House would suffer him to take his place as member for Middlesex. 'I'he result of the contest has terminated favour- ably for the public, who have ever since been put into possession of the debates of both Houses, through the medium of newspaper reporters. — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 473 was in their own bosom. They were ^-.v post facto legislators. They were parties ; they were judges ; and, instead of a court of final judicature, acted as a court of criminal jurisdiction in the first instance. The three estates, instead of being a con- troul upon each other, are let loose upon the constitution. The absolute power of the crown, by the assistance of the hand- maid corruption, puts on the disguise of privilege. In the arrangement of hostility, the associated senate takes the lead, and illegal proclamation brings up the rear of oppression. The cabal advances upon us as an army once did upon a town — it dis- played before it a multitude of nuns, and overawed the resistance of the besieged by the venerable appearance. So the cabinet puts forth the countenance of parliament, and marches against the constitution under the shelter of the hallowed frailty. What has an Englisiiman now to hope for? He must turn from king, lords, and I commons, and look up to God and himself j if he means to be free. He sees the repre- j sentalion of the kingdom taken from the people — the law dispensed with — the obli- gation of a contract erased— the liberty of the subject invaded— the freedom of the press violated — by the House of Commons. By the House of Lords he sees liberty, property, and the freedom of the press assaulted likewise, and the decision ^ of justice in its last resort a question of influ- ence, not of law. He beholds three supreme powers instead of one, and the constitution a separate plunder to each : or rather he beholds one estate possessed of the power by the profligacy of the rest.— If the cabinet should prevail, we shall not only be en- slaved, but disgraced. Tlie man and means that enslave us would be an additional dis- honour. An Ench.ishman', aud Enemy to the Cabinet therefore. ^ In the case of lord Pomfret and Smith. " There is some doubt as to the genuineness of this as well as of the ensuing letter ; but as they are illustrative of one of JcNiUs's most im- portant letters, No. XLIV. ; as they are excel- lenl'y composed, and the subject has been in LETTER XCIII.-2 For the Pill' lie Advertiser. 2C) M,ircli, 1771. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR, MR ALDERMAN OLIVER, AND MR .\LDERMAN V.ILKES. Mv Lord and Gentlemen, As your conduct in regard to the business of the printers is become the uni- versal subject of conversation, I will take the liberty of communicating my sentiments to you in this public manner. The busi- ness first opened with a printer's being taken up by virtue of the king's proclama- tion, and carried before Mr Alderman Wilkes (who was sitting as a justice of the peace for the city of London) in order to his being committed by virtue of that pro- clamation (•/•//)'. Mr Wilkes discharged the printer, and upon his complaint, veri- fied upon oath, bound over the apprehender to appear at the qtiarter-scssions, and the printer to prosecute for an assault. In considering the legaUty of tliis proceeding I will totally lay out of the question the privileges and franchises of the city of London, as I think tliis part of the case does not require any assistance from them, though they may be very material in the subsequent proceedings as to the messenger of the House of Commons. The first con- sideration then will be, what was the force and effect of the proclamation ? In Judge Dalison's Reports, which is a book of au- thority, p. 20, 2 and 3 Phil, and Mary, it is said, ' Note, It was agreed for law, that the king may make a proclamation to his subjects quo ad ierrorem popttli, to put them in fear of his displeasure, but not upon other pain certain, as to forfeit their lands or goods, or to make fine, or to suffer some measure recently agitated, the editor could not consent to suppress them. I'lie quotation from Hawkins, inserted in the second letter, will be found adopted by Juxius as one of his notes to the letter just referred to.— Edit. 474 MISCELLAXFOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. imprisonment or otlier pain: for no pro- I clamation shall make a law which was not before, but may confirm and ratify an ancient law, but not change it, or make : ;'. new one ; yet diverse precedents were shown out of the Exchequer to the contrary, < but the justices would not have any regard to them, d nofa.' And in the 12th Part of sir Edward Coke's Reports, which is a , book of the highest authority, p. 74, in the ! 8 Ja. ist (when prerogative ran high,) you will find a case called the case of pro- clamations, which, amongst other things, contains these resolutions : ' That the king by his proclamation or othenvays cannot j change any part of the common law, or statute law, or the customs of the realm.' , ' That the king cannot create any offence | by his prohibition or proclamation, which was not an offence before ; ' and that ' that which cannot be punished without proclam- ation cannot be punished with it.' That the king may by his proclamation admonish his subjects to keep the laws, but cannot ] make a thing unlawful which the law per- mits. And this, as the learned reporter observes, was well proved by the ancient and continual forms of indictments, for all indictments conclude, contra legem et con- suet udinem Anglice, or contra leges et statuta, b'c. ' But never was seen an in- dictment to conclude contra regiam- procla- niationcm.' The learned reporter puts several instances of illegal proclamations, and amongst the rest this : An act was made by which fo- reigners were licensed to merchandise within London. H. 4. by proclamation prohibit- ed the execution of it, and that it should be in suspense jisgue ad proximum parlia- mentum, which, says the learned reporter, was against law. Vide Dors. Claus. 8 Hen. 4. Proclamation in London. Here give me leave to make one observation, that any proclamation which infringes the an- cient customs, privileges, and franchises of the city of London, infringes the statute laws of this land ; for the cust'>ms, pri- vileges, and franchises of the city of London are confirmed and established by various acts of parliament. The case still goes on, and says, that the law of England is divided into three parts, common law, statute law, and custom ; ' but the king's proclaniatiori is none of them.' And the learned reporter concludes in saying : ' after this resolution, no proclamation imposing fine and im- prisonment was afterwards made ; ' and I have no doubt but the learned reporter thought that after this solemn decision no such proclamations would ever be issued in any future times : but, alas ! he did not see the jurisprudence of the reign of George the Third. I think I may call this case a solemn de- termination, because it was settled upon great deliberation by the two chief justices, the chief baron and baron Altham, upon conference betwixt the lords of the privy council and them. When the printer was brought before Mr Wilkes, Mr Wilkes act- ed as a magistrate, and in a judicial ca- pacity ; and had he imprisoned the printer, or any other subject of this kingdom, upon less evidence than the law required, he would have been highly criminal. And in a case where the liberty of the subject was concerned, it required the best and the highest evidence to justify the deprivation of that liberty. The law and rules of evi- dence 'are part of the common law of the land,' and the king cannot 'by his pro- clamation alter or suspend any of those laws or rules ; ' for that would be to alter the law of the land, and be in direct oppo- sition to those respectable authorities I have cited. It is a law and a rule of evi- dence that no judge or justice can judicially take notice of a private act of parliament, much less can they judicially take notice of a private order of the House of Commons relative to two individuals only. Nay, if you add to it the sanction of the royal pro- clamation, and consider it as the act of the king and Commons, does it mend the matter ? Does it give it greater authority in point of legal evidence than an act of parliament? I should be glad to be in- formed if the constitution has given such an arbitrary power of imprisonment to the MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ( j House of Commons as they claim, why it has not given them proper officers to en- force it without resorting to the king? Why has not the serjeant at arms a power to raise the posse comitatus ? Why are not people punishable for not giving him assist- ance ? And yet I dare say tliere is not a law-book that has attributed this power to him, nor did we ever hear of a person pun- ished for refusing him assistance, which in my apprehension is a strong argument against the power claimed by the House of Commons against the printers. I should be glad, too, to be informed, what law, usage, or custom, has made the king the minister to authenticate the orders of the House of Commons, when it first began, and where it is to be found, Ry what writ or authority does the order come before the king to be authenticated, and where is it to be found ? I never yet saw any statute, case, or even dictum to authorize this. And if the law has not intrusted the king with the power of authenticating the orders of the House of Commons by his royal pro- clamation, every judge and justice in this kingdom w ill do right in paying no regard to them under such a sanction. I have known trials where it has been necessary to give in evidence the proceedings and de- terminations of the House of Commons, w Inch have always been done by proving them upon oath to be true copies of the journals by the witness who examined them. And though Mr Wilkes might be convinced in his mind that there was such an order as stated in the proclamation, he could not in his judicial capacity take notice of it, as it was not authenticated according to law. This doctrine has been illustrated in a mo- dern instance. Did not the present chief justice of the King's Bench and his brethren refuse to take judicial notice of Mr Wilkes when he surrendered himself in order to the reversal of his outlawiy, because Iv? did not come properly authenticated before them, although I fancy they had very little * Robert Morris, E?q. was a member of, and secretary' to, the Bill of Rights Society. At their meeting in order to discuss the question of the I 475 doubt in their minds as to the identity of his person? So upon the same principles Mr Wilkes was well warranted in rejecting the proclamation ; and that being out of the way, I think it will then be so clear, that Mr Wilkes would have done right in committing the assailant upon the printer, if he had not given bail, as not to admit of an argument. I have two observations to make upon the late attempt of enforcing the order of the House of Commons by the royal pro- clamation. First, that the calling in the aid of the king upon that occasion was weakening the authority and dignity of the House, and tends to make the execution of the orders of that House dependent upon the pleasure of the king ; and in the next place, such an interposition on the part of the king carries this appearance with it to the public, that it is not the independence, or the just liberties and privileges, of the commons of England that are thus anxious- ly sought to be preserved, but the gratifica- tion of the spleen and resentment (to say no worse of it) of the administration. I shall conclude this letter by saying, and thinking till I am better informed, that the late proclamation was an unwarrantable exertion of power, tending to mislead all judges and justices throughout England, and to put them upon imprisoning an Eng- lish subject contrary to law, and the rules of evidence, which make part of the law of this kingdom ; and therefore I for one ap- plaud the conduct of Mr Wilkes in this mstance. In another letter I .shall deliver my sentiments as to the proceedings of your Lordship, Mr Alderman Oliver, and Mr Ald(;rman Wilkes, when the messenger of the House of Commons was brought before you. I have forborce to take this business up on the same grounds that Mr Morris has done, as it wotild only be a repetition of what he has very judiciously before transmitted to the public.^ It is sufficient arrest of the printers, he thus addressed the chairman ; and it is to this speech the writer of the ?bove letter refers. ' Mr Chairman, ' The proclamation issued for apprehending the 47' MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS for me to say that I think he has sufficiently demonstrated the illegahty of the order of the House of Commons ; I only meant to give additional strength to his observations ; and if any man will coolly consider the whole case, argument will continually crowd upon his mind to evince the illegality and injustice of the order and royal proclama- tion. I am, My Lord and Gentlemen, Your most humble servant, G. \V. LETTER XCIV. For the Public Advertiser. 8 April, 1 77 1. to the right hon'. the lokd mayor of london, mr alderman oliver, and mr alderman wilkes. My Lord and Gentlemen, In my first letter I submitted nn- reasons why Mr Wilkes could not in his judicial capacity take notice of the order of tiie House of Commons, merely under the sanction of the royal proclam.ation. If I was right in that, it was totally immaterial whether the order of the House of Com- mons as to the printers was legal or illegal ; for in either case Mr Wilkes's conduct was agreeable to law. And in either case, the expunging of the proceedings taken laefore him, be it by what order it may, was a fla- grant violation of the law, and a very dan- gerous obstruction to the execution of printers is, on n 11 hands, I think, allowed to be .llegal. I do nut believe that there is in the wliole kingdom a lawyer's clerk, who does not know it to be equally repugnant to the spirit and letter of the law and the constitution. The Law, though not so well known, is as clear against commitments by the House of Commons. They have nothing to support their pretensions but their own vote, which certainly is not binding on anv but themselves ; an act of the three branches of the lesi>latiire being the only authority that i-;, besides the common law, acknowledged by England as valid. Matters being thus circum- stanced, I am sorry to find that such magistrates of London, as belong to this Society, do not afford protection to the printers, and rescue them criminal justice. I will next consider the subsequent proceedings as to the messen- ger of the House of Commons, who was brought before you, as magistrates of the city of London, and charged upon oath with having committed a breach of the peace, in assaulting and imprisoning one of your citizens. The messenger justified the fact under a warrant signed by the speaker of the House of Commons, which I shall state more particularly hereafter, but at present it is not necessary. This justification necessarily brought the validity of the speaker's warrant collater- ally in question before you. Some people, who have in general ai")plauded your con- duct in this business, have said that you went too far in signing a warrant of com- mitment of the messenger, and in obliging him to give bail. As you deemed the speaker's warrant illegal, you could not do otherwise ; it was the necessary conse- quence and judgment upon the complaint before you. You would have been guilty of a breach of duty, as magistrates, if you had adjudged the messenger guilty of a breach of peace, and not have committed him, or bound him over to answer the offence in a due course of law. One of the greatest privileges assumed by either House of par- liament, is that of having their privileges (as they caU them) examined and inquired into in their own Houses only. And if this can be established as the law of England, any subject may be deprived of his life, liberty, and property, by an arbitrary vote of eithet House, under the name of privi- fiom lawless violence. My concern for this neglect, this fear, or this tergiversation, is the greater, that, if the officers of the House of Commons, or any other person but a minister of this city properly authorized, takes these ob- noxious men into custodj', the riglits of the city are violated ; it being legally impossible for king, lords, and commons, to seize any citizen of Lon- don without the consent of its own magistrates. Were they even to make an act for that purpose, it could not have any force ; because the act made in favour of the city, in the reign of Wil- liam and Mary, ought to be considered as a constitution, and as irreversible as ALigna Charta: for indeed it is the Magna Cliarta of the city.' — Edit. MISCELL.\XEOUS LETTERS OF JUXIU 1 477 I lege of parliament. It ^viH be said that this is a foreign presumption, and that we can- not suppose that those respectable charac- ters in the Houses of parliament would invade the liberties of the people. I must own I think from som^i late exertions, there is no room left for presumptions ; but be that as it may, I think the liberties of England ought to stand upon a more solid basis than presumptions, or the arbitrary voice of one branch of tlie legislature only. The rases to prove that the assumed privileges of either House of parliament are not examinable elsewhere than in their own Houses, are lord Shaftsbury's case, 29 Car. H. in B. R. The Queen v. Paty & alias, 3 Ann. in B. R., and tlie Hon. Alexander Mur- ray's case, 24 Geo. H. in B. R. In all cases adjudged upon constitutional points, regard should be had to the temper of the times when they happened, and the characters, connexions, jtnd dependencies of the judges. If these circumstances be attended to in lord Shaftsbury's case, I am very sure it will be found to be a precedent of no weight or authority. Lord Shaftsbury was a man exceedingly obnoxious to king Charles the Second, having in the House of Lords violently opposed that arbitrary prince, and his attempts to introduce Popery into this kingdom. The king's de- signs were no secret ; and the independent members in the House of Commons had meditated means to prevent the execution of them. The king, to frustrate this, pro- rogued the parliament for fifteen months within a few days, being the longest proro- gation which had been then known. The king had also found means, by pensioning many of the members of tlie Lower House, to gain a considerable influence in it ; and the dissolution of parliament was then (as it is now) a thing earnestly to be sought for. Upon the meeting of the parliament, after this long prorogation, a question was pro- pounded in the House of Lords by the country party, whether it was not actually disbolved. l>ord Shaftsbury, and others of that party, argued and maintained upon an old statute of king Edward the Third, then in force, which directed that the king should call a parliament once a year, or oftener if need should be, that the par- liament was actually dissolved ; but the court party strenuously opposed this, knowing that the eyes of the people were opened, and that a new parliament would not be favourable to the king's designs. This question had made a great noise in the kingdom, and by way of silencing the people, the king's party in the House of Ix)rds voted lord Shaftsbur}-, lord Salis- bury, and lord Wharton, who had main- tained that the parliament was dissolved, guilty of a contempt of that House, and sent them to the Tower : that they were sent to the Tower to gratify the king's vengeance is apparent from the words of the warrant of commitment, for it directs them to be kept in safe custody during his Majesfy's plea- sure, and the pleasure of the House, for their high contempt committed against that House. Lord Salisbury and lord Wharton submitted to the House, and were discharged ; lord Shaftsbury at first refused it, and sued out his Habeas Corpus, and was brought before the King's Bench with the warrant of his commitment. The warrant was glaringly illegal and unconstitutional, and seems to be admitted by all the judges in that case to be so, par- ticularly, Wylde, justice, said, the return no doubt was illegal. Tliis was a critical case : in fact, it was the king's cause, and the judges to determine it at that time lield their otifices during the pleasure of the crown, so that they were reduced to an awkward dilemma ; however, they found means to extricate themselves from it by determining, that though the commitment was illegal, they could not examine into it, and so lord Shaftsbury was remanded ; and the three puisne judges on the case of the Queen v. Paty & alias, as also the judges in Mr Murray's case, seem implicitly to have followed the determination in lord Shaftsbury's case, and therefore if that determination be overthrown, the other two must sink of course. In the case of the Queen v. Paty & alias, 3 Ann , the defend- 470 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS ants having been committed to Newgate by a warrant of tlie speaker of tlie House of Commons, signed Robert ILirley, ! speaker (a fatal name to liberty), were : brought by ILibeas Corpus into the Queen's Bench, and prayed to be dis- charged upon the illegality of tlie commit- ment. The three puisne judges refused to interfere upon the authority of lord Shafts- bury's case, and tlie prisoners were re- manded, contrary to the opinion of lord chief justice Holt, one of the ablest judges that ever presided in that court. He was of opinion, that what the House had called a breach of privilege was not a breach of pri- vilege, nor could their judgment make it so, nor conclude that court from determin- ing contrary ; and he says, ' When the House of Commons exceed their legal bounds and authority, their acts are wrong- ful, and cannot be justified more than the acts of private men : that there was no question but their authority is from the law, and as it is circumscribed, so it may be exceeded. To say they are judges of their own privilege and their own author- ity, and nobody else, is to make their pri- vileges to be as they would have them. If there be a wrongful imprisonment by the House of Commons, what court shall de- liver the party ? Shall we say there is no re- dress ; and that we are not able to execute those laws upon v/hich the liberty of the (Jueen's people subsists ? To conclude, all courts are so far judges of their own privi- leges, and entrusted with a power to vindi- cate themselves, that they may punish for contempts ; but to make them, or any court, final judges of them, exclusive of every- body else, is to introduce a state of confu- sion, by making every man judge in his own cause, and subverting the measures of all jurisdictions.' What says another learned lawyer, Mr Serjeant Hawkins, in his Pleas of the Crown, p. no? — In com- menting upon lord Shaftsbury's case, he says, ' But if it be demanded in case a sub- ject should be committed by either of those Houses for a matter manifestly out of their jurisdiction, what remedy can he liave ? I answer, that it cannot well be imagined that the law, which favour's nothing more than the liberty of tlie subject, should give us a remedy against commitments by the king himself, appearing to be illegal, and yet give us no manner of redress against a commitment by our fellow-subjects, equally appearing to be unwarranted.' To this I may add the dictum of the present speaker of the House of Commons when counsel, ^ who is reported to liave said, that had he the honour to preside in any court of just- ice, he should no more regard the resolu- tions of that House, than the resolutions of a set of drunken porters. Some apology may be made for the judges in the case of the Queen v. Paty & alias. 'J'liey might connive at a stretch of power in the House of Commons, for fear of weakening the dignity and independence of the House : and if ever that can be justifiable, it was so then, because the House was truly honour- able and independent ; for no placenian or pensioner was then capable of sitting in tliat House, ^''ery different is it at this time: the House swarms with placemen and pen- sioners, and the people want a barrier to guard them from the invasions of their own representatives. But if such a dangerous position is to be established as that, though the order of the House be apparently illegal, no court or magistrate can give redress, a door will be opened through the House of Commons to elude all those excellent laws which our ancestors have procured for the preserva- tion of our liberties, and to overturn the fundamental principles of the constitution. But let us hope that by such weak author- ities as the three cases cited, the liberties of England are not to be determined. In an- other letter I will trouble you with my senti- ments upon the ])rivileges of the House of Commons, and the warrant of commitment.'-' I am, My Lord and Gentlemen, Your most humble servant, G. \V. * Sir I'lctcher Norton. — Edit. - This promised letter did not appear, thong}- MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 479 LETTER XCV. TO THE PRrXTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVEKTISER. Sir, 9 April, 1771. The arguments used in defence of tlie late proceedings of the House of Com- mons would have a considerable weight with me, if I could persuade myself that the present House of Commons were really in that independent state in which the con- stitution meant to place them. If I could be satisfied that their resolutions were not previously determined in the king's cabinet, that no personal resentment was to be gratified, nor any ministenal purpose to be answered, under pretence of asserting their privileges, I own I should be very unwilling to raise or encourage any question between the strict right of the subject, and that dis- cretionary power which our representatives have assumed by degrees, and which, until of late years, they have very seldom abused. While the House of Commons form a real representation of the people, while they preserve their place in the constitution, distinct from the Lords, and independent of the same subject is pursued in the following letter, as well as under the more dignified signa- ture of Junius, and occurs in the letters with this subscription. No. XLIV. To the arguments and opinions both there and here cited upon the authority of royal proclama- tions, and powers or privileges of parliament, the editor will, on this occasion, take the liberty of adding the following decision on the same point by that great and constitutional judge, lord chief justice Holt. ' In the reign of queen Aime, in 1704, several freemen of the borough of Aylesbury had been refused the liberty of voting at an election for a member of parliament, though they proved their qualifications as such : the law in this case im- poses a fine on the returning officer of ;^ioo for every such offence. On this principle they ap- plied to lord chief justice Holt, who desired the officer to be arrested. The Hoase of Commons, alarmed at this step, made an order of their House to make it penal for either judge, counsel, or attorney, to assist at the trial ; however, the lord chief justice, and several lawj-ers, were hardy enough to oppose this order, and brought it on in tlie King's Bench. The House, highly irritated at this contempt of their orders, sent a Serjeant at arms for the iudge to appear before them ; but that resolute defender of the laws the crown, I think to contend with them about the limits of their privileges would be contending with ourselves^ But the question will be materially altered, if it should appear that instead of preserving the due balance of the constitution, they have thrown their whole weight into the I same scale with the crown, and that their j privileges, instead of forming a barrier j against the encroachments of the other ' branches of the legislature, are made sub- ■ servient to the views of the sovereign, and employed, under the direction of the j minister, in the persecution of individuals, and the oppression of the people. In this j case it would be the duty of every hon- est man to stand strictly to his right ; — to question every act of such a House of Commons with jealousy and suspicion, and wherever their pretended privileges trenched upon the known laws of the land, in the minutest instance, to resist them with a determined and scrupulous exactness. To ascertain the fact, we need only consider in what manner parliaments have been managed since his Majesty's accession. He found this country in that state of perfect union and happiness which good bade him, with a voice of authority, begone : on which they sent a second message bj' their speaker, attended by as many members as espoused the measure. After the speaker had delivered his message, his Lordship replied to him in these remarkable words : " Go back to your chair, j\Ir Speaker, within these five minutes, or 3-ou may depend on't I'll send you to Newgate : you speak of your authority, but I tell you I sit here as an interpreter of the laws, and a distri- butor of justice, and, were the whole House of Commons in your belly, I will not stir one foot." The Speaker w-a^s prudent enough to retire, and the House were equally prudent to let the affair drop.' — Edit. ^ The necessity of securing tho House of Commons against the king's power, so that no interruption might be given either to the attend- ance of the members in parliament, or to the freedom of debate, was the foundation of parlia- mentary privilege ; and we may observe in all the addresses of new appointed speakers to the sovereign, the utmost privilege they demand is liberty of speech and freedom from arrest?. The verj- word privilege means no more tha". . immu- nity, or a safeguard to the party who possesses it, and can never be construed into an active power of invading the rights of others. 4So MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. government naturally produces, and which a bad one has destroyed. He promised to abolish all distinctions of party, and kept liis word by declaring lord Bute liis favour- ite and minister, by proscribing the whole Whig interest of England, and by filling every place of trust and profit under his government with professed Tories, notorious Jacobites, and Scotchmen of all denomina- tions. Ke abolished no distinctions but vote above-mentioned, and when they w ere called upon to support that enormous vio- lation of all law, truth, and reason, which was perpetrated by the House of Com- mons in the case of tlie Middlesex election, they gave up that reciprocal check and controul by which the balance between the three estates can alone be preserved, and were content to buiy their own privileges under the I'uins of the constitution. — The those which are essential to the safety of the ' influence of the crown over the resolutions constitution. King, Lords, and Commons, I of both Houses continues to operate with which should for ever stand clear of each { equal force, though now it assumes a differ- other, were soon melted down into one I cut appearance. The liberty of the press, common m.ass of power, while equal care besides giving a daily personal offence to was taken to draw a line of separation I the Princess of Wales, must always be between the legislature and the people, and ' formidable, therefore always odious, to such more particularly between the representative ! a government as the present. Prosecutions and the constituent body of the commons. The Lower House distinguished them- selves by an eager compliance with every measure that could be supposed to gratify the king personally, or to humour the vin- had been attempted without success. The privilege of parliament which had been so shamefully surrendered to answer one min- isterial purpose, must now be as violently asserted to answer another. [The ministry dictive passions of his royal mother. [When are of a sudden grown wonderfully careful Mr Wilkes was to be punished, they made of piivileges which their predecessors were no scruple about the privileges of parlia- ment ; and although it was as well known as any matter of public recoid and uninter- rupted custom could be, f/i<7l i/u vicmbcrs of either House are privileged, except in case of treason, felony, or breach of the peace, they declared without hesitation that privilege of parlianient did not extend to the case of a seditions libel ; and undoubt- edly they would have done the same if Mr Wilkes had been prosecuted for any other misdemeanour whatsoever.] It was upon that occasion that sir Fletcher Norton, the patron of privilege, declared in the House, that, if he were a judge in Westminster Hall, he should regard a vote of the House of Commons no more than a resolution of a company of drunken porters. — To show us his politeness, lie preserves his style ; — to show us his morality," he changes his opinion. The House of Lords have not been less pliant in surrendering the rights of the peerage, whenever it has suited the purposes of the cabinet. The}^ joined heartily in the as ready to in\ade. The known laws of the land, the rights of the subject, the sanctity of charters, and the reverence due to our magistrates, must all give way, with- out question or resistance, to a privilege of which no man knows either the origin or the extent. The Hou.se of Commons judge of their own privileges without appeal: — they may take offence at the most innocent action, and imprison the person, who offends them, during their arbitrary will and pleasure. The party has no remedy ; — he cannot appeal from their jurisdiction ; and if he questions the privilege, which he is supposed to have violated, it becomes an aggravation of his offence. Surely, Sir, this doctrine is not to be found in Magna Charta. If it be admitted without limit- ation, I affirm that there is neither law nor liberty in this kingdom. We are the slaves of the House of Commons, and, through them, we are the slaves of the king and his ministers.] The mode in which the House have pro- ceeded against the city magistrates can MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 481 neither be reconciled to natural justice, nor even to the common forms of decency. — They begin with shutting their doors against all j-/r.?//^v/-j-, the usual name by which they describe their constituents. Some of their debates appear in the public papers. The offence, if any, is certainly not a new- one. We have the debates as regularly preserved as the journals of parliament ;i nor can there be any honest reason for concealing them. Mr Onslow however thinks it necessary to persecute the press, and the House of Commons is mean enough to take part in his caprices. Lord North, who had so lately rewarded the reverend Mr Scott with the best living in the king's gift, for heaping invectives equally dull and virulent upon some of the most respectable characters in the kingdom, is now shame- less enough to support a motion against the liberty of the press with the whole in- fluence of the crown. [That their practice might be every way conformable to their principles, the House proceeded to advise the crown to publish a proclamation uni- versally acknowledged to be illegal. Mr Moreton publicly protested against it before it was issued ; and lord Mansfield, though not scrupulous to an extreme, speaks of it with horror. It is remarkable enough that the very men who advised the proclamation, and who hear it arraigned every day both within doors and without, are not daring enough to utter one word in its defence, nor have they ventured to take the least notice of Mr Wilkes for discharging the persons apprehended under it.] The pretended trial of the lord mayor and Mr Oliver resembled the dark business of a Spanish inquisition, rather than the fair proceedings of an English court of judicature. These gentlemen, as magis- trates, had nothing to regard but the obli- * Grey's Collection of Debates, in ten volumes, was published under the direction of the late Arthur Onslow, Esq. - I'he following is a copy of the minutes of the House of Commons, of March 20, 1771, here referred to. ' That James Morgan, clerk of the lord mayor, do at the table expunge the minutes taken before the lord mayor, relative to the messenger of this gation of tlicir oaths, and the execution of the laws. If they were convinced that the speaker's warrant was not a legal authority to the messenger, it necessarily followed that, when he was charged upon oath with a breach of the peace, they w//i/hold him to bail. They had no option. Yet how have they been treated? Their judges had been partially summoned, by Treasury mandates, pressing attendance, and demanding a vote of condemnation. They were tried and condemned at midnight, without being heard, by themselves or their counsel, on the only point on which their jtistification could possibly depend. — In short, Sir, a question, strictly of jurisdiction, was re- ferred to numbers, and carried like a com- mon ministerial measure. Their ne.\t step was to force the lord mayor's clerk, by the terror of a prison, to erase the record of a judicial proceeding, held regularly before the chief magistrate of the city. Lord North himself made the motion, and de- clared that the constitution could not be safe, until it was carried into effect. They then resolved that all prosecutions for the assault (which, though charged upon oath, they call a pretended one) should be stopped. I w ish that grave and sober men would consider, independently of the other questions before us, how far this particular precedent may extend. If the House of Commons may interpose, in a single in- stance, between the subject, who complains, and the laws, which ought to protect, I see no reason why they may not, at any time, by their vote, stop the whole course of justice through the kingdom. Besides the injury done to the subject, their granting a /w/i p7-osequi is in effect an encroachment upon the royal prerogative.- Many circumstances of insult have been mixed with these measures of violence. — House, giving &:;curity for his appearance at the next general quarter-sessions of the peace ; and he accordingly at the table expunged the same. ' Motion made, and question proposed, ' That no other prosecution, suit, or proceed- ing, be commenced, or carried on, for, or on account of, the said pretended assault, or false imprisonment. It passed in the affirmative.' — Edit. 482 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUXIU Their pretended lenity to the lord mayor, • wliich he nobly refused to accept of, , amounted only to an offer of the garrets of j the House for the place of his confinement instead of the Tower ; and, though it be of less moment, it is still worth observing, that the indignity offered to the city is ' nggravated by the time expressly chosen for imprisoning their chief magistrate. Not content with interrupting all city business, ihey fixed upon Easter, because it is the chief city festival, and found a contemptible gratification in putting a stop to the amuse- ments usual at this season, and depriving a public chanty of the customary collection.-3, which they knew must be reduced to no- thing by the absence of the lord mayor. Nothing remained but to keep up a terror and alarm through the kingdom by ap- pointing committees of inquiry. This double star-chamber was moved for long after midnight, and lists partially sent round by the messengers of the Treasury. — Where will these arbitrary, iniquitous pro- ceedings end? The ministry, I doubt not, have a plan prepared, but it is such a one, as they neither dare openly avow, nor uniformly adhere to. One day they appoint committees of inquisition to sit de die in diem /—the next thing we hear is that the committees are adjourned, and the mem- bers of them dispersed into the country. — After advising the king, very unnecessarily, to go to parliament, they come to him, while his equipage is in waiting, contradict ^ The passages in this letter which are placed within brackets, are retranscribed by the author, and added as notes to his Letter XLIV., pub- lished in his own edition under the signature of J r NILS, where the reader will still find them. 'I'he messengers were indicted in defiance of the resolutions of the House of Commons, and true bills were found against them, but further proceedings were stopped by the attorney-gen- eral entering a 7ioli prosequi. As the arguments urged by INIr Adair, who was of counsel for the printers, on siiowing cause against this measure, are extremely curious, and not generally known, we shall subjoin them for the information of the reader, and for the better elucidation of this and other letters upon the subject of this important dispute. Mr Adair, in pursuance of notice, attended the attorney-general, Mr De Grey, on the 17th of May, 1771, and after the indictment and an t*«eir own advice, and endeavour to stagger his resolution, at the moment when he has most occasion for it. They alone are answerable for all the indignities heaped upon the king's person, since they could not but foresee, that the people would take the earliest opportunity of resenting the imprisonment of their magistrates. When the Princess of Wales was named in the House of Commons, where was that zeal which some people boast of for their royal master ? The mother of their sovereign was branded by name, as the authoress of all our calamities, and the assertion passed without censure or contra- diction. Sir, I most truly lament the condition to which we are reduced ; and the more so, because there is but one remedy for it, and that remedy has been repeatedly refused. — A dissolution of the parliament would re- store tranquillity to the people, and to the king the affections of his subjects : the pre- sent House of Commons have nothing to expect but contempt, detestation, and re- sistance. This violent state of things can- not long continue. Either the laws and constitution must be preserved by a dread- ful appeal to the sword ; or (what probably is intended by the present system of mea- sures), the people will grow weary of their condition, and surrender every thing into the king's hands, rather than submit to be trainpled upon any longer by five hundred of their equals. A WHIG.i affidavit of the defendant had been read, spoke as follows : — ' It requires no arguments to show, that though the entering a 7ioli prosequi on prosecutions at the suit of the king only, is an undoubted prero- gative of the crown ; yet like all other preio- gatives, it is intended for the general good of the subject, and not for the hindrance or interruption of public justice. ' It is indeed a discretionary- power, but it is to be exercised not according to an arbitrary but a sound and legal discretion. It is for this reason, Sir, that it is not left to the wanton caprice of a favourite, or the arbitrary will of a minister, to be executed at pleasure, but it is deposited as a public trust in the hands of the attornej'-general, that the exercise of it may be directed by his knowledge of the laws and constitution of the kingdom. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUXIL' 483 LETTER XCVL ror the Public Advertiser. 15 April, 1 77 1. Tge, I cannot help giving to them what I owe on this occasion, which, had I only considered the gratification of a passion, I hardly be thought a fit object of the roj-al favour ' and protection : but if we view him in the light \ in which he has thought proper to place himself I by his own affidavit, he will be found, if possible, still less entitled to that exertion of prerogative I for which he has applied. He tells you. Sir, 1 that he is a messenger of the House of Commons ; 1 that in that character, and acting under the I express orders and authority of that House, he I did the fact with which he is charged in the indictment. Does he mean, Sir, that you should 1 consider this as a reason for granting a 7ioli pro- ] sequi ? When was it heard before that an exer- I tion of prerogative was necessarj' to support the ; authority and privileges of the House of Com- mons? When was that House known to sue to the servants of the crown to screen their officers from the laws, or protect them from the indignation of an inconsiderable printer ? ' I believe when any of their privileges have been really invaded, they have never been found wanting either in power or inclination to sup- port them ; and I am satisfied that if the House were now sitting, Mr Whittam would not have dared to make an application so manifestly tend- ing to expose their privileges and authority to ridicule and contempt. But, Sir, I am persuaded that the honour and dignity of the House of Commons are safe in j-our hands, and that you will suffer no act to proceed from you that can throw even an oblique imputation upon them. 'If there is for these reasons nothing in Mr Whitlam's personal situation, or circumstances, which can entitle him to an extraordinary inter- position in his favour, it remains only to be con- sidered whether any motive can be suggested from the subject-matter of the prosecution to in- duce you to put a stop to it by an exertion of the royal prerogative. 'The charge set forth in the indictment, and not denied by the defendant's affidavit, is for assaulting and imprisoning the prosecutor, Mr I Miller. It will not be contended that there ap- I pears any thing upon the face of the indictment j oppressive, illegal, unfit to come before a court of justice, or which aft'ords any motive whatso- I ever for granting the noli proseqiii ; the reason, ! therefore, if any, must arise from the matters set forth by the defendant's affidavit. The affidavit { states, that the defendant is one of the mes- 1 sengers of the House of Commons ; that the speaker's warrant for apprehending the pro??. I cutor was issued by order of the House, and that, ' in consequence thereof, the defendant, to whom , the warrant was delivered, did make tLj arrest 484 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. should have sooner done. I own I now do it with some distrust of my own abilities, with which he is charged in the indictment, and that lie used no violence in so doing, other than seizing Mr Miller by the arm as is usual in ancsts. ' I apprehend it is not incumbent upon me here to consider, as I submit it is not competent for you, Sir, to determine in this summary manner, whether the matters here set forth do or do not amount to a good defence, or legal justification. We are not now to try the cause ; but you. Sir, I am confident, will not interpose the prerogative of the king to prevent our trying it in the regu- lar course before the proper jurisdiction, unless the prosecution, as it now appears before you, is so clearly and manifestly groundless, and unfit for discussion in a court of law, that it would be an abuse and mockery of public justice to bring it to a trial. If the authority under which Mr Whittana alleges himself to have acted, was not competent to authorize the fact which he com- mitted, or if that authority never was in fact delegated to him, in either of those cases the prosecution is well foimded in law. If any doubt or question can be raised on either of these points, it is not so clearly groundless as to justify the putting a stop to it by prerogative, before those questions are legally determined. ' It might well be questioned, whether the House of Commons has any power, by the laws or constitution of this kingdom, to authorize the issuing of such a warrant as that under colour of which Mr Miller was apprehended. 'It might be said, and supported too by the greatest authorities, that they cannot by any act of theirs singly, create any new power or privi- lege to themselves. That there was a time when they evidently neither possessed nor claimed any such power as that in question ; and when the authority of an act of parliament was thought necessary to punish even so undeniable a breach of privilege, as the assaulting the person of a member attending upon his duty in parliament. The statute. Sir, which I here allude to, is the nth of H. VI. c. II, which was made to extend the provisions of 5tii H. IV. c. 6, for punishment of assaults on the servants of members of parlia- ment when attending on their masters in their duty, to the persons of the members themselves. It might be urged, that the power in question has never been given them by any act of parlia- ment, and that if there ever was a time when they did not possess it, they can by no other means have' legally acquired it. All this and much more might be said, if it were necessary to dispute the authority of the House of Commons to issue the warrant for the commitment of Mr IMiller ; but it is sufficient for me at present to contend, that whether they had or had not the power, they never did in fact give the defendant any authority whatsoever to make the arrest in question. ' Tlie warrant. Sir, under colour of which Mr Whittam acted, is a warrant purporting to be issued in pursuance of an order of the House of in doing justice to the undertaking. Your Lordship must be aware that it is generally Commons, and signed Fletcher Norton, speaker. But, Sir, the order of the House, as it is recited in the warrant itself, is for taking Mr Miller into the custody of the serjeant at arms, or his deputy ; and Mr Whittam is de»cribed in the I direction of the very same warrant to be neither ; the one nor the other of these. No authority whatsoever can be conveyed to j\Ir Whittam bj' virtue of an order, in which he is not named, and I which particularly points out certain persons, in contradiction from ail others- This warrant, therefore ^so far as it relates to Mr Whittam\, appears to be issued by the speaker, merely of his own autb.ority, unauthorized by any order of tlie House of Commons. Has the speaker any power to commit, unless he derives it from the orders of the House ? If he has not, which must be granted, he is bound strictly and literally to pursue that order which creates his authority : : as far as he exceeds it, he acts without authority ' himself, and most clearly can convey none to any , other person. Mr Whittam therefore, in this , case, acting without 'any legal authority what- , ever, in the arrest of the prosecutor, a pros^cu- I tion grounded upon that cannot be considered as I totally void of foundation. But supposing for a moment that the prosecution was frivolous and I ill-grounded, I submit that that alone would not J be a reason for the extraordinary interposition , of the crown. If it would in this case, it must in j every other ; every defendant who fancied him- self unjustly prosecuted would apply for protec- tion to the crown ; and almost every indictment ! must first be tried by the attorney-general before it could come regularly into a court of justice. I presume you will conceive it was not for these purposes that this prerogative was vested in your hands ; and that there must appear some strong reasons peculiar to the case to show why it is improper and unfit for public discussion, besides merely that of the prosecution being ill-grounded, to induce you to make this extraordinary inter- position. I submit to you, Sir, with great defer- ence, that there appears no such reasons in this case. Every motive of policy and prudence seems to weigh on the other side. The question to be tried is the most important that can well be conceived. The privileges of the House of Com- mons on the one side, and the liberties of the people of England on the other, are said to be ma- terially affected. Perhaps indeed it might have been wished that this great question had never been started, or brought to the public view, by issuing the warrant in question. But when it has been already so much agitated, and has engross- ed the attention of the public, it seems neces- sary, for the satisfaction and quiet of the king- dom, that it should proceed to a solemn and legal determination in a court of justice. If, therefore. Sir, the House of Commons had no authority by law to] authorize Mr Whittam to make the arrest upon the prosecutor, or if, in j fact, no authority was delegated to him, in either of these cases he has illegally assaulted an MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS 485 a matter of some degree of delicacy to un- dertake the discussion of any part or sys- innocent man, and deprived him of his Hberty ; and the entering a uoli prosequi would be an obstruction of public justice. If on the other hand the Hou>e of Conunons liad a legal author- ity, and regularly delegated the execution of it to Mr W'hittam, the public should be convinced of it by a discussion and determination in a court of law ; and the granting the noli prosequi in that case, would tend to mislead many people into an opinion that it was dnne to screen an oflender from the laws, who had no legal ju>titi- cation in a court of justice : I therefore submit to you. Sir. for these reasons, that you, as attor- ney-general, will not think proper in this case to I grant a twii prosequi.' j Jlr Attnriuy-deiu-raL 'Do you produce any evidence '; ' Mr Adair. 'We oft'er no other evidence than what appears in the affidavit of the defend- ant himself and the warrant to which it refers.' Mr Attoriiey-Ceiieral. ' Vou are extremely right in this, that it is not at all a tit thing for the attorney-general to try either the fact upon which the defendant is indicted, or to determine the law. The only question is this, whether it is fit for the king to interpose as the pro>ecutor of this oft'ence ? That, I take it, should be the groimd of your argument, and the point upon which I expected satisfaction. The affidavit itself states the messenger of the House of Com- mons to be acting under the authority of the House of Commons ; and if this was the only way in which that question could be brought before a court of law, I should be obliged to give an opinion whether it ought, or whether it ought not. ' The only point I have to consider is, whether it be fit for the name of the crown to appear in prosecuting one who appears to be the mes- senger of the House of Commons, and to be ! armed by the authority of that House for doing ! the very thing he has done under the orders of I the House ? I don't mean to pass over the ob- jection which has been made, that the speaker of the House, by orders of the House, directing the warrant to a person not named in such order, whether that order extends only to arrest- ing the prosecutor, and taking him into the custody of the serjeant at arms, or his deputy : I dare say I take Mr Adair's objection perfectly right ; the order of the House is for taking him into the custody of the serjeant at arms, nor his deputy ; and the objection is, that the person in whose custody the prosecutor was originally taken, is neither the serjeant at arms, nor his deputy ; and the doubt you raise upon it is, whether the speaker of the House of Commons can authorize another person to arrest and bring him into the custody of the serjeant at arms, or his deputy; for the serjeant at arms, nor his deputy, is the proper and the only custody I know of belonging to the House, and the gentle- man's argument is, that in point of the arrest it cannot be made without the serjeant, or deputy teni of politics, as it is of some ditticulty to avoid the share of imputations wliich are serjeant, with respect to the orders of the House of Commons, and the direction of the warrant by the Speaker, which is a ijucstion of law to be hure. It has been constant in point of practice for the messengers to be employed jn the : orders of the House, and for other than mes- sengers to be employed) upon the very same ; occasion. There is nothing so constant as the [ mes>engers all to be employed : there are some \ few instances where more than the messengers . have been employed upon these occasions. I The difficulty upon it was, whether they should ' or not be inserted in the warrant ; or whether, 1 if they were not inserted in the warrant, it I could be construed under the general dcscrip- , tion of the Serjeant at arms, or his deputy ; or i whether that authority could go to warrant those which might be appointed by the serjeant at I arms, or his deputy, upon that occasion. It was thought more proper to make a warrant directed I to the person to be employed, though it was I mentioned in the orders of the House tliat the I custody vvas to be that of the serjeant at arms, : or his deputy, according to the usual form of their orders. ! ' But the only point for me to consider is, how • far it is fit the king should be the prosecutor of a ser%-ant of the House of Commons, in the execu- I tion of a privilege which they now claim, which they have claimed for ages, and have been in the I possession of for ages, and that the king should [ be brought into a proceeding against the servant ! of the House as a prosecutor. The noli prosequi is called a prerogative right of the crown ; it j amounts to no more than this, that the king makes his election whether he will continue or not to be the prosecutor upon an indictment, and j the noli prosequi is entered in the same words in I case of the crown as of a private person. The entry upon the record is exactly the same by the ' attorney-general as by a private plaintiff upon , record in any civil suit. ' I did expect that j'ou would have given me some reason for entertaining an opinion, that it was decent and fit for the crown to continue and stand forth as a prosecutor of the messenger of the House of Commons, acting under their di- rection, in maintenance of a privilege they have , claimed and held so long. That is the only point I put it upon. The affidavit, as made bv the defendant, makes it necessary to consider him as an officer of the House. ' I did not indeed expect any disputes upon it, or that it would be put upon so small a ground : the reason I expected was, that it was becoming an officer of the crown, in the name of the crown, to continue a prosecution by the crown, against the messenger of the House of Commons, acting I under the authority of the House of Commons.' ] Mr Adair expressing a doubt whether it would j be proper for him to make anj' reply to this, the I attorney-general said he should be glad to hear I him. Mr Adair. ' With regard to what you have 486 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. indiiCiiminatcly thrown on all who submit '.heir anonymous opinions to the public. Though these reproaches may fall on those whose names would give some credit to their assertions, yet while they adopt the common method of hirelings, their writings must expect the same treatment. With whatever circumstances any object of my notice might be attended, I should e.xpect criticism, and I hope I could bear it with temper. I cannot however help consider- ing it as a lucky circumstance, that the first production I ever ventured to give to th.c public, excludes the possibility of any im- putation, as the actions I shall condemn admit not the possibility of defence. Be- fore I arraign your subsequent conduct, suggested, it is true the entry upon record i.s the same in the case of the crown as of a private person ; yet in a prosecution by indictment the crown is not solely concerned. To make the case exactly similar, it should be an information I'.v officio, or any other really and truly a crown prosecution, and then the entering noli prosequi upon that, would be the .same as upon private actions, but in the case of indictments, the king being in fact a nominal prosecutor, though his name is necessarj', yet the injured party being the true prosecutor ^who applies to the laws of liis country for justice against the offender, who h.as violated those laws and particularly injured him', if in that case the king puts a stop to the prosecution, by withdrav.iug his name from it, it is the same in effect, though not in form, as if he sent his mandate, and said that prosecution should not go on ; because if he withdraws his name from it, that prosecution cannot, by the laws, go any further ; the prosecutor himself cannot proceed in his own name ; the withdraw- ing that name has the same effect as the actual interposition of prerogative by the attorney- general, and operates the same as a pardon. Mr Whittam being alleged to have acted under the authority of the House of Commons, to have had a warrant directed, to him : the question is not whether the warrant is legal or not, but whether it is proper for the crown to put a stop to that prosecution, and whether the privileges of the House of Commons being said to be concerned, any interposition of the crown be necessary to support their authority. If Whittam has acted in pursuance of the order of the House, if those onKjrs are such as the House has a competent autfiority to make, I submit that it cannot be a doubt that that matter pleaded or brought in a regular manner before a court of justice, would be a sufficient defence. If the courts of law are of opinion that the House has that authority, and that it was regularly delegated to Whittam, they would necessarily be of opinion to acquit him ; which I mean to do pretty freely, 1 must admire the simple candour with which you have declared yourself without principle. In the most destructive administrations, composed of men perhaps more profligate tlian your Lordship, care has generally been taken to save, in some measure, ap- pearances with the public ; and although the destruction of this constitution has been pretty clearly their object, they have never ventured openly to avow it : even the duke of Grafton did not condemn his own prin- ciples, though he avowed and gloried in such measures as r.o man \sith principle could undertake. Your Lordship is the first man who ever saved others the trouble of accusation. Your prot':?sts must rcniain and upon that ground there appears to be no necessity for the crown withdrawing itself from a prosecution, which by no possible means can prove oppressive or injurious to the defendant. If he has acted under a legal authority, he must be legally acquitted in a court of justice. But if the authority is not sufficient, or not regularly conveyed, it is proper, for the sake of justice, and the liberty of the subject, that judgment sliould be pronounced upon it in a court of law. I believe the prosecutor does not contend, that the defendant has been guilty of that kind of offence, for which he means to prosecute him with any rigour ; he don't mean to oppress him, or proceed for the sake of punishment only ; whether it is five pounds or five thou- .sand is indifferent to him ; the only thing he wishes is to have the question decided bj' a legal competent jurisdiction. If it comes regularly befire the court, though perhaps upon this in- dictment it could not, but if it does, the question is, whether the speaker of the House of Commons had a sufficient legal authority to authorize that arrest, or whether the defendant has actually acted under that authority, such as it was ; and I submit to your consideration, whether, upon that point, such interposition appears to be necessary in tliis case, either upon behalf of the defendant, or of the privilege of the House of Commons.' ]\Ir Atiori'.cy-Geiicral. 'I don't put it upon the tenderness to Mr Whittam, or the point of privilege of the House of Commons, but merely upon the foot of decency, as the circumstance of the crown taking a part in the prosecution (which they must do if they go on with it; against tlie messenger of the House of Commons, acting under the authority of the warrant of the speaker, pursuant to an order of the House.' Mr de Grey, the attorney-general, was after- wards chief justice of the Common Pleas, and Mr Adair, subsequently, recorder of London. — Edit. MISCELLAXEOCS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 4S7 to all posterity a monument of your infamy ; and one would almost imagine you design- ed they should. You are young, my Lord : you thought it was necessary for a man of fashion to engage in public business ; and as some of your private connexions happen- credit for the feelings it must produce ; I would therefore consider you, what you seem willing to be considered, an object of pity rather than of reproach. The situa- tion in which you appeared before a whole House of Peers, and the trial vou then ed to be in opposition, you went with the 1 underwent, might be an object of triumph stream, and opposed. Apparently attach- 1 to some men ; but I hope all hearts were ed to that party, you perhaps thought it a ! not shut to the feelings of compassion. I civility to adopt and pursue their measures, am willing only to extend reproach to those whatever they were, of opposition; and ' who seem proud of receiving it. The crim- your vanity was afterwards tickled with an I inal who is executed at tlie gallows otight offer from administration whicli your civility , not to excite the anger, much less the ex- would not permit you to refuse. You did , ultations, of the public, whom he has de- not reflect, or perhaps you did not know, | frauded ; but the villain who has seduced that you w as catching at an object which 1 him to the commission of the crime for was not attended even with the tisual ap- l which he suffers, and who glories in his pearance of honour ; and you did not then | impudence, has a claim to all we can give consider (for I am sure you must now re- collect), that you was attaching yourself to men from whose connexion that protest, which will now be transmitted down w ith ridicule to your posterity, ought to have excluded you for ever ; — or perhaps, to speak more fairly or more fashionably, you thought the force of such declarations was no longer of consequence, when the pur- pose was answered for which they were made.— These reasons are so much below a school-boy, that I am sure your Lordship would not be willing to allege them ; and if you have in the world a friend, he will not wish you should : but unhappily friend- ship is not one of those ruling objects which you have been solicitous to preserve, how- ever fortunate you w\z.y formerly have been la obtaining it. — The man who, without honour to support any administration from principle, has still craft enough to betray all, may perhaps be solicited by every suc- cessive minister, or perhaps their credulity may be deceived into his friendship ; but the poor untaught villain, who can neither support with consistency, nor betray with decency, will be despised by those whom he deserted, and ridiculed by the very men to whom he has made so capital a sur- render. Your Lordship, I believe, sees with some uneasiness the truth of die ob- servation, and 1 will give your conscience and your connexion w ith sucli men as lord him — our detestation and our curses. Tlie comparison I think you understand, and I believe you have sensibility enough to feel it ; indeed you testified it suf- ficiently to those who could observe you wished to justify, or at least to excuse, so extraordinary a change of principles and conduct ; your courage forsook you, and you did not dare to rise. The duke of. Grafton, when he deserted those prin- ciples and those connexions to which ever}' sentiment of honour ought to have allied and bound him. seemed happily to have lost all that mauvaise hoiitc with which ' young adventurers like his Grace were usually attended, and he creditably told us that he gloried in his situation. Your Lordship's prostitution was not attended with those peculiar circumstances which attended his ; you felt the sacrifice you had made, your conscience forced your silence, and eveiy man was confounded ; administration looked for a notable ad- vocate, but were deceived with a re- proach which cut them to the quick. For your own sake, my Lord, let me ad\ise you to consider your own plan, and let me appeal to your understanding for its acquittal. Your situation by birth is such as put it in your own power to have acquitted yourself in life respectably. 4S3 ^•ISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIU Rockingham, sir George Savillc, the duke of Portkmd, and the duke of Richmond, wci-e no disgrace to you. Was your fortune encumbered with debt, or sold through ex- travagance? Had you a numerous family to provide for, whose support you could not command from your own establish- ment? Had administration reversed its order of governing, and given you any security for the preservation of our rights and redress of our grievances ? — If any pri- vate assurance of this sort has been given you, I shall think your conduct has been consistent, though it will still be disgrace- ful, with respect to yoiu- friends in opposi- tion. You will not answer any of these questions in the affirmative ; nor is it necessary you should answer them at all. The two first propositions I know to be false. Tlie third, if it had existed, would before this time have been declared. Thus we see a hoi:>eful young peer, possessed of an independent fortune, wiih an only child, a daughter, connected with the most hon- ourable characters in this kingdom, prosti- tuting his honour, and every valuable con- sideration of the public, for that of an office, independent even of those sweet allure- ments which could, one would imagine, make the bitter pill go down. For shame, my Lord, to throw yourself away under such circumstances, at the discretion of such an administration ! Had you, like poor Whateley, been reduced from a state of in- dependence, to the humiliating necessity of soliciting your support from administra- tion, our reproach would be only turned against those who creditably took advan- j tage of such a situation, and gratified ! themselves with the purchase of an honest man's reputation ; and though we con- gratulated them on the acquisition which they had prudently secured, we should sin- cerely pity the object of their triumph. I [ arn neither surprised nor shocked at any inconsistency in Mr Wedderburne ; his profession sets his principles at auction, and it is reasonable that the highest bidder should command them : but that the earl of Suffolk should act such a part, I own astonibhed me ; a man who had every thing to lose, and nothing to gain by prostitu- tion : that an independent peer of England should voluntarily pledge himself to his country for the exertion of every right and every power, with which the constitution had vested him for their service, and should after this betray every interest of the pub- lic, and desert that service, that he should in one session repeatedly declare to this purport, if not to this tenor ; that he would never hereafter be induced, for any con- sideration, to herd with men whom lie considered as enemies to their king and country, and in the next deliver over his conscience, his right, and his powers into their hands at their discretion, and thereby include himself in every odious term of reproach which he had so liberally bestowed on them. There seems something at least extraordinary in such conduct ; and we are induced, with some curiosity, to enquire, for God's sake, Sir, from what considera- tion could lord Suffolk be induced to take so strong a part with opposition, if he intended the next session to betray it ? Or if he was then sincere in his attachments and his professions, what views could he have in deserting them ? These are reasonable, and I think natural, questions. We cannot but commiserate the mortifying state of human nature, when we are answered the truth, and informed of the circumstances attending it. Had you, my Lord, been entrapped, like poor Yorke, by the prevail- ing force wliich was contained in the per- sonal entreaties and solicitations of Majesty, and had your honour been seduced and struck into compliance, though we should abhor tlie act, we should acquit at least you of the guilt ; and you would have liad a just claim to our pity, unmixed with our contempt. But, iiiy Lord, what are we to say when we see a man in your Lordship's situation, stooping to so humiliating a con- sideration, as to entreat a connexion in ofifice with those very men whom you had before reviled and despised? That you should, after being answered with an air of superiority, that you was at least the third MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 489 to be considered ; that you should wait with patience and resignation, and see three men successively refuse such a coa- ncxion, and then accept it under such cir- cumstances. The conclusion which we are to draw, I leave to your Lordship's feelings to determine ; you have had time to reflect on your situation, and I would not wish to add more to embitter the sweets of office. Had this address appeared sooner while \-ou w as fortuiui diilci ebriiis, you would perhaps have laughed with lord Sandwich at the undertaking of one who endeavoured to prove, that honesty and virtue had any real existence. Vou would, like the duke of Grafton, have perused it at your tea-table, and perhaps taken a pride, like lord Hills- borough, that you was dignified with an enemy, though you had not, like him, pre- served a friend. But It think, my Lord, a sufficient time is elapsed, during which some intervals of private reflection and remorse must have interfered, and the flattery of those who purchased must have subsided, and left your conscience and Mr Grenville to reproach you. For I still believe you to consist of that composition, which, without virtue enough to avoid pros- titution, has still feeling enough to be ashamed of it. Yorkshire, 7 Man'h, 1771. HENRICUS. [This letter has been misplaced, or would have appeared sooner.] LETTER XCVII. TO THE EARL OF SUFFOLK. My Lord, 21 May, 1771. In my last address to your Lord- ship, I spoke to your feelings. I thought your conduct was such as could afford no very pleasing reflection ; and I readily be- lieved that you was willing to consider the tenderness which had been preserved on the occasion with that silent gratitude which refined and delicate feelings must naturally suggest. It was acknowledged that lord Suffolk acted without virtue or without reflection ; and I believe most men concurred with me in supposing that you had feeling enough to be ashamed of a transaction, which you had not courage to avoid. The resignation with which you seemed to submit to your ignominy was some pledge of your delicacy, if not of your integrity. You was pitied, I believe, by all mankind, and perhaps by some you were forgiven ; the transaction sunk, as it might be supposed you wished it should, in silence and obscurity. It was not, I believe, imagined that you would ever be found hardy enough to renew the consideration of an affair, which every man who felt for you must wish to be forgotten. It was not con- ceived that so short a time would have reconciled )0u to a measure, which no man of understanding could view without ridicule. But we live in an age where no inconsistency is irreconcilcable, and are go- verned by men with whom no villany is in- consistent. They have, I suppose, my Lord, made a convert of your understanding as well as your integrity, and you may be indebted to the piety of lord Sandwich for a system of ideas more conformable to the plan you have pursued. He may have taught you, that to repent of successful villany is still greater folly than to preserve integrity. I congratulate you on the con- nexion you have formed, and the acquisi- tion you have secured ; especially since you have lost nothing but your honour ; a term ' more adapted to Roman barbarism than to the civilized regulations of English (I beg pardon) Scotch policy.' — Your Lord- ship, I believe, recollects the inconsistency which occasions this address. Your speech on the duke of Richmond's motion in the House of Lords was a pretty remarkable adventure. — Had you contentedly and pro- fessedly resigned yourself without attempt- ing to reconcile your present with your former system, your conduct, believe me, would never have called out a second attack on so truly contemptible a being. It is the singular immodesty of your behaviour which I own has tempted me to expose you, as you are willing to be an object of public detest- 490 MISCLLLAXEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ation and disgust. There are few men, except Mr Wedderburne and your Lord- ship, who would have gone through the difficulty of exposing themselves to those who had such evidence against them, with that happy indifference which we have experienced from you both. To preserve the hypocrisy of patriotism, after you had openly made your compact with corrup- tion ; to profess consistency in adhering to the words of a protest, on the tenour of which your whole conduct is the grossest ridicule ; and to possess the characteristical firmness of administration in reviving so ignominious a consideration, requires more courage and intrepidity than most men have the good fortune to possess ; but I allow your friend Wedderburne has out- stripped you. He has modestly ventured not only virtually, but directly to attack opposition for measures which he himself concurred in promoting ; and hears liimself despised, execrated, detested, without fear, and without anger. Let him excuse me when I assure him, with some very allow- able pride, that I do not think he has a claim to any notice beyond my advice to consider, that the power from whence he derives very superior abilities, will expect and must receive an account to what pur- poses they have been employed. — You will now perhaps ask me, in all the hypocritical simplicity of St James's, what part had I to act, after making a traffic of my abilities. with decency, nor persevere wiih integrity ; but to have retired from the curses of your countrymen would have been remembered, I believe, more to your credit as a man, if not as a minister ; but I make too great allowance, I find, for human nature. I have not reflected that the only valuable consideration is interest ; and I have forgot that influence to which Mr Yorke is in- debted for a very hazardous eternity. — For the future I shall learn to view things with less cartdoiir, and observe villany, if not without mortification, at least without sur- prise. I shall now take my leave of your Lordship, probably for ever : but I must congratulate you, my Lord, on that ambi- tion which has led you to enquire into those desirable atxa/ia of a court, by whicii you have learned a sort of loyalty distinct from duty to his Majesty, or affection to his family ; by which you have found that it will be for your interest, and consequently for your honour, to attach yourself hereafter to men, who, while they act directly con- trary to the interest of their countrymen, and are indifferent with regard to their confidence or esteem, can hug themselves among the highest of mankind, and ridicule the contemptible folly of those whose virtue has excluded them from their share in the plunder of the public. IIEXKICUS. which might not have given offer justified before all mankind the protest which I had signed, and the pen of satire has been busy to condemn me. Had my conduct been different, would it have been consistent? Would it have been satisfac- tory? To this I must answer, — You had brought yourself, my Lord, into that odious situation, where you could neither retreat ^ The following is a copy of the card : — 19 June, 1771. TO DOMITIAN. In' your second letter is this remarkable pro- mise : — ' Tell the duke of Grafton, that, if he should dare to entertain the most distant thought of the Admiralty, the whole affair of nine's LETTER XCVHL to thi: printer of tiik public advi:rti.si:k. Sir, 28 June, i-ji. In answer to the card repeatedly addressed to Domiiiaii,^ he desires it may be observed that, although lie has not altered his sentiments with regard to the duke of Grafton, the case has not happened patent shall be revived, and published w ith an •accumulation of evidence. He at least shall be kept under. His Ciceronian eloquence shall not save him.' As the duke of Grafton has got an higher and more lucrative office, it is expected by the public that you now fiiljll yoji7- promise. — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF Ji:XIUS. 491 I in which he thinks himself bound either by the letter or the spirit of his promise to the public. The duke is not first lord of the Admiralty, 1 nor is he actually in any post in which patents can immediately be sold by himself ; or by Tommy Bradshaw, or by Miss Polly Bradshaw, who, like the moon, lives upon the light of her brother's counte- nance, and robs him of no small part of his lustre. — The fact was notorious. The sale of that patent to Mr Hine (the only man of merit whom the duke of Grafton ever provided for), so far from being denied, was publicly defended. Yet the House of Com- mons, who pretend to be the grand inquest of the nation, suffered this infamous breach of trust to pass by without censure or ex- amination. For the present, therefore, it would answer no good purpose for Doiiii- tian to produce his evidence. But perhaps the day of enquiry is not far oft". In the mean time, to show the duke that Domitian does not speak at random, he begs leave to remind his Grace that there are three such persons in the world as Ross, the agent, — Taylor, the house-builder, — and Taylor s little boy. — Verb urn sat. Domitian, upon the whole, thinks he may venture to leave the duke of Grafton, or (if there be one more odious, more base, and more contemptible person of rank in the kingdom), that he may safely leave them both to the care of JuxiL'S.- and names of the performers are changed, but the fable is the same. — I was led to this observation by a passage I lately met with in a modern French author. The account he gives us of the emperor Valentinian the Third deserves our notice : — ' Le premier soin de cette princesse fut d'inspirer a son fils riiorreur de I'heresie et le respect pour I'eglise ;— qualites tres estimables dans un souverain, mais qui ne purent couvrir le vice d'une education molle et efteminee. Sa mere travailla plus a former sa croyance, '. que son esprit ni ses moeurs ; aussi fut-il I toujours tres catholique, sans etre jamais \ Chretien.' For the benefit of my lord Suf- I folk, I shall give yon a translation. Mr Wheatley, I hear, has got the start of his master, and, with the help of a dictionary, may do it into English for himself. ' The Princess Dowager made it her first care to inspire her son with horror against heresy, ' and with a respect for the church ; qualities LETTER XCIX. much to be esteemed in a sovereign, but j not sufficient to conceal the defects of a soft effeminate education. His mother took ' more pains to form his belief, than either I his morals or his understanding, so that he ' was always an excellent catholic without ever being a Christian.' I do not mean to : apply the passage, but merely to save some I future historian the trouble of drawing a ' new character. I am, Sir, Your humble servant, AX IXXOCEXT READER. TO TIIK PRINTER OF THE PLBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 5 7"h'^ i77i- | Events andcharactersof a similar nature recur so often v.'iihin the compass of \ a few centuries, that history is in effect little more than a repetition. The scenes * His Grace had now rejoined the ministry, j and held the office of lord privy seal. — Edit. ^ He refers to Junius's two letters to the duke of Grafton, No. XLIX. and L., dates, June 22 j and July 9, 1771- — Edit. 3 A letter under this signature appeared in the | Public Advertiser in answer to Junius Letter I LETTER C. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 16 Oct., 1771. If the pert youth who calls him- self An Old Correspondent,'^ and who LIX., and was by him attributed to the late Mr Fox. That Junius was inclined to favour, or rather, in tlie words of the conckiding paragraph of this essay, to spare lord Holland, is obvious throughout these letters, but will be more par- ticularly seen by a reference to Privgle Letter, No. 5. [;;: MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. makes free with JUNIUS, does not know the difference between contact and collision, nor between the friction wliich produces the electrical powers, and the action of flint and steel which produces sparks of fire, his ignorance must be deplorable. But what right has he to change the terms ? — Why say contact when Junius says collision f — When this pert youtli asks what virtue there is in Mr Wilkes, I wish he would tell us what fire there is in flint and steel. It is action that makes them sparkle, and, if there be any thing combustible in the pas- sions of Mr Nash, a single spark may set him on fire. Again, JUNIUS admits the strict right of pressing seamen, but denies the king's right to arm his subjects in general, except- ing in the case of an invasion. This my pretty Black Boy calls a retractation of Ju- Nius's first concession, and applies to his aged father for an old woman's proverb. — J UN I US speaks of softening the symptoms of a disorder. The Black Boy changes the terms again, and destroys the allusion. The rest of his letter is of a piece with these instances ; a misrepresentation of ^ The following are copies of the letters here alluded to, which certainly evince no small degree of acrimony : — TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SiK, 4 Nov. i-riT^- You have inserted in your paper of Saturday last, a short, but infamous, paragraph, addressed to lord chief justice Mansfield, and signed Junius, alleging that his Lordship had admitted to bail a man at the intercession of three of his countrymen, who Junius presumes i.-, also a Scotchman. In justice to his Lordship (although without his consent, approbation, or knowledge! I here- by declare, that he did not know who were the bail for Mr Eyre, nor did any of them ever make any prior application to his Lordship, nor were they personally acquainted \\ ith him, though 'tis probable his Lordship might have seen them on juries. I also declare, that Mr Eyre is not a Scotchman, but an Englishman ; and from what I can guess of Junius, he is worse than either, viz. an Irishman, a liar, and a Jesuit. None of the three gentlemen who bailed Mr Eyre ever saw him till the morning they went to lord Mansfield's at Cane Wood to bail him. This they did purely to oblige an intimate friend Junius, equally pert, false, and stupid. Ex his disce omnia. I know nothing of JUNIUS, but I see plainly that he has designedly spared lord Holland and his family. Whether lord Holland be invulnerable, or whetherJUNlus should be wantonly provoked, are questions worthy the Black Boy's consideration. ANTI-FOX. LETTER CI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE I'UHLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, S November, 1771. Junius, I see, has got my lord Mansfield upon the hip, and fairly driven the Scotch out of their discretion, and almost out of their senses. The change in the apparent position of their cheek-bones is very remarkable. Tlie complacent, in- sidious smile, has universally given way to a ghastly grin of rancour and despair. Your correspondents Anti-Junius and One of the Bail actually foam at the mouth. ^ who was connected with him by marri.age, with- out any other naotive whatsoever. Whether the noble lord, \\hose very great abilities have brought upon liim, though unjustly, the envy and malice of such ass.assins as Junius, was right or wrong I leave to the learned in the law to defend, and have no doubt his Lordship has acted in this matter according to his usual ability in law affairs, and rather with a view to enlarge than contract the liberty of the subject. At the same time, Mr Printer, I should wish to be certain who this Mr Junius is who stabs all good characters in the dark. My reason is, I should be glad of an opportunity of using such a lying, infamous, cowardly scoundrel as he ought to be : for which purpose (if he chooses it}, I have left my name with the printer. One of t lie three ivho bailed Mr Eyre. TO JUNIU.S. 4 Nov. 1 77 1. You seem to delight most in traducing the most exalted and most respectable cha- racters. You say, lord Mansfield bailed Mr Eyre at the iittercessioi of three of his countrymen. / say, that \s false : and that what he did was his duty to do as lord chief justice of England, MISCELLAXEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 493 But calling liar and scoundrel is no answer to Junius. He did not assert that the thief was a Scotchman ; i he only f resumed it, from the circumstance of his being bailed by three of that country. It appears now that the thief was closely connected with Scotland. These sweet-blooded children, even when they bail an Englishman, ad- here to their principles. If the devil him- self, connected as he is with an ancient nation, were taken up for felony, I do not doubt that all Scotland, to a inoyi^ would readily be his seciuity. Junius did not blame the hailiox inter- esting themselves in favour of their friend, countryman, or associate. Yet he might have done it with propriety. The thief was not charged on suspicion, but taken in the fact. He was, ipso facto, a felon, and to bail him required all tlie natural benevo- lence of Scotland. Either he had no Eng- lish friends, or they were ashamed to ac- knowledge any connexion with him. Instead of meeting Junius upon the strict question of law, these loons wander into circumstances of no moment, or defend lord Mansfield by apocryphal assertions, which, if true, would be nothing to the purpose. One says that he has surrendered and perfectly agreeable to law and to constant practice. Vo:( say, that you presume Mr Eyre is a Scotchman. I say, the culprit is an Englishman. Vou say, his bail were all Scotchmen. I say, they were. And how did that happen ? Because a Scotchman is, by marriage, unhappily allied to him : and why should it be deemed a reproach that they joined in doing a good- natured office at the request of a countryman ? Or that they contributed to alleviate the distress of an innocent woman, who, though unfortunately connected with the criminal, had not a participa- tion in his guilt ? Dost not thou know, thou slanderer, that the offence, though felony by law, was of the slightest kind? And would'st thou not, had that able and amiable judge (whose name will be an everlasting honour to this country) refused to admit Mr Eyre to bail, have traduced his Lordship for that very refusal, and charged him with executing the law with wanton rigour, because he was an English77ian. Mr Eyre Jtas been brought to trial, and has pleaded guilty. / say, nevertheless, that the offence, by the laws of England, ts bailable ; and I pledge myself, before God and my coimtry, to and taken his trial, the other that no inter- cession was made with lord Mansfield : — one says that the felony (for which the culprit is unluckily transported) was of the slightest kind ;— the other says that Eyre is an Englishman. Now the plain matter of fact is this. A thief, taken in the fact, is refused bail by the lord mayor of Lon- don. Three Scotchmen take the said thief or felon before another — Scotchman, who bails the said felon. The single question arising from the fact, is, was he, or was he not, bailable by lazv f For my own part, until I hear good reasons to the contrary, I shall abide by Junius, because I am per- suaded he would not hazard his credit so unnecessarily, if he were not very sure of his law. A. B. LETTER CII.2 TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. SlK, 13 November, 1771. I BEG your Royal Highness's ac- ceptance of my sincere compliments of congratulation upon your auspicious union with the daughter of lord Irnham,^ and prove, that lord chief justice Mansfield acted in this matter agreeable to law, and that Junius has shown himself in this, and many other in- stances, a pjcblic incendiary, and a liar. Akti-junius. — Edit. ^ His words are, 'at the intercession of three of your countrj^men, you have bailed a man, who, / presume, is also a Scotchman.' See Letter LXV. ' Of this letter Junius writes, * Cumbriensis has taken greatly.' Private Letter, No. 43. — Edit. •J The marriage of the lat^ duke of Cumber- land was first announced lo the readers of the Public Advertiser in the following communica- tion, obviously from the pen of Junius. INTELLIGENCE EXTRAORDINARY, THOUGH TRUE. We can assure the public that his Royal Highness the duke of Cumberland is happily married to Mrs Horton, sister of lieutenant- colonel Luttrell, the worthy nominee of Middle- sex. The new-married pair are now celebrating their nuptials in France, where the duchess of Cumberland receives all the honours due to her high rank, and new relation to the House of 494 MISCELL.\NEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. the sister of colonel Luttiell. For the pre- sent yoLi will have so few of these compli- ments paid you, that mine perhaps may be thought worthy your attention. 1 do assure your Royal Highness, with great sincerity, that, when 1 consider the various excellen- cies which adorn or constitute your personal character,— your natural parts,— your affa- ble, benevolent, generous temper,— your good sense, so singularly improved by ex- perience ;— and, above all the rest, the un- common education which your venerable mother took care to give you,— I do not think it possible to have found a more suitable match for you, than that which you have so discreetly provided for yourself. What you have done, will, I am sure, be no disgrace to yourself, or to any of your relations. Yet I must confess, partial as I am to you for the sake of that good prince, of whose resemblance you carry some cutting traces about you, I could wish you did not stand quite so near as you do to the regency and crown of England. — God forbid I should ever hear your royal nephews say, as Edward the Fifth does in the play. But why to the Tozuer, uucle f—Orwhy should yojc lock ns tip, aunt! — I mean their uncle Luttrell and aunt Horton. But, my good youth, let no considerations of this sort interrupt your pleasures. Your amiable spouse is as much duchess of Cum- berland as our gracious Queen is queen of Great Britain ; and of course she is the second woman in the kingdom. Your fapa Irnham must at least take rank of lord Mansfield ; — your brother Henry of the princes of Mecklenburg, and your sister Miss Luttrell of Madam Swellenburgh. As to the king's not acknowledging the duchess, or forbidding her the court, it signifies nothing. Her marriage is good in law, and her children will be legitimate. Brunswick. — Tliis match, we are informed, was negotiated by a certain duke and his cream- coloured parasite, by way of reward to colonel Luttrell. It is now, happily for this country, within the limits of possibility, that a Luttrell may be king of Great Britain. There was no court yesterday. She may order plays, keep a court of her own, and set the Princess Dowager at de- fiance. But you need have no fear of being ill used. Your brother Harr}' has a dagger at the throat of a certain person, and swears he will let the cat out of the bag about the Middlesex election. So far from offending Harry, I should not wonder to see him aide de camp to the king, and, in a httle time, commander-in-chief. Whenever you want a divorce, you need only leave your spouse alone for an hour or two with * * * ***-***. \Mien he performed the office of father to Poll Davis, and gave her to his infatuated friend, he contrived to send the young man upon a fool's errand, and that very night con- summated with her himself. You, I know. Sir, will never go upon a fool's errand, and I suppose it may be equally certain tliat your papa, if he had an opportunity, would not ****** ** ****, CUMBRIENSIS.i LETTER CHL i:___. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 19 Kovenibey, 1771. I HAVE great faith in Junius, and wish the friends of the cause would leave lord Mansfield entirely to his care. 2 It is not fair to anticipate his arguments, or to run down the game which he has started. Junius, I dare say, has it as much at heart to sacrifice Mansfield, with his own pen, as Achilles had to prevent any other of the Grecian army from killing Hector. The passage I allude to is one of the finest in the Iliad. ' Aaotcri;/ 5' ave'i'eve Kapijan 6tos 'Ax^'^"^'^^5 Ov6' eta e/xevai inl ^Emopi niKpa ^e'Ae/xi'a' M-^^Tts KuSos eipoiTO /3aAt)»', 6 6k devrepos e\OoL.' 22 B. line 205. Divine Achilles, lest some Greek's advance Should snatch the glory from his lifted lance. ^ This letter is acknowledged by Junius in his private correspondence, No. 43. — Edit. ' A great number of letters appeared in support of the doctrine maintained by Junius on the subject of the bailment of Eyre- — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 495 Signed to the troops, to yield his^i;^ the way, And leave untouched the honours of the day. POFE. Yours, ANTI-BELIAL. LETTER CIV TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 4 December, 1771. Your ingenious correspondent, Anti-Junius, has too much wit and taste to be easily satisfied. It is really a mis- fortune to be born with such exquisitely fine feelings. If, now that he is well fed and clothed, he cannot endure the severity of a southern breeze, what would become of him upon his native mountains? Junius can never write to please him. — If he re- ceives the least mention of past enormities, v. hat is it but ' cold scraps, baked meats, political fiddling, and the voice of the charmer I' hash d mutton, and Dutch mu- sic with a vengeance ! — If, on the contrar}', he lays any new villanies before the public, then, one and all, the hungry pack open upon him at once : — ' Here's invention for you! — What an abominable liar! — W'liy ' The following are the passages in Anti- y««/K/j answer to Letter LXVII., to which a reply is more particularly given in the above. ' Had Junius a single friend in the world whom he dared trust or consult, his performance of yesterday, so uninstructivc to your readers, so fatal to his reputation, v.-ould surely have never found its way to the press. His invective has neither novelty nor variety to recommend it ; the public palate must nauseate at the insipidity of his repeated abuse, and loath the repast which his miserable thrift has attempted to furnish forth from the cold scraps and baked meats of his former scurrilous entertainments. In vain does this poHtical fiddler labour for the public attention, by thrumming the worn-out strings of Middlesex election, Whittlebury timber, Hine's patent, and the long- forgotten rule made absolute against Mr Vaughan. The voice of the charmer himself can no longer charm with these sounds ; these chords so repeatedly struck fall flat, even upon the ear of envy itself.' • • ' • • * • ' With the recriminating malice of antiquated virginity, he endeavours to sully the daughter's innocence with the father's crimes, suppressing a well-known circumstance, \\i. that all intercourse docs not he stick to his facts ? Does he t'link us sucli idiots as to szvallow wit for truth ?' In short. Sir, the Scotch have strange, qualmish stomachs ; — it is not in the art of cookery to please them. Nothing will go down but oatmeal and brimstone. Anti-Junius is not so explicit as I could wish. I. What intercourse was that be- tween lord Irnham and his daughter, which he says has been so long ititerrupted f I mean no offence to the lady, but really the word intercourse is a little equivocal. — 2. What was that purpose, for which sir James Lowther's grant was obtained, and which, Anti-Junius says, has been long since defeated ? — 3. Who does he mean by a man ever burthensome to every adminis- tration f I hope he does not mean the duke of Grafton's friend sir James Low- ther, or at least that he does not give the baronet this pretty character by order of the duke of Grafton. After all, I really think that Junius, call- ed upon as he is by so able an antagonist, cannot do less than discover himself. He must be woefully given to suspicion, if he has the least doubt of the tender mercy of tlie Scotch, or of the forgiving piety of St James's. JUNIPER.i between that father and that daughter has long been interrupted.* * * * * » ' Sir James Lowther's nonsuit is in the eye of the heaven-reading Junius another visible opera- tion of retribution : — not on the king indeed ; he does not seem to be affected by it. any farther than as it has introduced the parenthesis of the Luttrell alliance — but on the poor duke of Graf- ton, whose days are anxious, and v/hose nights are sleepless, because a grant, obtained to serve a pumose long since defeated, and to gratify the importunities of a man ever burthensome to every administration, is adjudged invalid ; for this the duke of Grafton wears the dismal countenance of solitary sorrow ; for this docs he fruitlessly look round for consolations ; for this does Mr Brad- shaw shed the April showers of lambent lament- ation. Surely Junius thinks to mislead reason and annihilate common-sense, by the use of a few ridiculous, half-meaning epithets.' ' If you are really the honest state-gardener you would be thought, and not the malicious, discontented impostor I think you, away with yiur sliuftling, v. ;;ri-wor Jed delays; the noisonje 496 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. LETTER CV. TO LORD BARRINGTOX. My Lord, 28 January, 1772. It is unlucky for the army that you should be so thoroughly convinced as you are how extremely low you stand in their opinion. The consciousness that you are despised and detested by every indi- vidual in it, from the drummer (whose dis- cipline rriight be of service to you) to the general officer, makes you desperate about your conduct and character. You think that yoG ?..re arrived at a state of security, and that, being plunged to the very heels in infamy, the dipping has made you in- vulnerable. There is no other way to ac- count for your late frantic resolution of appointing Tony Shammy your deputy- secretary at war. — Yet I am far from mean- ing to impeach his character as a broker. In that line he was qualified to get forward by his industry, birth, education, and ac- complishments. I make no sort of doubt of his cutting a mighty pretty figure at Jonathan's. To this hour among bulls and bears his name is mentioned with re- spect. Every Israelite in the alley is in raptures. What, our old friend, little Shammy ! — Ay, he was always a tight, active little fellmo, and would wrangle for an eighth as if he had been born in Jcru- salcm. Who'd hd thought it! Well, we may now look out for the rebuilding of the tetnple. — My Lord, if I remember right, you are partial to the spawn of Jonathan's. Witness the care you took to provide for Mr Delafontaine in the military depart- ment. He limped a little when he left the alley.i but your Lordship soon set him upon his legs again. — This last resolution how- ever approaches to madness. Your cream- coloured Mercury 2 has over-reached both plant that has brought forth such bitter fruit, is surely now ripe enough to be plucked.' — Edit. * The transactions here referred to in respect to Delafontaine and Chamier, or Shammy as he \s'as called in the alley, are more particularly noticed in the Private Letters, Nos. 52 and 50. you and himself; and remember what I seriously tell you, this measure will, sooner or later, be the cause, not of your disgrace (that affair's settled), but of your ruin. What daemon possessed you to place a httle gambling broker at the head of (he war-office, and in a post of so much rank and confidence, as that of deputy to the secretary at war ? — (I speak of your office, not of your person.)— Do you think that his having been useful in certain practices to lord Sandwich gives any great relief to his character, or raises him in point of rank? My Lord, the rest of the world laugh at your choice ; but we soldiers feel it as an indignity to the whole army, and be assured we shall resent it accordingly. — Not that I think you pay much regard to the sensations of any thing under the de- gree of a general officer, and even that rank you have publicly stigmatized in the most opprobrious terms. Yet still some of them, though in your wise opinion not quahfied to command, are entitled to re- spect. Let us suppose a case, which every man acquainted with the war-office will ad- mit to be very probable. Suppose a lieu- tenant-general, \\\\o perhaps may be a peer, or a member of the House of Commons, does you the honour to wait upon you for instructions relative to his regiment. After explaining yourself to him with your usual accuracy and decision, you naturally refer him to your deputy for the detail of the business. My dear general^ I' ni prodi- giously hurried. — But do me the favour to go to Mr Shammy ; — go to little W addle- well ;— go to viy duckling ;-— go to little three per cents reduced ;— you II find him a mere scrip of a secretary ; an OMNIUM of all that's genteel ; — the activity of a broker; — the politeness of a hair-drcsser ; — the the the, 6fc. Our general officer we may presume being curious to see this wonderful Gir- Chamier was successor in the war-office to Mr D'Oyly, who was discarded to make room for him.— Edit. ^ T. Bradshaw, whose absurd elevation has been already noticed, and will occasionally be found observed upon again. — Edit. MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS 497 gashite, the foUoNving dialogue passes be- tween them. Lieiit.-Geii. Sir, the secretary at war re- fers me to you for an account of what was done — WaddlavelL Done, Sir ! — Closed at three-eighths ! — Looked flat I must own ; — but to-morrow, my dear Sir, I hope to see a more lively appearance. Lieut. -Gen. Sir, I speak of the non- effective fund. IVaddiavell. Fund, my dear Sir! In w hat fund would you wish to be concerned ? — Speak freely — You may confide in your humble servant ; — I'm all discretion. Lieut.-Gen. Sir, I really don't under- stand you. Lord Harrington says that my regiment may possibly be thought of for India Waddleiuell. India, my dear Sir ! — strange fluctuation : — from fourteen and an half to twenty-two, never stood a moment : — but ended cheerful ; — no mortal can ac- count for it. Lieut.-Gen. — Damn your stocks. Sir, tell me whether the commission VVaddlrweli. As for commission, my dear Sir, I'll venture to say that no gentle- man in the alley does business upon easier terms. I never take less than an eighth, except from lord Sandwich and my brother- in-law, but they deal largely, and you must be sensible, my dear Sir, that when the commission is extensive, it may be worth a broker's while to content himself with a sixteenth. The general officer, at last, fatigued with such extravagance, quits the room in dis- gust, and leaves the intoxicated broker to settle his accounts by himself. After such a scene as this, do you think that any man of rank or consequence in the army will ever apply to you or your deputy again? — Will any officer of rank conde- scend to receive orders from a little, whif- fling broker, to whom he may formerly perhaps have given half-a-crown for nego- ' This letter is more particularly designed as a reply to a very long and elaborate one published the preceding day in the Public Advertiser, and tiating an hundred pound stock, or sixpence for a lottery ticket. — My Lord, without a jest, it is indecent, it is odious, it is pre- posterous. — Our gracious master, it is said, reads the newspapers. If he does, he shall know minutely in what manner you treat his faithful army. This is the first of six- teen letters addressed to your Lordship, wliicli are ready for the press, and sliall appear as fast as it suits the printer's con- venience. VETERAN. LETTER CVI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 6 Feb. 1772. There is one general, easy way of answering JUN'IUS, which his opponents have constantly had recourse to since he first began to write, or i/iey to answer him. They either misquote his words and mis- state his propositions, or they laboriously employ themselves in refuting doctrines which he has not maintained, or maintain- ing others which he has not disputed. 1 — This has been particularly their practice in all the argument about the bailment of Eyre. 1°. Junius has never affirmed that the judges of the Court of King's Bench were named or specially comprehended in the statute of Westminster, or any other of the old statutes preceding the Habeas Corpus Act. The design of those quotations was to prove the meaning and intention of the legislature with respect to the right of bail- ing a person under the circumstances of Mr Eyre. This meaning and intention once clearly proved, he affirms, is the direction and land-mark to the judge in the exercise of that discretionary power which the law has left with him. 2°. Junius has not denied that the judges of the Court of King's Bench have a discretionary power to bail in all cases. addressed, Justinius to Junius. It is certainly well written, but unquestionably labours under the defects here complained of. — Edit. 498 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIU: according to the circumstances of the cases. But does it follow that they may legally bail when vo circumstances whatsoever are alleged on one side to alleviate the force of the positive charge of felony made on the other?— If it does, their power of bailing is arbitrary^ not discretionary. — Discretion implies consideration ; but if no allegations whatsoever be made in behalf of the pri- soner, they have then nothing to consider. The warrant of commitment expresses a positive charge of felon)-. If nothing be alleged in behalf of the prisoner, the judge has then no subject, v.hereupon to exercise his discretion. He has no choice. He must remand the prisoner. 3". Junius does not insist upon the case of Eyre so much on the score of its own enormity, as because it establishes a dan- gerous doctrine, applicable to all crimes however indisputably proved, and gives the judges an arbitrary pov.'er which the laws never meant to give them. As to lord Mansfield, it is probable that Junius would not have attacked him in the manner he has done, if this had been the only instance of his misconduct. In truth, it is one out of a multitude. I beg leave to conclude with asking this w icked judge two plain questions : — 1°. Is there or is there not any difference between offences bailable and offences not bailable ; and if there be, what is it ? — 2°. When the legislature, in the Habeas Corpus Act, do, specially and by name, forbid the judges of the Court of King's Bench to proceed to the bailment of the prisoner, if it shall appear to them that he is committed for such matters or offences, yc>r the zohich by the law the prisoner is not bailable, have they any meaning, or have they none at all? Let it be remembered that Junius never pretends to be a better lawyer than lord Mansfield. On the contrary, he takes every opportunity to acknowledge the su- perior learning and abilities of that wicked judge ; and in the present instance particu- larly insists, not that he was ignorant of the ' General Fowke, who was then stationed at Gibraltar, received instructions in several letters law, but that he sinned against his own certain knowledge and conviction. ANTI-BELIAL. LETTER CVII. TO LORD BARRINGTON. NUMBER 11. My Lord, 17 February, 1772. In my last letter I only meant to be jocular. An essay so replete w ith good humour could not possibly give offence. You are no enemy to a jest, or at least you would be thought callous to reproach. You profess a most stoical indifference about the opinion of the world, and, above all things, make it your boast that you can set the newspapers at defiance. No man indeed has received a greater share of cor- rection in this way, or profited less by it, than your Lordship. But we know you better. You have one defect less than you pretend to. You are not insensible of the scorn and hatred of the world, though you take no care to avoid it. — When the bloody Barrington, that silken, fawning courtier at St James's, — that stern and insolent min- ister at the war-office, is pointed out to universal contempt and detestation, you smile, indeed, but the last agonies of .the hysteric passion are painted in your counte- nance. Your cheek betrays what passes within you, and your whole frame is in con- vulsions. — I now mean to be serious with you, but not to waste my time in proving that you are an enemy to the laws and liberties of this country. The very name of Barrington implies every thing that is I mean, cruel, false, and contemptible. The duke of Newcastle's livery was the first habit you put on. — What an indefatigable I courtier at his levee ! — What an assiduous I parasite at his table ! — Was there a dirty job to be performed, — away went Barriit^- \ ton. — Was a message to be carried, — Who waits there ? — My lord Barrington. After ruining that brave and worthy man general Fowke 1 under the auspices of the duke of from lord Barrington, shortly after his appoint- ment to be secretary at war in 1760, under the :iSCELLAXEOUS LETTKRS OF JUNIUS. 499 Newcastle, who saved you from destruc- tion, you deserted to Mr Pitt the moment he came into power. Before the late king's death you secured a footing at Carlton House ; and were prepared to abandon j-our last patron, the moment lord Bute assumed the reins of government. — From lord Bute to Mr Grenville there was an easy transfer of your affections. You are the' common friend of all ministers, but it is not in your policy to engage in overt acts of hostility against those, who may perhaps be next in turn to patronize lord Barrington. My dear Lord, or viy dear Sir, are titles with which you have occasionally addressed every man who ever had an office, or the chance of an office, in this kingdom. Even the proscribed John Wilkes, the moment he was sheriff, had a claim upon your polite- ness. Your character was a little battered by the frequency of your political amours, when lord Rockingham took you into keeping.— -While you e.xisted by his protec- tion, you intrigued with the duke of Graf- ton. — Another change succeeded. — Your mind was open to new lights, and, without a doubt, lord Chatham was the orilyman in the kingdom fit to govern a great empire. — Still however your opinions of men and things were not perfectly settled. When the duke of Grafton took the lead, the pliant Barrington of course saw things in a different point of view. There is nothing in your attachments that savour of obsti- nacy.— When his Grace resigned, you soon discovered that to establish govern- ment upon a solid footing, the minister's presence was indispensable in the House of Commons. — Lord North was then the man after your Lordship's own heart. — In yo7ir ideas, the first lord of the Treasury for the time being is always perfect -.—but every change is for the better.— V^'iih. all your professions of attachment to this temporary minister, I tell him, and I tell the pubHc, that at this very hour you are caballing duke of Newcastle's administration, which pro- duced measures that had nearly effected the loss of that important post. Lord Barrington, on perceiving the blunder he had committed, most with the duke of Grafton and the Bedfords to obtain the recall of lord Townshend, and to drive lord North from the Treasury. — But they all know you.— In the inventory of the discarded minister's effects, lord Bar- rington is always set down as a fix- ture. By garbhng and new-modelling the war- office, you think you have reduced the army to subjection.— Walk in, gentlemen ! Bu- siness done by Chamier and Co. — To make your office complete, you want nothing now, but a paper-lanthorn at the door, and the scheme of a lottery pasted upon the window. — With all your folly and obstin- acy, I am at a loss to conceive what coun- tenance you assumed, when you told your royal master, that you had taken a little Frenchified broker from 'Change Alley, to intrust with the management of all the affairs of his army.— Did the following dialogue leave no impression upon your disordered imagination ? You know where it passed. K. — Pray, my Lord, whom have you ap- pointed to succeed Mr D'Oyly? .5.- Please your M , I believe I have made a choice, that will be highly accept- able to the public and to the array. A'.— Who is it ? i5.— Sire, it s'appelle Ragosin. Born and educated in 'Change Alley, he glories in the name of broker ; and, to say nothing of lord Sandwich's friendship, I can assure your M , he has always kept the best company at Jonathan's. K. — My Lord, I never interfere in these matters. But I cannot help telling your Lordship, that you might have consulted my honour and the credit of my army a little better. Your appointment of so mean a person, though he may be a very honest man in the mystery he was bred to, casts a reflection upon me, and is an insult to the army. At all events, I desire it may be understood that I have no concern in this ungenerously prevailed on general Fowke to take the chief blame upon himself, under a promise of indemnification. The result was that Fowke was ruined, and Barrington liberated. — Edit. 500 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. ill-judged, indecent measure, and that I do not approve of it. I suppose, my Lord, you thought this conversation might be sunk upon the pub- He. It does hor.our to his Majesty, and therefore you concealed it. — In my next I propose to show what a faithful friend you have been to the army, particularly to old worn-out officers. VETERAN. LETTER CVIII. TO LORD BARRINGTON. NUMBER III. My Lord, 27 February, 1772. The army now, according to your own account of the matter, is under a very creditable sort of direction. If we may rely upon the secretary at war's opinion, solemnly and deliberately expressed before the House of Commons, there is not a single man in the profession, who is in any shape quahfied for commander-in-chief; at least none, whom you would think it safe to recommend to his Majesty. If your judg- ment upon this subject had been better founded than it is, I do not understand that a secretary at war has any right to pass so disgraceful and precipitate a sentence upon so many of his superiors. Believe me, my good Lord, there is not one of those officers, whom you dared to stigmatize in that in- j famous manner, who is not qualified to be i your master in the art military, notwith- i standing all the experience you got in St George's Fields, when you urged and ex- • horted the guards to imbrue their hands in the blood of their fellow-subjects.— While that bloody scene was acting, where was the gentle Harrington ? — Was he sighing at the feet of antiquated beauty ? — Was he dream- ing over the loo-table, or was he more innocently employed in combing her lady- ship's lap-dog ? — But, my Lord, when you paid that pretty compliment to the body of general officers, had you no particular apologies to make to general Conway, to lord Albemarle, or to sir Jeffery Amherst ? — Did general Harvey deserve nothing better of you, than a ridiculous nickname, which, like lord Mansfield's secret, he must carry with him to his grave ? — In lieu of a commander-in-chief, you have advised the king to put the army into commission. — A graduate in physic, an old woman, and a broker from 'Change A//ey.—The doctor prescribes, — the old gentlewoman adminis- ters, — and little Syringe, the apothecary, stands by the ghsterpipe.— This, you tell the king, is making himself commander-in- chief, and the surest way to preserve the affections of the army. — It may be so, my lord, but I see no right you had to give the nickname of doctor Radcliffe to so brave a man as general Harvey. Though his natural sweetness of temper may induce him to pass it by, it must always be morti- fying to a brave adjutant-general, when he marches into St James's coffee-house, to hear the ensigns of the guards whisper to one another — here comes the doctor; — or when he marches out, there goes the doctor. — I dare say, he has furnished work enough for the surgeons ; but, until you so politely pointed it out, I cannot say I ever saw any thing medical in his appearance. After treating the most powerful people in the army with so much unprovoked in- solence, it is not to be supposed that field- officers, captains, and subalterns have any chance of common justice at your hands. But that matter shall be the subject of another letter, and every letter shall be concluded with a conversation piece. The following dialogue is not imaginary. SCENE.— WAR-OFFICE. Enter Barrington, meeting Waddlewell. D. — My dear friend, you look charm- ingly this morning. W.—^ly dearest Lord — the sight of your Lordship ! — Here they embrace. Waddle- well's thoughts being too big for utterance. B.—When did you see my Pylades, our dear Bradshaw f IF.— Ay, my Lord— there is a friend indeed. — Firmness without resistance, — sincerity without contradiction, — and the MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. milky way painted in his countenance. — If I could ever reconcile my mind to the dis- tracting prospect of losing your Lordship, where else should we look for a successor ! But that event, I hope is at a great dis- tance. Late, very late, Oh may he rule us ! B. — Ay, my dearest Waddlewell, but we are sadly abused, notwithstanding all our virtues. \V. — Merit, my dear Lord, merit will for ever excite enmity. — I found it so in the alley. I never made a lucky hit in my life, that it did not set all Jonathan's in an up- roar. If an idea succeeded, my best friends turned against me, Judas and Levi, Moses and Issachar. — People with whom I have been connected by the tenderest ties, — could not endure the sight of my prosperity. The ten tribes of Israel united to destroy me, and for two years together were ma- licious enough to call me the lucky little Benjamin. Friendship, among the best of men, is Httle better than a name. B. — Why, my dear deputy, it is not that I regard the contempt and hatred of all mankind. — I never knew it otherwise. No man's patience has been better exercised. But what if the king should hear of it ! — IK.— Ay, there's the rub ! B. — If the best of princes, who pretends to be his own commander-in-chief, should hear that the name of Barrington is oppro- brious in the army ; — that even he himself is not spared for supporting me^ W.— Weeping.— 0\\ fatal day !— Com- pared with this, what is a riacounter !— Alas, my dearest Lord, you have unmanned your deputy. — I feel myself already at ten per cent, discount, and never shall be at par ag.iin. ^.—Something must be done. — Let us consider. — W. — Ay, my dear Lord, for heaven's sake, let us speculate. Exeunt disputing about precedence. VETERAN. * The name subscribed by a writer who under- took the defence of lord Barrington : and whom our author, according to his usual custom, here identities with the noble earl. — Edit. LETTER CIX. TO LORD BARRINGTON. NUMBER IV. My Lord, io March, 1772. I AM at a loss for words to express my acknowledgment of the signal honour you have done me. One of the principal pur- poses of these addresses, was to engage you in a regular pubhc correspondence. You very justly thought it unnecessary to sign your name to this last, elegant per- formance. Noi-alis 1 answers as ^\•ell as Barrington. We know you by your style. This is not the first of your epistles, that has been submitted to the criticism of the public. While yet, like poor IVaddleivell, you were young in office, your letters to General Fov/ke v/ere considered as the standard of perspicuity.2 You are now very old in office, and continue to write exactly as you did in your infancy. I do not wonder that the extremes of your capacity should meet in the same point, but I should be glad to know at what period you reckoned yourself in the prime and vigour of your official understanding. — Was it \\ hen you signified to the third regi- ment of guards his Majesty's gratitude and your own, for their alacrity in butchering their innocent fellow-subjects in St George's Fields? 3— Was it when you informed the House of Commons, that you and the doctor were equivalent to a commander-in- chief ?— Or when you declared that there was not a man in the army fit to be trusted with the command of it ?— Or v/hen )'ou established that wise and humane regula- tion, that no officer, let his age and infirmi- ties be ever so great, and his services ever so distinguislied, should be suffered to sell out, unless he had bought all his former commissions ?— Or in short was it when you dived into Jonathan's for a deputy, and ^ .See note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. CVII., p. 493. — Edit. 3^ See note to Miscellaneous Letter, No. XXIV., p. 380, in which the letter here alluded to is inserted. — Edit. 502 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. plucked up Waddlavell by the locks? When you answer these questions, I shall be ready to meet your Ix)rdship upon that ground, on which you think you stand the firmest. In the mean time, give me leave to say a few words to A^ovalis. You are pleased to observe that my three first letters are filled \vith low scur- rility upon hackneyed topics collected from the newspapers. Have a little patience, my dear Lord ; — I shall soon come to closer quarters with you. As for those dialogues, which you are pleased to say have neither wit nor humour in them, I can only observe that there are many scenes, which pass off tolerably well upon the stage, and yet will not bear the examination of the closet. You and Waddlcvjcll are ex- cellent performers. Between a courtier and a broker words are the smallest part of the conversation. Shrugs and smiles, bows and grimaces, the condescension of St James's, and the pHant politenessof 'Change Alley, stand in the place of repartee, and fill up the scene. You intimate, without daring directly to assert, that you did not fix that odious stigma upon the body of general officers. Have you forgot the time when you at- tempted the same evasion in the House of Commons, and forced general Howard to rise and say he was ashamed of you ? — These mean, dirty, pitiful tricks, are fitter for Jonathan's than the war-office. You have more experience than any of your clerks, and your great abilities arc acknowledged 07i all sides. As for your experience, we all know how much your conduct has been improved by it. But pray who informed you of this universal ac- knczvledgment of your abilities ? The syco- phants, whose company you delight in, are likely enough to fill you with these flattering ideas. But if you were wise enough to consult the good opinion of the world, you would not be so eager to establish the credit of your understanding. The moment you arrive at the character of a man of sense you are undone. You must then relinquish the only tolerable excuse that can be made for your conduct. — It is really unkind of you to distress the few friends you have left. To your Lordship's zeal to discover and patronize latent merit, the public is in- debted for the services of Mr Bradshaw. — Pray, my Lord, will you be so good as to explain to us, of what nature were those services, which he first rendered to your Lordship? — Was he winged like a mes- senger, or stationary like a sentinel ? ' Like Maia's son he stood And shook his plumes ; ' videlicet, at the door of lady n's cabinet. — His zeal in the execution of this honourable office promoted him to another door, where he also stands sentry. ' VirgAque levem coercet Aiired turbam.' That he has ably served the state, may be collected from the public acknowledgments the ministry have made him. Fifteen hun- dred pounds a year, well secured to himself and his family, will acquit the king of any ingratitude to Mr Bradshaw. It is by mere accident that Sir Edward Hawke and Sir Jeffery Amherst are no better provided for. But we are indebted to your Lord- ship for another discovery of merit equally latent with Mr Bradshaw's.— You have a phoenix of a deputy, though yet he is but young in his nest. — He has hardly had time to clear his wings from the ashes that gave him birth. — This too was your Lordship's apology for ruining general Fowke. You gave it in evidence, that you had been but four months in office ; and now you tell us that your deputy also is in the same unfledged state of noviciate ; — though for abilities and knowledge of the world, neither yew nor Gentile can come up to him ! For shame, my lord Barrington, send this whiffling broker back to the mystery he was bred in. Though an infant in the war- office, the mail is too old to learn a new trade. — At this very moment they are calling out for him at the bar of Jonathan's — Shammy ! — Shammy ! — Shammy ! — The house of Israel are waiting to settle their MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 503 last account with him.— During his absence things may take a desperate turn in the alley, and you never may be able to make up to the man what he has lost in half-crowns and sixpences ahready. VETERAN. LETTER ex. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. Sir, 23 March, 1772. I DESIRE you will inform the public that the worthy lord Barrington, not con- tented with having driven Mr D'Oyly out of the war-office, has at last contrived to expel Mr Francis.^ His Lordship will ne- ver rest till he has cleared his office of every gentleman who can either be serviceable to the public, or whose honour and integrity are a check upon his own dark proceedings. Men who do their duty with credit and ability, are not proper instruments for lord Barrington to work with. — He must have a broker from 'Change Alley for his deputy, and some raw, ignorant boy for his first clerk. I think the pubHc have a right to call upon Mr D'Oyly and Mr Francis to declare their reasons for quitting the war- office. Men of their unblemished character do not resign lucrative employments with- out some sufficient reasons. The conduct of these gentlemen has always been ap- proved of, and I know that they stand as well in the esteem of the army as any per- sons in their station ever did. What then can be the cause that the public and the army should be deprived of their service ?— There must certainly be something about lord Barrington which every honest man dreads and detests. Or is it that they can- not be brought to connive at his jobs and underhand dealings ?— I'hey have too much honour, I suppose, to do some certain business by co7iimissio7i. — They have not ^ Francis, now Sir Philip, and D'Oyly were chief clerks in ihe war-office : the displacement of D'Oyly to make room for Chamier has been already noticed in Letter CV.— Edit. been educated in the conversation of Jews and gamblers ;— they have had no expe- rience at Jonathan's ; — they know nothing of the stocks ; and therefore lord Barring- ton drives them out of the war-office. — The army indeed is come to a fine pass, with a gambling broker at the head of it !— What signifies ability, or integrity, or practice, or experience in business? Lord Barrington feels himself uneasy while men with such qualifications are about him. He wants nothing in his office but ignorance, impu- dence, pertness, and servility. Of these commodities he has laid in a plentiful stock, that ought to last him as long as he is secretary at war. Again, I wish that Mr Francis and Mr D'Oyly would give the public some account of what is going for- ward in the war-office. I think these events so remarkable, that some notice ought to be taken of them in the House of Commons. When the public loses the service of two able and honest servants, it is but reasonable that the wretch, who drives such men out of a public oftice, should be compelled to give some account of himself and his proceedings, VETERAN. LETTER CXI. TO LORD BARRINGTON. - My Lord, 4 May, 1772. I AM a Scotchman, and can assure your Lordship that I do not esteem my countiy, or the natives of it, the less be- cause we are not so happy as to be hon- oured with lord Barrington's favourable opinion. — From a pamphlet, which lately fell in my way, I perceive that there is something in the temper of the Scots, that does not suit the manly, sterhng virtue which distinguishes your own worthy cha- racter. We are too insolent to those beneath us, and too obsequious to our superiors ; and with such a disposition must never hope to find favour with lord hands The original copy of this letter is still in the ds of the proprietor of this edition.— Edit. S04 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. Barrington ! ' And Cockburne, like most of his countrymen, is as abject to tliose above him, as he is insolent to those below him.' These are your words, given under your hand, as the solemn, deliberate opin- ion of his Majesty's secretary at war. Such a censure, coming from a man of honour, good sense, or integrity, might perhaps have some weight with the thoughtless or uncandid. But when it comes from a man whose whole life has been employed in act- ing the part of a false, cringing, fawning, time-serving courtier, — from a man who never had a different opinion from the min- ister for the time being, and who has always contrived to keep some lucrative place or other under twenty different ad- ministrations, I am not so much offended at the reproach itself, which you ha\e thought proper to throw upon the Scots, as I am shocked at the unparalleled impu- dence of applying your own individual character to a whole nation. — It seems my countiymen are abject to those above them. Pray, my good Lord, by v.hat system of conduct have you recommended yourself to every succeeding minister for these last twenty years? — Was it by maintaining your opinion upon all occasions, with a blunt, firm integiity, or was it by the basest and vilest servility to every creature that had power to do you either good or evil ? — But roe are insolent to those belozo ns. Indeed, my Lord, you paint from your own heart. There is courage at least in our composi- tion. It is the coward who fawns upon those above him. It is the coward that is insolent, wherever he dares be so. You have had some lessons which have made you more cautious than you used to be. You have reason to remember that modest, humble merit will not always bear to be insulted by an upstart in office. For the future, my little Lord, be more sparing of your reflections upon the Scots. We pay no regard to the calumny of anonymous writers, and despise the malignity of John Wilkes. But when a man, so high in office as you are, pretends to give an odious cha- racter of a whole nation, and sets his name to it, we should deserve the reproach, if we did not resent it. You are so detested and despised by all parties (because all parties know you) that England, Scotland, and Ireland have but one wish concerning you, and that is, that, as you have shewn your- self a fawning traitor to every party and person, with ^\■hich you ever were connect- ed, so all parties may unite in loading you with infamy and contempt. SCOTUS. LETTER CXI I. TO THE RIGHT-HONOURABLE THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY. My Lords, 8 May, 1772. Having seen in last Saturday's paper that Mr Bradshaw was appointed to be a member of your board, give me leave to congratulate your Lordships on the event, as a person of J^Ir Bradshaw's birth and talents may be of the greatest use to you on many occasions, besides adding in- finitely more weight and dignity to the board ; I was therefore a good deal sur- prised at the simple manner in which his Tocll-merited- promotion w as announced to the pubHc, but must attribute it either to his own modesty, or the printer's ignorance : but whatever be the cause, I think it neces- sary to acquaint you, his brother lords, with a little of his history. It is needless to trouble your Lordships with an account of his birth or education, as the first might be a very difficult task, and the latter your Lordships may see has not been neglected. His first appearance in the great loorld was as one of lord Bar- rington's domestics, from whence he moved to Ireland, set up a shop, and under the influence of a happy planet returned to England, where, by means of his uncom- mon address in administering to the plea- sures 0/ the great, he was appointed one of the secretaries to the Treasury, which office he held during the duke of Grafton's ad- ministration, and by exerting his happy talents between his Grace and the cele- MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 505 brated Nancy Parsons, he so far ingratiated himself with the duke, that he became his chief confident, and was privy to the whole of his generous treatment of that young lady, and of course became his Grace's bosom friend ; for which service he first re- ceived a pension oi fifteen hundred pou?ids a year for three lives, and, that not being suflficient, is now made one of you. I can- not avoid again congratulating you on the acquisition of such a brother member, as it is to be hoped he will assist any of your Lordships with his good offices upon all occasions. I have tlie honour to be, My Lords, Your Lordships' most humble And obedient servant, Pall-Mail. ARTHUR TELL-TRUTH. LETTER CXIII. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER, i Sir, 12 May, 1772. I AM just returned from a visit in a certain part of Berkshire, near which I found lord Barrington had spent his Easter hoUdays. His Lordship, I presume, went into the country to indulge his grief ; for whatever company he happened to be in, it seems his discourse turned entirely I upon the hardship and difficulty of his situ- I ation. The impression which he would be ; glad to give of himself is, that of an old, faithful servant of the crown, who on one side is abused and vilified for his great zeal in support of government, and at the same time gets no thanks or reward from the king or the administration. He is modest enough to affirm in all companies, that his services are unrewarded ; that he bears the burthen ; that other people engross the profits ; and that he gets nothing. Those who know but little of his history may per- * This letter was advertised under the title of Memoirs of lord B.irrir,2ton, in coninliance with haps be inclined to pity him ; but he and I have been old acquaintance, and consider- ing the size of his understanding, I believe I shall be able to prove, that no man in the kingdom ever sold himself and his services to better advantage than lord Barrington. — Let us take a short review of him from his political birth. On his entrance into the House of Com- mons he declared himself a patriot ; but he soon found means to dispose of his patriot- ism for a seat at the Admiralty-board. This worthy man, before he obtained his price, was as deeply engaged in opposition to government, as any member of the Fountain club to which he belonged. He then thought it no sin to run down sir Robert Walpole, though now he has altered his tone. To oppose the measures of government, however dangerous to the constitution, or to attack the persons of ministers, however justly odious to the nation, is now rank faction in the opinion of the pliant lord Barrington. His allegi- ance follows the descent of power, nor has he ever been known to dispute the validity of the minister's title, as long as he con- tinued in possession. His Lordship remained at the Admiralty, until long servility and a studious attach- ment to the duke of Newcastle had en- gaged his Grace to recommend him for secretary at war. When the Duke resigned in the year 1756, he of course expected that lord Barrington would have followed him. But his Lordship's gratitude to his patron was not quite heavy enough to weigh against two thousand five hundred a year. He knew the value of his place, and kept it by making the same professions to Mr Pitt and lord Temple by which he had deceived the duke of Newcastle. Before the late king's death, he had taken early measures to secure an interest at Carlton House ; and when his present Majesty could no longer bear him as secretary at war, he found means to ingratiate himself the request of the author. See private note, No. 62. — Edit. ;o6 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. so far with lord Bute, that for some time he was suffered to be chancellor of the Ex- chequer ; and when that post appeared to be not tenable, he still had art and con- trivance enough to secure himself in the lucrative office of treasurer of the Navy. In 1762, he was the most humble servant of Mr Fox. In 1763 and 1764, he was no enemy to Mr Grenville. In 1765, he gave himself back, body and soul, to the late duke of Cumberland and lord Rockingham. This last manoeuvre restored him to the war- office, where he has continued ever since, with equal fidelity to Mr Pitt, the duke of Grafton, and lord North; and now he modestly tells the world that he gets nothing by his services. Besides the singular good fortune of never being himself a moment out of place, he has had extraordinary success in pro- viding for every branch of his family. One brother was a general officer, with a regi- ment and chief command at Guadaloupe. A second is high in the navy with a regi- ment of marines. A third is a judge, and the fourth is a bishop. Yet this is the man who complains that he gets nothing. At the same time his parliamentary interest is so inconsiderable, that ever since his cant- ing hypocrisy and pretended attachment to the dissenters was discovered at Berwick, he has been obliged to the influence of government for a seat in the House of Commons, which he holds without its costing him a shilling. Having given you a short account of the emoluments he has received from govern- ment, I should be very glad to see as faith- ful an account of his services. Some of them arc probably of a secret nature, of which we can form no judgment. His ostensible services, in the public opinion at least, have been considerably overpaid. At his very outset, the blundering orders he sent to Gibraltar might have occasioned the loss of that important place. When the fate of Gibraltar was at stake, we had a secretary at war who could neither write plain English nor common sense. But he compensated for his own blunder by ruin- ing the worthy general Fowke, whom he and a certain countess (taking a base advantage of the unhappy man's distress), prevailed upon to write a letter, the recol- lection of which soon after broke his heart. In the House of Commons, I think, the noble Lord was never reckoned an able debater. Poor B — ch for many years was his nickname. His time-serving duplicity is now so well known, that he seldom speaks without being laughed at. Sometimes his folly exceeds all bounds ; as, for instance, when he traduced the whole body of gen- eral officers, which, I presume, they will not readily forget. In the war-office he has made it his study to oppress all the lower part of the army by a multitude of foolish regulations, by which he hoped to gain the reputation of gi-eat discipline and economy, but which have only served to make him as odious to the military, as he is to every other rank of people in the kingdom. With respect to the public in general, I presume there never was a man so generally or so deservedly detested as himself. The people of this country will never forget nor forgive the inhuman part he took in the affair of St George's Fields. Other secretaries at wzx have ordered out troops to assist the civil magistrate. For this man it was re- served, to give it under his hand, that he rejoiced and exulted in the blood of his fellow-subjects. This stroke alone would be sufficient to determine his character. Yet so far from having done the king any service by his officious zeal upon this occa- sion, I am convinced that no one circum- stance has so much contributed to throw an odium upon the present reign. I will not suppose it possible, that the best of princes could be pleased with the treason, but I am sure he has reason enough to hate the traitor. Such are the services, which, in his Lord- ship's opinion, can neve'r be sufficiently rewarded. He complains that he gets nothing, although, upon a moderate com- putation, he has not received less of the public money than fifty-three thousand pounds, viz. : MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 507 Ten years lord of the Admiralty ;^8ooo Eighteen years either secretary at war, chancellor of the Exchequer, or treasurer of the Navy, at 2500 per an- num 45.000 53,000 It is not possible to ascertain what further advantages he may have made by preference in subscriptions, lottery tickets, and the management of large sun)s lying in his hands as treasurer of the Na\7. Mr Chamier, if he thought proper, might give us some tolerable account of the matter. When a secretary at war chooses a broker for his deputy, it is not difficult to guess what kind of transactions must formerly have passed between them. I don't mean to question the honour of Mr Chamier. He always had the reputation of as active a ' little fellow as any in Jonathan's. But ! putting all things together, I think we may j affirm that, when lord Barrington com- : plains of getting nothing from government, ' he must have conceived a most extravagant idea of his own importance, or that the inward torture he suffers, from knowing how thoroughly he is hated and despised, is such as no pecuniary emoluments can j repay. NEMESIS. INDEX A. B., Letter of, to the duke of Grafton, 433 ; his Grace's treatment of the duke of Rutland exposed, 433, 434 ; letter to the printer of the Pubhc Advertiser, in vindication of Junius, 492. 493- ^ Aiiair [Jslx], argument against granting a fiol. pros, in favour of the messengers of the House of Commons, 482, ct seq. 7iotes. Addison (Mr), remark on anonymous writers, 139, note. Addresses from parliament, considered as a fashionable unmeaning formality, 235 ; their consequences considered, when they mean exactly what they profess, 236. Adniinisiration of government the ruin or pros- perity of a state, 320. Adtuiralty (Lords of), letter to, on j\Ir Erad- shaw's appointment to be one of their number, 504. Advocate in the cause of the people, letter of, to Junius, 317, 318, notes; reply to by Philo- Junius, 317, 318. AhjtoK (Mr), prosecution of, for libel, 116, note; remark on his exaggerated statements, 213, note ; inaccuracies in his edition of Junius, detected, 49, and note. : America, patronized by Mr Pitt and lord Cam- den, 130; new office established for trans- acting its affairs, 130; origin of that office, 130, tiote. See Colonies. Aitiicus Cicrice, letter of, on the ministerial con- troversy, 428, 429. Amherst (Sir Jeftery), suffered to be sacrificed, 137: dismissed from his government in America, 3SS ; strictures of L. L. on this measure, 388 ; lord Hillsborough's conduct towards him con- sidered, 391, 394, 39b, 398 ; his negotiation with the duke of Grafton considered, 398, 399 ; let- ter of the earl of Hilisborough to him, 400, note: the chief command of the American troojis was never offered to sir Jeffery, 402 ; further remarks on this affair, 402, 403, 408 ; his noble and disinterested conduct in America,4ri. Anonymous Letters, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 360 ; strictures on the dispute with America, 360 — 362 ; that a minister who is de- termined to do wrong, must be a man of abilities and courage, 363 ; the establishment of the high ofnces of state, a check on the pre- rogative of the crown, 364 ; to the duke of I Grafton, 375 ; on his Grace's indelicate con- : duct at the Opera-house, 376 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 3S6 ; the state of the I colonies considered, 386, 387 ; to the printer ■ of the Public Advertiser, 389 ; the effects of 1 the Stamp Act and other tea acts on the colo- I nies, considered, 3S9, 390; to the riglit hon. I Geo. Grenville, 423 ; his influence and integ- rity stated and considered, 423, 424. Anti-Beliai, letter of, on Junius's attack upon lord JNIansfield, 494 ; further vindication of Junius, 497, 498. Anti-Fox, letter of, to the printer of the Pub- lic Advertiser, 491, 492 ; on Junius's conduct to lord Holland, 492. Anti-Jnnius, letter of, to Junius, on his stric- tures on the bailing of Mr Eyre, 492, 493, note ; extract from his answer to Junius's 67th letter, 495, note ; reply thereto, 495. Ant i-Sej amis, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 345, 346 ; the mischiefs of lord Bute's government stated, 346. Aftti-van-Tcagjte, letter of, on sir William Low- ther's grant, 369; reply to, by Anti-Stuart, 370, Arbitrary principles, growth of, in this country, 369. Ashhnrton (Lord). See Dzinning. infra. Atiicus's letter to the printer of the Public Ad- vertiser, 391 ; the state of the cor.ntry con- sidered, previously to the war with America, 392, 393; defends his statement, 411 — 413; review of the measures of ministers, 414 — 418 ; the statements of Atticus vindicated by Bru- tus, 419, 420 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 420 ; the most contemptible charac- ter is that, wliich possesses neither judgment nor inclination to do right, nor resolution enough to be consistent in doing wrong, 420 ; this remark illustrated in the duke of Grafton's administration, 421, 422. Aitgjtr, letter of, on the duke of Grafton's ad- ministration, 432. Aylesbnry election, resolution of the House of Lords concerning, 174. Bail, statement of the law of, 325, et scq. Barrington (Lord), memoirs of his political life and delinquencies, 505 — 507 ; extract of a letter. INDEX. 509 125 ; letter to the magistrates of Surrey, 231, note : portrait of, 348 ; his conduct, as secre- tary at war, condemned by Testis, 451 ; iron- ically defended by Testiculus, 451, 45^ , letters of a Veteran to him on his chDice of a deputy secretary, 496, 497 ; curious dialogue, sup- posed to have passed in his office, 497 ; his Lordship charged with ruining general Fowke, 498 ; state of the fact, 498, note; his political changes examined, 499 ; his changes in the war-office, 499 ; conversation of his Majesty with lord B., 499; the affair of St George's Fields considered, 500 ; his ungenerous nick- naming of general Harvey censured, 500 ; dialogue between his Lordship and one of his agents, 500, 501 ; estimate of his Lordship's abilities, 502 ; on his abuse of the Scotch char- acter, 503, 504. Barrister's defence of lord Mansfield against the several charges brought by Junius, 318 — 320, notes; reply to him by a 'friend of Junius,' 318 — 321. Beck/ord (Mr Lord Mayor), letter to a Livery- man on embezzlement of the public money, 59, 60. Bedford 'Corporation of) admit strangers to their freedom, in order to shake oft" the tyranny of the duke of Bedford, 190 ; history of the circumstance, 190, note. Bedford i[Duke of], unpopular, 18S ; causes of his unpopularicy stated, 188, note ; a letter to him from Junius, 18S, et scq.; his feehngs nice, if to be judged from his resentments, 1S8; comparative view of his Grace's advantages, what he ivas and what he might have been, i83, 189; avows his selling a borough, 189, and note ; defeated by the corporation of Bed- ford, 190, and note : accused of insensibility on the loss of his son, igo-; is horse-whipped at Litchfield, 190, note ; his Grace every way unfortunate, 190 ; his embassy to Versailles, the first important part of his history, 190 ; anecdote of his mission, 191, note : those who are acquainted with his Grace's pecu- niary character, are apt to suspect that such sacrifices would not have been made without some private compensations, 191 ; stipulations between him and lord Bute violated, 191 ; his outrageous conduct to the king, igr, 192 ; again solicits lord Bute's friendship, 192; measures to obtain and confirm his power, 192 ; admonitions of Junius to him, 193 ; vindicated Ly sir William Draper, 196, 197 ; Junius's view of his character, 198, 199 ; anecdotes of his Grace's liberality, and vindication of him, 159. 200. notes ; makes a public display of in- sensibility at the death of his son, 203 ; anec- dote of his parsimony, 203, note ; character of his Graces friends, 418. Bedford (Duchess of;, anecdote of, 203, note. Benson (Mr), challenged as a juryman by lord Mansfield, 250, 315. Bifrorzs, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 376 ; the duplicity of ministers ex- posed, 376, 377. Bill of Rights' Society, declaration and rcsolur liens of, 91, 92, note ; examination of their re- spective clauses by Junius, 91—97; reniarks on, ■ by Mr Wilkes, 110. Bingley (Mr), imprisoned for contumacj-, 145, note; illegally imprisoned, lif-j^note. Blackstone (Dr), solicitor to the Queen, 164 ; more anxious to preserve his place than his reputation, 164 ; letter to hini from Junius, 175 ; remarks on a pamphlet in defence of his conduct, 175, et scq. ; charged with asserting in the House of Commons doctrines differing 1 from those maintained in his Commentaries, 176; strictures thereon, 176, 177; that, when he spoke in the House, he never once thought on the Commentaries, until the contradiction was unexpectedly urged, 179 ; extract from his Commentaries on acts of attainder, \-]'S,,notc ; postscript to his pamphlet, entitled ' An An- swer to the Question stated,' 179, ct scq. ; Junius's reply thereto, 182, et seq. ; his doc- trine on the pains of death examined, 427, 428. ^^j/£»;/,. proceedings at, considered, 360, 361. Boutctort (Lord), appointed to succeed sir J. Amherst, as governor of Virginia, 388 ; reflec- tions on the choice of his Lordship, 389 ; re- marks on his Lordship, 391, 394, 395, 397. Boyd [Hwgh. Macaulay), a pretended author of the letters of Junius, 44 ; anecdotes of, 44 ; examination of the claims made for him, 44, et scq. ; proved not to be Junius, 50. Brndshaw (ISIr), secretary to the duke of Graf- ton, account of, 164, note ; amount of his pen- sion, and how secured, 225, note ; is called upon to convince and undeceive the public, 445, 446 ; exculpated by Mr Cooper, 448 ; further remarks on Mr B.'s conduct,448 ; letter to him, 448, 449 ; account of his political career, 504. Broinfu'ld (Mr\ opinion of, on tlie murder of George Clarke, 149, note. Brooke (Dr), said to be quartered upon the salary of a patent place, purchased by Mr Hine, 63, 211. Brutus, letter of, to lord North, on the choice of his friends and ministerial conduct, 73, note ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 414 ; the state of the ministry examined, 414 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 419 ; the same subject continued, 419, 420. Bucarelli (the Spanish governor of Buenos Ayres), acted in obedience to his order, 253, 254- Burgoyne (Colonel), history of the sale of a patent place, 67, 68 ; his expenses at Preston, 210 ; the purchase-money of the patent place said to be given to him for his services there, 211, and note. Burke (Mr), extract from his remarks on Junius, 3, note ; proof that he was not the author of Junius's Letters, 33, et seq. ; extracts from his speech on American taxation, 34 ; his enco- miums on lord Rockingham, 34 ; and on gen- eral Conway, 35 ; speech of, in the House of Commons, on the liberty of the press, 119 — 121, note : satirical speech attributed to him, 354, 355, notes. Bjite (Earl of), strictures on his mal-administra- tion, -,<6. Sio INDEX. Butler (Dr, Bishop of Hereford), estimate of his talents, 39 ; proofs that he did not write the Letters of Junius, 40. C. ( the private signature of yunius), letter of, to the printer of the Pubhc Advertiser, 371 ; the conduct of ministers towards Mr Wilkes, since his return to this country, examined, 371, et seq. ; to the same, 373 ; examination of the maxim, lutlhon tempus occurrit regi, 373, et seq. ; to the same, 378 ; that the endeavours of ministers to make us happy, have been equally indefatigable and ingenious, 378 ; illustration of this remark, by a detail of their conduct, 378 ; to the same, on the new commission of trade, 382, 383 ; reply to Insomnis, on the same subject, 384, 385. Calamities (national) caused by the conduct and character of ministers, 136. Calcraft (Mr), his vote worth reckoning in a division, 309 ; introduced into political notice by lord Holland, 309, note. Camden (Lord;, queries of, to lord Mansfield, on his charge to the jury at Mr Woodfall's trial, 118, note; the patron of America, 163 ; his noble resolution concerning the resolution of the House of Commons in col. Luttrell's affair, 224, note ; is commanded to resign the seals in consequence, 224, note; his opinion relative to the king's power during a recess of parlia- ment, 310, 311, note ; letter to his Lordship from Junius, 337 ; who calls upon him to stand forth in defence of the laws of his country, 337 ; portrait of, by Correggio, 348, and vote ; another, by Atticus, 417 ; accepts lord Mans- field's challenge, 455 ; who declines to reply to lord Camden, 456. Cani/-bcll ~X: D.\ his claims for Mr Boyd to be the author ofjunius's Letters, examined, 44 — 50 ; his claims disproved, 50. Carlton House, plan of tutelage and future do- minion over the heir-apparent, formed there many years ago, 214, 7iote. Chaviier (M.), appointed deputy secretary at war, 81, and note, 496 ; strictures thereon, 496. Charles I. and IL hypocrites, but of diflerent sorts, 1 e;9 ; treachery of the Scotch to Charles L, 218." Chatham (Lord', speech in parliament on Mr Woodfall's trial, 121, 122, note ; introduces the duke of Grafton into the political world, 159, and note; obliged to withdraw his name from an administration formed on the credit of it, 159; extract of his speech on the state of the country in 1771, 264, 265, note; the city of London vote their thanks to him for his de- claration in favour of short parliaments, and his reply, 291, note ; severe invective against him, 341 ; letter from his Lordship, stating the causes of his resignation, 342, note ; cen- sured by Anti-Sejanus, for accepting a pension and title, 346 ; the country indebted to him for the greatest part of the national debt, 362. CiLoiseul (NL), anecdote of, 191, note. Clarke ^Geo.), murdered at the Middlesex elec- tion, 148, note; warrant for pardoning his supposed murderer, 149, note. Cleophas, letters of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 398 ; sir J. Amherst's resignation considered, 398, 399, 403, 404. Clergy, are incapacitated from sitting in parlia- ment, 185. Cockbum (Air Serjeant), character of, 125. Coke (Sir Edward), observation on England, 125 ; his opinion with regard to the power of the House of Commons to commit for con- tempt, 269. Colonies, of America, alienated from their natu- ral affection to the mother country, 130 ; Stamp Act made and repealed, 130, and a new mode of taxing them invented, 130 ; eftect produced there by the Stamp Act, 160, note ; origin of hostilities between them and the mother country, 240, note; no assistance to be expected by the king, from their alienated afl'ections, 218 ; state of, considered, 216—218. Com7nissio7ied officers, number of, in the Guards, 319, 7iote. Commons, House of, their powers defined, 113 ; their conduct in the Middlesex election cen- sured by the marquis of Gran by, 1^6, note ; whether one of its members, who is expelled, is thereby incapacitated from being re-elected, 169, et seq. ; duties of, defined, 216, 217; that they have attributed to their own vote an authority equal to an Act of the legislature, 219 ; are only interpreters, whose duty it is faithfully to convey the sense of the people to the crown, 236 ; would best consult their dig- nity by appealing to the laws when ofiended, 264, and note ; arbitrary proceedings of, 264, 265, and notes ; strictures on their proceedings against the Newspaper printers, for reporting their debates, 471 — 473 ; statement of circum- stances connected therewith, and remarks on their powers of commitment, 471, 472, notes, 479, et seq. Conway (Hon. Henry Seymour), notice of, 155, note ; portrait of, 347. C^^/^r (Mr Grey), letter, exculpating Mr Brad- shaw, 448. Cornwallis (Lord), political sketches of, 442, 443- Corrector, letter of, on the errors of Lucius, 40S, 7iote. Correggio (Junius), letter of, 346 ; sketches out- lines of subjects for lord Townshend's pencil, 346—349. Corsica shamefully abandoned, 136 ; brief ac- count of its subjugation, 136, note; would never have been invaded, had the British court interposed with dignity and firmness, 161, and ftote. Council, satirical minutes of J. grand council, upon the affairs of Ireland, 351, et seq. Crito, letters from, to Mr Weston, 152, \^i,.note. Cromivell (Oliver), with all his crimes, had the spirit of an Englishman, 259. Crosby (Mr Alderman), spirited address to the Speaker of the House of Commons, 472, note ; committed to the Tower, 472, note; address to him on his conduct, 473, et seq. INDEX. Croivn, undue influence of, caused by long par- liaments, 114 ; the maxim, 'that no length of time secures against a claim of the crown,' examined and refuted, 366, et seq. Cumberland (\Vm duke of, in his time, parlia- mentary influence prevailed least in the army, 141. Cumberland (late duke of), letter to, on his marriage with Mrs Horton, 493, 494 ; account thereof, 493, 494. Cumbrie/isis, letter of, to the duke of Cumber- land, 493, 494; his Grace's nuptials considered, 493. 494- DalrymJ>le (Mr\ the author of the letters to Ju- nius, under the signature of Modestus, 121, note. Debt ;public\ obsers'ations on the increase of, 130 ; amount of, in 1763, 130, note. Dedication of ]umus's Letters to the people of England, reasons for, 112. De Grey (Lord Chief Justice^ strictures on his charge, while attorney-general, against the tendency of Junius's letters, 123. De la Fontaine (M.), appointed barrack-master to the Savoy, 67. De Lolme, (M.) remark of, on the liberty of the press, 127. Din^ley (Mr), an unsuccessful candidate for the county of Middlesex, 151, note ; his death, 274, note. Dodd (Lieutenant', applies to lieut. Garth for the assistance of his guard to rescue general Gansel, 205 ; remarks on Capt. D.'s conduct, 307, 436, 439, 440. Domltian, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 441 ; political sketches of ministers, 441 — 443; to the same, 452; the duke of Grafton's conduct while in office, examined, 452 — 454 ; to the same, 459 ; lord Sandwich's return to office, considered, 459; to the same, on the change of ministers, with a view of tb-ir respective talents, 462—465 ; ukcs leave of the duke of Grafton, 490, 491. Do-djnright, letter of, to the printer of the Pub- lic Advertiser, 362 ; the obligations of tlie country to lord Chatham, 362. Draper Sir Wm), biographical notice of, 135, note; vindicates and commends lord Granby, against the charges of Junius, 133 — 135 ; is in- volved in a controversy on account of his de- scription of his friend, 13S— 141, note ; stric- tures on Junius's letter to him, 13S, et scq. ; further vindicates lord Granby, 140, note; vindicates himself in the affair of the Manilla ransom, 142, 143 ; accounts for his promotions, 143; another letter to Junius, 144; answers a question proposed by Junius, 144, 145 ; poli- tics of sir William, not violent, 145, note; letter to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 146, note; plan for conciliating parties, 146 ; anecdote of, 146, note; is requested by the marquis of Granby to desist from vindicating him, 146, 147, note; defends himself against Junius, in another letter to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 147, note; to Junius, 193 ; complains of Junius's assertion, that he had sold the companions of his success, 194 ; that it is a malicious falsehood, and challenges the writer to meet the charges, 194 ; appeals to the gentlemen to whom he had applied in this affair, 194 ; to Junius ; that he has read his letter to the duke of Bedford with horror and astonishment, wherein an affec- tionate father is upbraided with the loss of an only and most amiable son, 196 ; that Junius goes wantonly out of his way to tor- ment declining age, 196 ; calls upon Junius to prove the duke's avarice before he draws his hasty and wicked conclusions, 196 ; but if an ambassador loves money too much, is this a proof that he has taken any to betray his country? 197; that the duke, however powerful, is amenable to justice, and that par- liament is the solemn and high tribunal, 197 ; sir William's account of the ministerial quar- rels, 197 ; contradicts the report of his being appointed to a government in America, 197, 198, note; vindicates lord Chatham against Mr Wilkes, 343—343, ^lotes. Dunning (J., lord Ashburton\ a reputed author of Junius, 51 ; proof that he was not Junius, 51 ; his address to the chamberlain of London, on receiving the freedom of the city, 232, 233, note. Duplicity, the predominant virtue of ministers, 376. Dyer (Samuel', proofs that he was not the writer of Junius's letters, 33. Dyson (Mrl, the author of 'The case of the late election for the county of Middlesex con- sidered,' 183, note : remarks on his services by Mr Flood, 52 ; loses his pension, 78, note. Egretnont (Lord), character of, 191, and note. Election, right of, the very essence of the con- stitution, 157. See Middlesex. Ellis (Mr Welbore), sure of disgrace, whether he make or suppress a motion, 234 ; account of his intended motion, 234, 7iote. Embezzlement of public nionej' charged against lord Holland in a petition of the city of Lon- don, 250 ; correspondence thereon between lord Holland and Mr Beckford, 250, et seq. England (people of), by nature somewhat phleg- matic, 365 ; advantages of this temper, 365 ; examples of it, 365, et seq. ; letters on the state of, 391—393, 411— 413 ; state of, in the spring of 17^7. 357. et seq. Expulsion from the House of Commons, on the right of, 157 ; of Mr Wilkes, the question thereupon stated, 169, et seq. ; whether the ex- pulsion of a member of the House of Com- mons creates incapacity of being re-elected, 170, et scq. ; the expulsion of Mr Walpole, and his re-election, how far a case in point, 170, Eyre (John\ correspondence between Junius and Mr Wilkes on his case, 108, et seq. ; bail- ed by lord Mansfield, 322 ; notice of his case, 322, 323, notes; the affairs stated and exam- ined according to the statutes, &.C., 326, et seq. : lord Camdens opinion that the bail was illegal, 512 INDEX. 337, note; letter from one of his three bail, 492, note. Faith/id Monitor^ letter of one, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 346 ; on the charac- ters of lord Townshend and his brother, 346, 347- Falkland's Islands, private letters of Junius con- cerning this affair, 71, 72, and notes; account of the seizure of, by order of the king of Spain, 465, note ; negotiations between the two coun- tries in consequence, 465, 466, 7iote ; queries proposed thereupon to the judges, 466, note ; protest of several peers concerning, 467, 468, note ; strictures on the whole of this trans- action, 465 — 469. Fiat Justitia, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 380; strictures on the letter of thanks to the commanding officer of the troops emploj^ed in St George's Fields, 381. Flood {Yi&wxy, M. P. in Ireland), proof that he did not v>'rite the letters of Junius, 52. Foot (Mr), opinion on the murder of Geo. Clarke, 149, note. Ford (Mr\ character of, 410 ; parallel between him and the earl of Hillsborough, 410. Fowke ^General), ruined by lord Barrington, 498 ; state of the circumstances, 498, 499, note. Fox (Right Hon. C. J.), speech of, in the House of Commons on liberty of tlie press, 118, 119, note ; nobly carries a bill through parliament, declaring juries to be full judges both of the law and the fact, 248, 249, 7iote. Fra-fice, influence of, over the continent might have been curtailed, 161, 7tote. Freedom of the press, the palladium of English rights, 113 ; strictures on, 115— 119. C. A., objections of, to Junius's state of the question concerning the Middlesex election, 172, note. Game Laivs, oppressive to the subject, 322. Gle ; proved not to be the writer of Junius's lecters, 33 ; examination of Mr Malone's evidence to the contrary, 38, et seq. Harhy (Mr), the government of the city said to be committed to him, 276. Hart/ord (Lord), remarks on his political con- duct, 442. Hrri'ey (Adjutant-general), character of, 134, 135- Hazuke (Sir Edward), the country highly in- debted to him, 132 ; remarks on his political career, 441, 442 ; his resignation considered, 462. Henricus, letter of, to lord Suffolk, on his con- duct, 483 ; his Lordship the first man who avowed himself to act without principle, 486 ; his political tergiversation, 4S7, 489 ; letter to lord Suffolk, 489 ; his Lordship's resignation a pledge of his delicacy, if not of his integrity, 489 ; strictures on the situation into which his Lordship brought himself, 490. Hillsboro7igh (Earl of), notice of his political life, 416, 417; is appointed to govern the colonies of America, 130 ; strictures on his administration, 130, 131; origin of the office to which he was appointed, 130, note ; his conduct towards sir J. Amherst considered, 391, 394 ; letters of Lucius to him on the same subject, 396, 397, 399 — 401 ; letter of his 514 INDEX. Lordship to sir Jeftery Amherst, 399, note; reply of A. B. thereto, 400, note ; other letters of Lucius on his Lordship's conduct to sir J. Amherst, 404 — 411 ; ironical encomium on lord H.,4i3- Hine [Mr), history of his purchase of a patent, 63, 210 ; the price at which it was knocked down, 211. History, chapters of materials for, 454 — 456. Holland (Lord), favoured by Junius, 58 ; peti- tion against his embezzling public money, by the city of London, 58, 59, note ; his letter to the lord mayor, 59; reply of tiie mayor, 59; answer of lord Holland, 60 ; observations on his accounts, as pay-master-gcneral, 60, 61 ; memorial of his Lordship, for longer time to make up his accounts, 61 ; his Majesty's war- rant to stay process against him for six months, 61, 62. Holt (Lord Chief Justice), anecdote of, 479, 7tote. Home (Rev. Mr), letter to Mr Onslow, charg- ing him with corruption, 63 — 65 ; is prosecuted by the latter, who is nonsuited, 65, note ; Ju- nius's private opinion on this affair, 66 ; his imforlunate endeavours in support of the nom- ination of sherift"s, 276 ; in his principles already a bishop, 276 ; his letter to Junius, 277 ; the reputation gained under this signa- ture, draws from him a reply, 277 ; he pro- fesses his readiness to lay down his life in opposition to ministerial measures, 277 ; that he did not solicit one vote in favour of Messrs Plumber and Kirkman, 277 ; letter to him from Whipcord, 27S, note ; letter to him from Ju- nius, 279 ; accused of having sold himself to the ministry, from his own letters, 279 ; his mode of attack on Mr Wilkes censured, 279 ; particulars of his dispute with Mr Wilkes, 279 — 282, note ; is censured for improperly iu- treducing a lady's name into the papers, 283 ; duped Mr Oliver, 283 ; another letter to Ju- nius, 283 ; charges hini with insufficiency and self-contradiction, 2S3 ; extract from one of his letters to 3Mr Wilkes, relative to their dis- pute, 284, 285, note; feels no reluctance to attack the character of any man, 2S6 ; that the darkness in which Junius thinks himself shrouded has not concealed him, 287 ; reflec- tions on the tendency of Junius's principles, 287, et seg. ; that Mr Wilkes did commission Mr Walpole to solicit a pension for him, 289 ; that, according to Junius, Mr Wilkes ought to hold the strings of his benefactors' purses, so long as he continues to be a thorn in the king's side, 290 ; that the leaders of the oppo- sition refused to stipulate certain points for the public, in case they should get into adminis- tration, 290 ; Junius's principles will suit no iorm of government, 291; is charged by Ju- nius with changing the terms of the proposi- tion, and supposing him to assert that it would be impossible for any man to write in the news- papers, and not be discovered, 292 ; Junius allows him a degree of merit, that aggravates his guilt, 293 ; his furious persecuting zeal softened into moderation, 294 ; that it is shameful for him who has lived in friendship with Mr Wilkes to reproach him with failings naturally connected with despair, 295 ; a fare- well epistle from Mr Home to Junius, 297. Hiitnphrey [}<\x), horse-whips the duke of Bed- ford, 190, note. Impressing^ seamen. See Seamen. Injluence (undue; of the crown, how produced, 114; Scottish, remarks on, 125, 218, 219. hinocent Reader, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 491. Inqnisitio post mortem, explanation of the term, 150, note. Insomnis, letter of, on the new commission of the Board of Trade, 383, 384 ; reply to, by C, 384, 385. Ireland, people of, uniformly oppressed, 217 ; parliaments of, made octennial, 240, and note ; satirical account of a grand council convened on the aflairs of Ireland, 351, et seg. Irnham (Lord), anecdotes of, 49, note; the father of colonel Luttrell, 324, tiote ; his daughter married to the duke of Cumberland, 493» 494- Johnson (Dr), Extract from his * Thoughts on Falkland's Islands,' 256, fiote. Judge , one may be honest enough in deciding private causes, yet a traitor to the public, 132. Junia, letter of, to the printer of the Public Ad- vertiser, 430; character of, and conjectures on, Junius, 430, 431 ; reply of Junius to her, 431- JUNIUS'S LETTERS, preliminary essay ON, i; state of Europe and of parties at home, during the period comprised in these letters, i ; discontents In the American colonies, i ; character of, and effects produced hy, the Let- ters of Junius, 2, 3, 9 ; proofs that the persons hitherto supposed to have written these letters, are not the authors of them, 4, m^i^"^ ; reasons for the present publication, 4, 6 ; account of the different signatures under which Junius wrote, and the reasons thereof, with extracts, 5, et seg. ; brief characters of sir William Draper and the marquis of Granby, 9 ; general account of the subjects discussed by Junius, 9, et seg. ; the private situation and circum- stances of Junius, II, et seg., 15, 16, 17 ; proofs of his intimate acquaintance with every thing connected with the court, 12, 13 ; his secret intelligence respecting public events, 13 ; pri- vate signals between Junius and his printer, 13, 14 ; their private correspondence, 14 ; attempts made to discover Junius by various persons, 15 ; remarks on Junius's last letter to lord Camden, 17 ; moral character of Junius, 18, 22 ; .account of the first genuine edition of Junius, 19 — 21 ; Junius's counsel to Mr Wood- fall on his prosecution, 23 ; political principles of Junius considered, 24, et seg. ; proofs that Junius was no party-man, 26, 27 ; religiou". opinions of Junius, 27, 28 ; knowledge and rank of Junius, 28, 29 ; remarks on his style, 29—32 ; and knowledge of the language, laws, INDEX. S15 constitution, and history of his country, 32 ; examination of the claims made to the author- ship of Junius, 33, et seq. I. Private Letters of Junius. To Mr WoODFALL. on the publication of his letters, 55, et seq. ; avows the impossibility of his ever being known, 66 ; to Mr Garrick, on his intermeddling with Junius, 75, and 7iote ; instructions to Mr Woodfall, concerning a col- lected edition of his letters, 76. et seq. ; desires to have one copy bound in vellum, 80 ; letter of Mr Woodfall tc him on that subject, 84, 85. To Mr Wilkes, 87, et seq. ; Junius assures Mr Wilkes of his support on constitutional prin- ciples, 87 ; on the Bill of Rights' Society, 87 ; on his connexion with Mr Sawbridge, 87, tt seq. ; Junius proposes a plan for reconciling them, 93 ; censures the conduct of the sup- porters of the Bill of Rights, 90—93 ; examines the articles of their declaration, 93 — 97, 101; on the proposed election of Mr Crosby to be lord mayor, 100, loi ; Junius declares that the public will never know him, 103 ; permits the reading of his second letter to the Bill of Rights' Socieiy, 104, et seq. ; thanks Mr Wilkes for his invitation to Guildhall on lord mayor's day, 107 ; advises him what line of conduct to pursue, as sheriff, 107 ; requesting information on Eyre's commitment, 108, 109. II. PuDLic Letters of Junius. Junius dedicates his letters to the people of England, 112 ; motives for, 112 ; was not the sole depositary of his own secret, 112, and fiote ; his motives for publishing his letters, 175; examination of lord Mansfield's curious doctrine of libels, n6 — 125 ; letter from, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, on the state of the nation, and the different departments of the state, 128 ; letter to sir William Draper, 135 ; commends sir William D.'s giving his name to the public, but asserts it to have been nothing but spirit, 135 ; requires instances of lord Granby's military skill, 136 ; proposes sundry queries to sir William, 137, 138 ; cha- racter of, 140, Note ; is called upon by sir William to 2ive his real name, 138 ; another letter to sir William Draper, 143 ; explains sir William's bargain with colonel Gisborne, 144 ; reply to sir William Draper, 145 ; de- clares himself to be a plain, unlettered man, 145; calls upon sir William to justify the de- claration of the sovereign in having done an act in his favour contrary to law, 147 ; takes his leave of sir William, 147, 148 ; sir William Draper relinquishes all personal enmity against Junius, 146, note ; letter to the duke of Graf- ton, 148 ; the only act of mercy to which the duke advised his Majesty, meets with dis- approbation, 148 ; that it was hazarding too much, to interpose the strength of prerogative between such a felon as Mac Quirk and the justice of his country, 149 ; the pardoning of MacQuirk, and the reasons assigned for it, considered, 149, et seq. ; to the duke of Graf- ton, 150; that one fatal mark seems to be fixed on every measure of his Grace, whether in a personal or political character, 150 ; that a certain ministerial writer does not defend the minister, as to the pardoning of MacQuirk, on his own principles, 151 ; that his Grace can best tell for which of Mr Wilkes's good quali- ties he first honoured him with his friendship, 151 ; to Mr Edward Weston, 152; quotesfrom his supposed pamphlet, with remarks, 153 ; to the duke of Grafton, 153 ; that his Grace was at first scrupulous of even exercising those powers, with which the executive power of the legislature is invested, 153, 154 ; that he re- served the proofs of his intrepid spirit for trials of greater hazard, 155 ; and balanced the non-execution of the laws, with a breach of the constitution, 155 ; to the duke of Grafton, 15S ; that his Grace addresses himself simply to the touch, 15S ; speculates upon his Grace's character, 158 ; his Grace's character resem- bles that of his royal ancestors, 15S ; details the progress of the duke's political career, 159, et seq. ; to the duke of Grafton, 166 ; if his talents could keep pace with the principles of his heart, he would have become a most formidable minister, 166 ; that he became the leader of an administration, gradually collect- ed from the deserters of all parties, interests, and connections, 167 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 169 ; attempts to state with justice and precision the question arising from Mr Wilkes's expulsion, and the appointment of Mr Luttrell, 169 ; Mr Walpole's expulsion considered, and the case of his re-election how far in point, 170, 171 ; to sir \yilliam Black- I stone, 175 ; a certain pamphlet in vindication ; of his conduct, considered, 176 ; Mr Grenville , and sir William Meredith, defended from sonie aspersions in this pamphlet, 176, ct seq. ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 182 ; that the author of a certain pamphlet, in defence of the proceedings relative to the Middlesex election, quotes only such parts of Mr Wal- pole's case as seemed adapted to his purpose, 182 ; that the House of Commons meant to declare that Mr Walpole's incapacity arose from the crimes he had committed, 182 — 184 ; they also declared the other candidate not duly elected, 184; explains some passages in his last letter, i36 ; to the duke of Bedford, 188 ; causes of his Grace's unpopularity, iSS, and note ; that he has lost much of his author- ity and importance, 189, et seq. ; importance of his mission to Versailles, 190 ; those who are acquainted with his Grace's pecuniary character, suspect that such sacrifices would not have been made without some private com- \ pensations, 191 ; stipulations made between him and lord Bute, and violated, 191 ; th* measures he took to obtain and confirm his power considered, 192, 193 ; to sir WiUiam Draper, 194 ; that, after attacking Junius under that character, he had no right toknow him under any other, 195 ; that sir William was appointed colonel of a regiment greatly out of his turn, 195 ; Junius does not think it necessary he should be exposed to the reseat- 51^^ INDEX. ment of tlic worst and most powerful men in the countrj'-, 195 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 198 ; sir William still continues a fatal friend, 198 ; the duke of Bedford's liberal- ity stated, 199; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 201 ; applauds the spirit with which a lady has paid the debt of gratitude to her benefactor, 201 ; this single act of benevo- lence the more conspicuous from standing alone, 201 ; to the printer of the Public Adver- tiser, 204; the present ministry as singularly marked by their fortune as their crimes, 204 ; and seem determined to perplex us with the multitude of their offences, 204; a major- general of the army arrested for a consider- able debt, and rescued by a sergeant and some private soldiers, 204, 205 ; that this is a wound given to the law, and no remedy has been applied, 205 ; the main question is, how the ministry have acted on this occasion, 205 ; the aggravating circumstances of this affair stated, 206 ; that the regiments of Guards, as a corps, are neither good soldiers nor good subjects, 2o5 ; that the marching regiments are the best troops in the world, 206 ; Junius vindicates liimself from the charge of inllaming tlie minds of the people, 207 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 209 ; admits the claim of INIodestus in the Gazetteer, 209 ; that Modes^.us having insinuated that the offenders in the rescue may still be brought to trial, any attempt to pre- judge the cause would be highly improper, 209 ; that, if the gentlemen whose conduct is in question be not brought to trial, the duke of Grafton sliall hear from him again, 209 ; leaves it to his countrymen to deter- mine by what motives he is animated, 209 ; to the duke of Grafton, 209 ; he gives the duke credit for his discretion in refus- ing i\Ir Vaughan's proposals, 210 ; enquires the price of Mr Hine's patent, 210; and whether his Grace dares to complain of an attack upon his ov/n honour while he is selling the favours of the crown, 210 ; to the duke of Grafton, 210 ; is surprised at the silence of his Grace's friends to the charge of having sold a patent place, 210 ; the price at which it was knocked down, 211; none of his Grace's friends are bold enough to deny this charge, 211 ; that Mr Vaughan's offer amounted to a high mis- demeanour, 212; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 213 ; Junius supposes a well-in- tentioned prince asking advice for the happi- ness of his subjects, 213 ; and in what terms an honest mar., if permitted to approach his sovereign, would address him, i'i3 ; separates the amiable prince from the folly and treachery of his servants, 214 ; that the king should dis- tinguish between his own dignity and what serves only to promote the interest and ambi- tion of a minister, 214 ; that he should with- draw his confidence from all parties, and con- sult only his own understanding, 214 ; that there is an original bias in his education, 215 ; that a little personal motive was sufficient to displace the ablest advocates of the crown, 215 ; that Mr Wilkes, when he attacked the favourite, was unworthy of a king's royal re- sentment, 215, 216; that the destruction of one man was, for many years, the sole object of government, 216 ; that his ministers have forced the subjects, from wishing well to the cause of one man, to unite with him in their own, 216 ; that nothing but the repeal of a cer- tain resolution can heal the wound given to the constitution, 216 ; if an English king be hated or despised, he must be unhappy, 217 ; that it is in vain for the king to look for assist- ance either from Ireland or from the colonies, 218 ; that the /cing takes the sense of the army from the conduct of the Guards, as he does that of the people from the representations of the ministry, 219 ; that the House of Commons have attributed to their own vote an authority, equal to an act of the legislature, 219; recom- mends to the king a line of conduct towards | Mr Wilkes, 220, 221 ; to the duke of Grafton, 222 ; in his public character he has injured every subject in the empire, 222 ; at the most active period of life, he must quit the busy scene, and conceal himself from the world, 222 ; the situation, in which he abandoned the king, 224 ; that he either differed from his colleagues, or thought the administration no longer tenable, 224 ; that he began with betraying the people, and concluded with be- traying the king, 224; vindicates Mr Vaughan, as a much injured man, 225 ; takes his leave of the duke of Grafton, 225, 226 ; to the printer of th-e Public Advertiser, 226 ; the king's answer to the city remonstrance considered, 226 — 229 : the grievances of the people aggra- vated by insults, 229 ; the city of London have set an example, worthy to be followed by the whole kingdom, 230 ; if any part of the repre- sentative body be not chosen by the people, that part vitiates and corrupts the whole, 230 ; instead of answering the city's petition, his jMajesty pronounces his own panegyric, 230, 231 ; whether the remonstrance be or be not | injurious to parliament, is the very question between parliament and the people, 231 ; the city of London has not desired the king to assume a power placed in other hands, 232 ; they call upon him to make use of his lawful prerogative, 232 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 233 ; that the king's answer to the city of London is only the sentiment of the minister, 233 ; the consequences of which, how- ever, materially affect his Majesty's honour, 233 ; who should never appear but in an amiable light to his subjects, 233 ; an appeal to his ^lajesty's judgment, 235 ; addresses from parliament, considered as a fashionable unmeaning formality, 235 ; their consequences considered, when supposed to mean what they profess, 235, 236 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 236 ; while parliament was sitting, it would have been neither safe nor regular to have offered any opinion on their proceedings, 236 ; we had a right to expect something from their prudence, and something from their fears, 237 ; the majority of the House of Lords join with the other House, 23b; they would hardly INDEX. 517 have yielded so much to the other House, without the certainty of a compensation, 239 ; they did not vindicate their own dignity when grossly attacked, 239 ; strictures on the busi- ness of the session after voting the supplies, 240, ^/ ^i-f. ; the king's situation after proroguing the parliament, 241 ; to lord North, 243 ; the honour of rewarding Mr Luttrell's services re- seived for his Lordship, 243 ; whom he calls upon to tell the country who advised the king to appoint colonel Luttrcll adjutant-general to die army of Ireland, 243 ; to lord Mansfield, 244 ; danger of writing to his Lordship, who is both judge and party, 244 ; a tribute paid to his Scotch sincerity, 245 ; anecdotes of his Lordship, 245, ^lote ; that his Lordship consoles himself for the loss of a favourite family, by reviving the maxims of their government, 245 ; his maxims of jurisprudence direct his inter- pretation of the law and the treatment of juries, 246 ; that the court of King's Bench thereby becomes a court of equity, 246 ; his conduct with regard to Bingley's affair, 247, and iiote ; charges his Lordship with invading the province of the jury in matter of libel, 248 ; his Lord- ship's charge to the jury, in the prosecution of Almon and Woodfall, contradicted by the high- est legal authorities, 249 ; that he ordered a spe- cial juryman to be set aside, without any legal objection, 250 ; is accused of having done great mischief to this country as a minister, 250 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 252 ; violence and treachery at home supported by treachery and submission abroad, 252 ; the expedition of the Spaniards against Port Eg- mont, 253 ; his Majesty's ship detained in port above twenty days, 253 ; the king's speech, Nov. 1770, considered, 253 ; if »!.e actual situ- ation of Europe be considered, when the affair of Port Egmont happened, the treachery of the king's servants will appear in the strongest colours, 254 ; a most favourable opportunity is lost, 255 ; the aft'air of Port Egmont aff"ords materials for a fable, 255 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 259 ; we have nothing to apprehtmd from prerogative, but much from undue mflucnce, 261 ; our political climate, se- verely altered, 261 ; the nature and origin of privilegos traced and considered, 262, et seq. ; to the duke of Grafton, 272 ; that the king would in vain have looked round the kingdom for a character so consummate as that of his Grace, 2/2 ; that his Grace did not neglect the magistrate while he flattered the man, 273 ; that his Grace has abundance of other merit, to recommend him to the sovereign, 273 ; to the duke of Gn»fton, 274 ; that he never formed a friendship, that did not prove fatal to the ob- ject of it, 274 ; his Grace's services to his royal master have been faithfully recorded, 275 ; his Grace's re-appointment to a seat in the cabinet, how announced to the public, 275 ; that his Grace is the pillow, upon which he is determined to rest all his resentments, 276 ; to the Rev. Mr Home, 279 ; concludes from Mr Home's own letters, that he sold himself to ' the ministry, 279 ; censures his attack on Mr Wilkes, 279 ; and his improper introduction of a lady's name into the papers, 283 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 292; if any coarse expressions have escaped Junius, he agrees that they are unfit for his pen, but they may not have been improperly applied, 292 ; that, upon Mr Home's terms, there is no danger in being a patriot, 293 ; by what gentle degreeshis persecuting spirit has been softened into moderation, 294; causes of Junius's de- testation of the duke of Grafton, 294 ; a fare- well letter to Junius froni Mr Home, 297 ; Junius to the duke of Grafton, 298 ; that his Grace has done as much mischief to the com- munity as Cromwell would have done, if he had been a coward, 298 ; the enormous ex- cesses, through which court influence has safely conducted his Grace, without a ray of real understanding, 298 ; it is like the universal passport of our ambassodor, 29S ; his AL^jesty in want of money, and the navy in want of timber, 299; a warrant issued for cutting down trees in Whittlebury forest, of which his Grace is hereditary ranger, 299 ; his Grace's beha- viour on this occasion, 300 ; the oaks keep their ground, and the king is defrauded, 300 ; to the livery of London, 304 ; the election of a chief magistrate, a point in which every member of the community is interested, 304 ; that the question, to those who mean fairly to the liberties of the people, lies in a narrow com- pass, 304 ; Mr Nash's character, as a public man and a magistrate, 304, 305 ; he cannot alter his conduct without confessing that he never acted on principle of any kind, 305 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 305 ; Ju- nius laments the unhappy differences which have arisen among the friends of the people, 305 ; the insidious partisan, who foments the disorder, sees the fruit of his dishonest industry ripen beyond his hopes, 305 ; that Mr Wilkes has no resource but in the public favour, 306 ; that Mr Alderman Sawbridge has evinced that republican firmness which the times require, 307 ; the right of pressing seamen founded originally upon a necessity that supersedes all argument, 307 ; the designs and conduct of lord Mansfield further investigated, 308, ei seq. ; patriotism is capable of being improved by transplanting, 309 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 321 ; Junius vindicates himself from the charge of misrepresentations, 321, 322 ; to lord Mansfield, 322 ; charges his Lordship with doing an illegal act in baili:ig Eyre, 323; Junius engages to make good this charge, 323 ; to the duke of Grafton. 323 ; on the miserable depression of the duke, when almost every man in the kingdom was exulting at sir James Lowther's defeat, 323, 324 ; that he violates his own rules of decorum, when he does not insult the man whom he has betray- ed, 324 ; to lord Mansfield, 325 ; that the su- perior power of bailing for felony, in the court of King's Bench, has only the negative assent of the legislature, 326 ; that a person, posi- tively charged with feloniously stealing, and taken with the stolen goods upon hiai, is not si3 INDEX. bailable, 327 ; the law stated, 327 ; the several statutes relative to bail, stated in due order, 328, et seq. ; the law as stated, applied to the ! case of John Eyre, who was committed for ] felony, 334; to the right hon. lord Camden, ! 337 ; Junius calls on his Lordship to stand I forth in defence of the laws of his country, 337; I extract of a letter from Junius to Mr Wilkes, 338 ; Junius renounces his hostility to lord Chatham, 364, and note: apparent incon- sistencies in his conduct accounted for, 371, note I to the printer of the Public Adver- tiser, 422 ; the treatment of Mr Wilkes j considered, in the affair of general war- rants, 422, 423 ; to the same, 425 ; on the 1 monody written on his supposed death, 425, 426 ; exaggerated character of Junius by Silurus, 426, note; character of, and conjee- \ tures on, Junius, by Junia, 430, 431 ; Junius's | reply to her, 431 ; Junius's attack on lord Mansfield's doctrine, in the Grosvenor cause, defended, 461. References to other letters of Junius will be found in this index under the following arti- cles, viz. A. B., Ainicics Curiae, A7ionyj/ious Letters, A rd i- Belial, Anti-Fox, Anti-Sej anus, Auti-Van-Tcagtie, Atticus, Aitgiir, Bifi-ons, Brutus, C, Corrector, Cor7-eggio, C7-ito, Cuin- brisusls, JDojnitian, Downright, Henricus, Juniper L. L., I\Inemon, Aloderator, jSIode- ratus. Nemesis, Phalaris, Philo Jitnijis, Tell- Truth, Tewp07-uin Felicitas, Testicuhis, Ti- tus, Valerian, Vfteran, X. X., V. Z. Jury, examination of lord Mansfield's charge to, on the trial of Mr Woodfall, 116, et seq. ; their functions defined, 124, 125 ; juries have the full power of judging both of the law and the fact, 248, note. Juniper s letter, in vindication of Junius, 495. Justice, impartial administration of, the firmest security of a government, 132 ; letter from, vindicating the duke of Grafton, 211, notes. Ken7iedys (Matthew and Patrick), condemned for murder, but pardoned at the intercession of a prostitute, 242, and 7iote. Ki7ig, the power of King, Lords, and Commons, proved not to bean ^riJiVrrtr;' power, 113, and note ; the maxim, ' that the king ca7i do 710 •wro7ig,^ examined, 125, 126, 214 ; mismanage- ment of his affairs in the House of Commons, 130 ; favourable auspices with which he com- menced his reign, 162 ; Junius's letter to him, 213, ct seq. ; extract from his Majesty's speech, Nov. 13, 1760, 214, 7wte ; extract of his speech in 1767, 358, 7iote ; fictitious discussion of, 35S, ct seq. ; answers of, to the addresses and re- monstrances of parliament, and of the city of London, 227, 228, 229, note; his speech, Nov. 1770, considered, 253 ; particulars of his !Ma- jesty's dispute with the city, 443, 444, 7iote; remarks thereon by Moderatus, 443 — 445 ; the king cannot change the law by his pro- clamation, 444; conversation of his Majesty with lord Barrington, 499. L. L., letter of, to the printer of the Public Ad- vertiser, 388 ; on sir JefFery Amherst's dis- mission from his government, 388. Land Tax Act, vaiidky of, questioned by Mr Alderman Townshend, 446, note ; abstract of the trial of this question, 446, 447, ftote. Laws of England grow out of the constitution, 112. Lee iGeneral), examination of his claims to the authorship of Junius's letters, 40, et seq. ; proved not to have written them, 43." Legge (Mr), dismissed from office, for party pur- poses, 215, 7iote, Legislature, not vested with arbitrary power, 113, and 7wte. Libel, vilifying the House of Commons or its members, punishable as severely in the King's Bench as one upon the king, 264. Liberty of the press, the palladium of British rights, 113, 114 ; strictures on, 115 — 119 ; re- marks on, by De Lolme, 127. Lice7itious7iess of the press, charge of, examined, 116 — 119. Ligonier (Lord), the command of the army taken from him against his inclination, 137. Livery of Loiido7i, letter to, on the choice of a chief magistrate, 304, 305, Lloyd (Charles), proof that he was not the writer of the letters of Junius, 33. Lo7idon (City of), petition on the embezzlement of public treasure, 58, 59, 7iote ; replj' thereto by lord Holland, 59 ; has given an example in what manner a king of this country should be addressed, 168, 227, et stq., 7iote ; addresses of, considered, 226, 227, 7iote ; copies of the ad- dresses, remonstrances, and petitions to the king, 227 — 229, 7iote ; particulars of their dis- pute with the king, 443, 444, 7iote ; remarks thereon, 443 — 445 ; strictures on their remon- strance, 449, 453; vote of thanks to lord Chat- ham, for his declaration in favour of short parliaments, 290, 291, 7iote. Lords and Commons, powers of, defined, 113. Lords (House of , order all strangers to be ex- cluded, 454. Lottery, the worst possible way of raising money, 130. Loyalty, nature of, defined, 12S. Z^ic^A^r (Sir James), his interest in the county of Cumberland ruined by the duke of Grafton, 151 ; his litigious spirit displayed in the county of Cumberland, 300, 301, 7iote ; nonsuited in his cause against the duke of Portland, 303, 7iote; letters relative to his grant, 365, 367, 369- Lucius, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 391 ; lord Hillsborough's conduct towards sir J. Amherst considered, 391 ; letter to his Lordship on the same subject, 396, 397 ; to lord Hillsborough, 399; his Lordship's nego- tiation with sir J. Amherst examined, 399 — 401 ; reply of Cleophas, 403, 404 ; to the earl of Hillsborough, in refutation of Cleophas, 404 — 406 ; the same subject continued, 406 — 408 ; to the same, 408 ; there is no surer sign of a weak head, than a settled depravity of heart, 408 ; strictures on his Lordship's system of morals, 409 ; his Lordship's advice to the INDEX. S19 governors of the colonies considered, 408, 409 : list of epithets applied by his Lordship to Lucius, 410 ; Lucius to the earl of Hills- borough, 410 ; reply to his Lordship's letter in the Gazetteer, 411. Littirell (Mr!, successfully patronized by the duke of Grafton, 156 ; his arbitrary appoint- ment a violation of the constitution, 167; the question arising from Mr Wilkes"s expulsion, and Mr L.'s appointment, attempted to be stated with justice and precision, 169, et seq. ; lord Camden's manly disapprobation of the proceedings of the House of Commons con- cerning him, 224, uoie ; further observations on his being seated in parliament to the ex- clusion of Mr Vrilkes, 450; strictures on his appointment to be adjutant-general of Ireland, 243, and note ; he resigns that office, 244, note. Lynn, burgesses of, re-elect Mr Walpole, after being expelled, 171. Mackenzie (Mr Stuart), biographical notice of, 192. Macpherso7i [Sir John), monody on Junius, 425, 426, 7iote. Macleane {Mr L.), remarks on, 471 ; account of, 471, note. MacQuirk (Edward), charged with murder at the Middlesex election, 148, 7iote ; his Ma- jesty's warrant for pardoning him, 149, note : the pardoning of him much censured, 149 ; the reasons assigned for it examined and re- futed, 149, et seq. ; the duke of Grafton's con- duct in this affair considered by Simplex, 427, 428. Malone (Mr), examination of his evidence to prove that Mr Hamilton did not write Junius's letters, 38, 39. Manilla ransom dishonourably given up, 136 ; notice of, 136, note. Mans/ield (Lord), anecdotes of, 245, notes; strictures on his charge to the jury in the case of libels, 308, et seq. ; his charge to the jury on the trial of Mr Woodfall for publishing the letters of Junius, 117, iiS, tiote ; queries pro- posed to him in the House of Lords thereupon by lord Camden, 118, 7iote ; his extraordinary dictian in giving the opinion of the court of King's Bench, 122, 123, 7iote ; extract from his eloquent speech on reversal of Mr Wilkes's outlawry, 154, 710 ie ; speech on the prosecu- tion of Mr Vaughan, 212, 7iote ; Junius pays a tribute to his Scotch sincerity, 245 ; that his Lordship had some attachments, which he took every opportunity to acknowledge, 245 ; is charged with reviving the maxims of govern- ment of his favourite family, 245 ; and with following a uniform plan of enlarging the power of the crown at the subjects' expense, 245 ; that he labours to contract the power of the jury, or to mislead their judgment, 246 ; that, instead of positive rules which should de- termine a court, he has introduced his own unsettled notions of equitj', 246 ; his conduct in regard to Bingley's confinement and release, 247 ; his charge to the jury contradicts the highest egal authorities, 248—250 ; is remind- ed of the name of Benson, 250 ; charged with doing much mischief to this country as a minister, 250 ; and with supporting a ministry which he knew to be odious, and spoke of sometimes with contempt, 251; his suspicious applause of lord Chatham, 314, et seq. : his reasons for challenging a juryman, 315 ; is de- defended by solicitor-general Thurlow, 315, note; is accused of endeavouring to screen the king's brother, 316 ; and of introducing new practices into the court of King's Bench, 316 ; is charged by Junius with bailing a man not bailable by the law of the land, 325 ; lord Camden accepts his challenge to discuss the doctrine laid down by the King's Bench in Woodfall's case, 455 : lord INIansfield refuses to answer his Lordship, 456 ; his conduct on ^Ir Woodfall's trial defended by Nerva, 456, 457, 7iotes; attacked by Phalaris, 456—458; report of his Lordship's decision in the case of Meares and Shepley against Ansell, 79, 7iote. Pleasures and 7tot 7iicn, the common cant of affected moderation, 196, 710 te ; a quotation from Pope on this subject, 196, 7iote. I\Ic7-edith 'Sir William), vindicated from some aspersions thrown out against him, in a pamph- let written in defence of sir William Black- stone, 176, et seq. Messaia, letter of, vindicating the duke of Grafton's conduct towards the duke of Rut- land, 434, 435. Middlesex election, petition of the freeholders of this county to the king, in consequence of the decision of the House of Commons on the Middlesex election, 55, 7iote ; proceedings of parliament in, censured by the marquis of Granby, 146, 7iote ; sheriffs of, discharge their duty in returning Mr Wilkes, 156 ; account of his successive re-elections for this county, 156, note: the arbitrary election of Mr Luttrell a violation of the constitution, 167 ; this election considered, 172 — 174, and notes, 446, 447. Mi7tistry, arrangement of, in 1769, 128, 7iote. J/iuisters. To be acquainted with their merit it is sufficient to observe the condition of the people, 128 ; their misconduct is the cause of the sudden and extraordinary change within these few j-ears in Great Britain, 129 ; the conduct and character of ministers the real cause of national calamities, 136 ; a minister in this country who is determined to do wrong must be a man of abilities and courage, 363 ; ministers are called upon to answer for the excesses attendant on Mr Wilkes's election, •^72, et seq.; their conduct towards him fully considered, 371 — 373 ; they produce him once more on the stage in order to keep lord Bute in order, 373 ; duplicity their predominant virtue, 376; illustrated in their conduct to- wards the duke of Portland, 376, 377 ; their endeavours to make us happy have been equally indefatigable and ingenious, 378 ; are charged by Valerius with violating the rights of long and undisputed possession, for the pur- poses of undue influence at an election, and of paying a base court to a clandestine and dan- gerous power, 379 ; the line of conduct stated INDEX. which they ought to have pursued in the duke of Portland's case, 380 ; their conduct towards sir J. Amherst considered, 391, 394, 395 ; do not always tell the truth even to their most intimate friends, 419. Mnemo/i, letters of, to the printerof the Public Advertiser, 365 ; that the people of England are by nature phlegmatic, 365 ; the principle that no length of possession secures against the claim of the crown controverted, 366 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 367 , the maxim milium tempits occiirrii regi, further discussed, 367, etseq. Moderator, letter of, to the printer of the Pub- lic Advertiser, 349 ; strictures on the contest between Philo Veritatis and No Ghost, on lord Townshend's bravery, 349 — 351. 3Ioderatits, letter of, to the printer of the Public Ad\ ertiser, 443 ; strictures on the king's dis- pute with the city of London, 443, 444, note. Modestits, charges Junius with absurdity in his writings, 202 ; cannot distinguish between a sarcasm and a contradiction, 202 ; is charged with misquoting what Junius says of con- science, and making the sentence ridiculous by making it his own, 203 ; who was the real writer under the signature of Modftstus, 202, 7iote ; remarks on his contest with Junius, 437, 438 ; another letter of Modesfas to Junius, 439 ; strictures on the conduct of captains Garth and Dodd, 439, 440. Alonody on Junius, 425, 426, note. Montesquieu, maxim (jf. 147, note. Moore (Sir John), has ■^ ;)ension of ^500 per ann., 162, and note : query concerning it, 163. Morris (Mr), speech of, on the arrest of printers for printing the debates in parliament, 475, 476, 7iote. Mitsgrave (Dr), firmness and integrity of, before the House of Commons, 239, and note. Nash (Mr), state of the poll at his election, 90, note ; considerations on his character as a magistrate, and as a public man, 304, and note. Nation, when its safety is at stake, suspicion is a sufficient ground for enquiry, 128. Navy, woeful state of, in 1771, 299, and note. Nemesis, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 505 ; memoirs of lord Barrington, 505- Nerva, letter of, to the printer of the Public Ad- vertiser, 456, note ; vindicates lord Mansfield's conduct in the House of Lords, 456, 457, note. Nezvbery s edition of Junius, remarks on, 57. Noblejneit (young), advantage of their entering into the army, 142. North (Lord), his remarks on the letters of Junius, 2, note ; letter to, on the choice of his friends, and ministerial conduct, 73, note ; doubts as to his abilities as chancellor of the Exchequer, 129 ; is admonished to think seriously before he increases the public debt, 130; the palm of ministerial firmness trans- ferred to him, 226 ; description of his person, 234, note ; had the means of reducing the four per cents at once, 241 ; but loses the oppor- tunity, 241, and note; the honour of reward- ing colonel Luttrcll's services reserved for him, 243 ; is called upon by Junius to tell who advised his Majesty to appoint colonel Lut- trell adjutant-general of Ireland, a43 ; he shall not have time to new-model the Irish army, 244 ; Lord North's defence of himself relative to sir Wm. Lowther's grant, 368, note; poli- tical portrait of him, 416. Northing-ton (Lord Chancellor), portrait of, by Junius, 348. Noye (Mr Attorney-Generar, his opinion of the privilege of the House of Commons to commit for contempt, 270. Nulhtnt tempjts ocnirrit regi. This maxim examined and exposed, 367, et seq. ; investi- gated by C. (Junius), 373 ; it could only be true under the feudal government, 374. Old Noll, destined to be the ruin of the house of Stuart, 163 ; grants that Corsica has been sacrificed to the French, 165 ; a nick-name of Oliver Cromwell, 164, note. (9«j^w (Mr), threatens to prosecute Mr Wood- fall for printing a libel on his character, 58 ; correspondence of, on this subject, 62, et seq.; letter to him by ]\lr Home, 63, 64 ; whom he sues, but is nonsuited, 65, 7iote ; Junius's pri- vate opinion of him, (>(> ; letters to Mr Wilkes, 435. 430, and 7tote. Outlawry of Mr Wilkes, extract from lord ^Mansfield's speech on reversing it, 154, 155, notes. Parliavtents, view of the dissolution and re-as- embling of, during the present reign, 113, ?iote ; long parliaments the foundation of the undue influence of the crown, 114; the privilege nf parliaments considered, 174 ; addresses from parliament considered as a fashionable un- meaning formality, 235 ; their consequences considered when they mean what they profess, 235, 236 ; fictitious account of the debates in parliament, in 1767, 356, et seq. Parsons (Ann), the duke of Grafton's mistress, 155, 7iote ; led into public by him, and placed at the head of his table, 162 ; handed through the Opera-house in presence of the queen, by the first lord of the Treasury, 164 ; base conduct of the duke of Grafton towards her, 157, 7iote. Parties, union of, not productive of the benefit expected therefrom, 129 ; plan for conciliating, recommended by sir William Draper, 146, 7iote. People. — The submission of a free people, a compliance v.-Ith laws enacted by thems-rlves, 128 ; in reading the history of, how v.e become interested in their cause, 128 ; the impartial administration of justice, the firmest bond to secure their submission, and to engage their affections to government, 132. Percy (Earl), placed at the head of a regiment, 141 ; was aid-de-camp to the king, and had rank of colonel, before he had a regiment, 144. Phalaris, letter of, to the printer of the Public INDEX. 521 Advertiser, 456 ; replies to Nerva, against lord Mansfield's conduct in Mr Woodfali's afifair, 456 — 45S ; a card from Phalaris, on Mr Jus- tice's amours with lady Williams, 460. Philo yicnius to the printer of the Public Ad- vertiser, 162 ; that the duke of Grafton's friends, in the contest with Junius, are re- duced to the general charge of scurrility and falsehood, 162; the truth of Junius's facts of; importance to the public, 162 ; a review of i them, as stated in Letter XII., 162, 163 ; and } the letter to the printer of the Public Adver- tiser, 163 ; that the duke of Grafton's whole course of life is a strange endeavour to recon- cile contradiction, 163; a violation of public decorum should never be forgiven, 164 ; re- marks on the duke's conduct in this respect, 164 ; that his Grace always has some excel- lent reasons for deserting his friends, 165 ; ironical notice of lord Sandwich, 165, and note; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 172; the objections of G. A. to Junius's stale of the question concerning the ^liddlesex election, considered, 172, et scq.; vindicates Junius's reasoning on Mr Walpole's case, 183, 184, note ; charges the ministry with introducing a new system of political logic, which he calls argument against fact, 186 ; that sir William Blackstone sometimes contradicts the ministry as well as himself, 1S7 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 202 ; he is assured that Junius will never descend to a dispute with such a writer as Modestus, 202 ; examination of the proofs brought to support the charge of Junius being an Irishman, 202, 203 ; that Mo- destus misquotes what Junius says of con- science, and makes the sentence ridiculous by making it his own, 203 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 207 ; remarks on Junius's Letter XXX. , 207 — 209 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 257 ; that Anti -Junius triumphs in having, as he supposes, cut off an outpost of Junius, 258 ; that Junius does not speak of the Spanish nation, but the Spanish court, as the natural enemies of England, 258 ; if it were not for the respect he bears the min- ister, he could name a man who, without one grainof understanding, can do half as much as Oliver Cromwell, 25Q ; as to a secret system in the closet, that this can only be determined by appearances, 259 ; the queries put by Anti- Junius can only be answered by the ministry, 258 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 265; that those who object to detached parts of Junius's last letter, cither do not mean fairly, or have not considered the scope of his argument, 265, 266 ; that Junius does not ex- pect a dissolution of parliament will destroy corruption, but will be a terror and check to their successors, 266 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 266 ; on Junius's construc- tion of the vote declaring Mr Walpole's inca- pacity, 266 ; extract from lord Somers, in support of this construction, 266 ; if Junius's construction be admitted, the advocates of the House of Commons must be reduced to the necessity of m.iintaining a gross absurdity. 267 ; that the House did not foresee one effect resulting from their vote on the Middlesex election, 269 ; to the printer of the Public Ad- vertiser, 269 ; on the opinions of Noye and Coke, on the jurisdiction of the House of Commons, 270; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 270 ; the resolutions and conduct of the House further considered, 270, 271 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 296 ; the vanity and impiety of Junius are become tlie perpetual topics of abuse, 296 ; the proofs of this charge considered, 296 ; and refuted, 297 ; to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 310 ; that Junius's inclination leads him to treat lord Camden with particular respect, 310 ; that lord Camden overshot himself in asserting the pro- clamation against exporting corn to be lefjal, jii ; to Zeno, 312 ; the sophistry of his letter in defence of lord Mansfield, is adapted to the character he defends, 312, 313 ; strictures on lord iSIansfield's doctrines, 315—317 ; that his Lordship incessantly laboured to introduce new modes of proceeding into the court of King's Bench, 316 ; to an Advocate in the cause of the people, 317; the difference be- tween general warrants and press-warrants, stated and explained, 318. Philo Veritaiis, extract of his letter, recording the bravery of lord Townshend, 349, 7iote. Poctikastos, extract of a letter from, 152, note ; monody of, on Junius, 425, 426, fiotes. PoinoJia, ironical letter from, to the duke of Grafton, 381. PoJ>e (Mr), quotation from a letter of his, to Dr Arbuthnot, ig6, note. Poplicola, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 341 ; the bravest and fiercest na- tions have sometimes submitted to a temporary surrender of their liberties, in order to secure them, 341 ; arraigns lord Chatham's conduct, 341 ; to the same, in reply to the strictures of C. D., 343—345- Portland (Duke ofj duplicity, of ministers to him exposed, 376, 377 ; principal points in his case stated, 379 ; the conduct pointed out, which ministers ought to have pursued towards him, . 380. J'recedents, influence of, 112. Prerogative (royal), account of the outrageous attempt made to enlarge it by the ministrj', 2C)9, 300, note ; the establishmert of the several high offices of state, a check to the prerogative of the crown, 364. Press, liberty of, the palladium of British liberty, 113; strictures on, 115 — 120; remarks on, by De Lolme, 127 ; must always prove formidable to an arbitrary government, 480 ; remarks on, 480—482. Pressing seamen, the right of, founded origin- ally on a necessity, which supersedes all argu- ment, 307 ; queries and replies thereto, on the legality of this practice, 308, note. Press-zvar rants, and general warrants, differ- ence between, 318. Printers, proceedings against, for reporting the debates in parliament, and strictures thereon, 471 — 473, and note, 479, et seq. aiid notes. 522 INDEX. Privileges, nature and origin of, investigated, 262, ct scg., 479, ct seq. Protest, spirited, against the proceedings rela- tive to the Falkland's Isles, 467, 468, notes. Pitblius, letter of, in defence of sir William Blackstone, 178, notes. Rigby (Mr), account of, 165, note. Riots, on account of INI r Wilkes, notice of, 153, note; account of one in St George's Fields, 381, note ; remarks on the letter of thanks to the commanding officer of the troops employ- ed on that occasion, 380, 381 ; copy of the letter itself, 380, 381, note; strictures on lord Barrington's conduct, 500. Roberts (John), not the author of Jimius's Letters, 33; Robinson (Jack:, curious letter of, on the ap- pointment of sheriffs, 275, note. Rocb/ord (Lord), estimate of his talents, 131, 418, 419; succeeds to the foreign department, 274, 7iote. Roscnhagen (Rev. Mr), proofs that he was not the author of Junius's Letters, 40. Sackville (Lord George), at one period suspect- ed to be the author of Junius's Letters, 52, 53 ; a strong reason for thinking the suspicion groundless, 53. Safety , n7&\ow3\, when at stake, suspicion is a sufficient ground for enquiry, 128. Sandwich (Lord), spotless morality of, 165, and VLote ; remarks on his return to office, 4.';9, 460, 462. S aivbrid^e j(iAr^ , remarks of Junius on his con- nexion with Mr Wilkes, 87, et seg.; has shown himself possessed of that republican firmness which the times require, 307. Sccr.volas letter to Junius, explaining lord Cam- den's opinion, 310, 311, note ; he is chastised by Junius, 79. Scotch influence, remarks on, 125, ScotiK, ironical letter of, to lord Barrington, on his abuse of the Scotch character, 503, 504. Scrutator, extracts of his letters in vindication of lord Hillsborough, 407, 408, fiotes. Seamen, the right of pressing, founded originally on a necessity, which supersedes all argument, 307 ; queries and answers on tlie legality of this right, 308, note. Sheiburne ^Lord), applied to, in regard to the Manilla ransom, 136, note ; his conduct, with respect to Corsica, disavowed by ministers, 161, and note ; portrait of, 348; account of his political life, 417. Slieriffs of Middlesex discharged their duty in returning Mr Wilkes, 156, and note; Mr Home unsuccessful in support of the ministe- rial nomination of sheriffs, 276. Siluriis, character of Junius by him, 426, note. Sniythe (Mr Baron), censured by Junius, 336 ; state of the case, and vindication of him by Mr Dunning, 336, notes. Soiners (Lord., extract fromhis tract on the rights of the people, 266. Spain, on the preparations for war with that country. 71, and note; dishonourable conduct of the government of, concerning the Manilla ransom, 136, note. Stantp Act made and repealed, 130; effect of passing it on the colonies, 160, note. State, the ruin or prosperity of, depends on the adminiitratton of its government, 128 ; the improper bestowment of its principal offices, the source of every mischief, 129. Suffolk (Earl of), letter to, on his conduct, 483 ; his Lordship the first who has avowed himself to act without principle, 486 ; strictures on his political tergiversation, 487 — 489 ; his Lord- ship's resignation a pledge of his delicacy, if not of his integrity', 489 ; the situation into which he brought himself considered, 490. Snprone, import of the word explained, 113. Suspicion is a proper ground for enquiry when the national safety is at stake, 128. Taylor (John), tried for murder, 336, note ; his case stated, 336, notes. Tell-Truth, letter of, on INIr Bradshaw's ap- pointment as one of the lords of the Ad- miralty, 504, 505. Tenipomm Felicitas, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 413 ; ironical encomium on lord Hillsborough's conduct, 413. Testis, letter of, on lord Barrington's conduct as secretary at war, 450, 451 ; reply to, by Tcsti- culus, 451, 452. Titus, letter of, to the printer of the Public Ad- vertiser, 139, note; strictures on Junius, 140, note; vindicates the character of lord Granby as a man, a soldier, and as a general, 140, 141, note. Touc/iet (Mr), in his most prosperous fortune, the same man as at present, 276. Toivnshend (Mr Alderman', complains that the public gratitude has not been equal to his de- serts, 307 ; questions the legality of the land- tax act, 446, note ; abstract of the trial of this question, 446, 447, ftoie. Townshend (Hon. Charles', chancellor of the Exchequer, 468 ; character of, 469. To7iinshend (Lord), lord -lieutenant of Ireland, 346, note; remarks on his character and con- duct, 346, 347 ; said to excel in portrait paint- ing, 347 ; outlines of subjects for his pencil sketched by Correggio (Junius), 347 — 340 ; anecdote of his intrepiditj', 349, note ; remarks of Moderatus on the dispute relative to this anecdote, 349 — 351. To'Mnshend ^T.', joint paymaster, portrait of, 343- Trial of iMr Woodfall for publishing the letter of Junius to the king, abstract of, 117 — 123, note ; further touched upon, 213, note. Valentinian III., character of, 491. Valerius, letter of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 378 ; that ministers have not an- swered the accusation laid against them in 'the duke of Portland's case,' 379; they are charged with violating the rights of possession for the purposes of undue influence at an election, and of paying a base court to a clan- destine and dangerous power, 379 ; the chief INDEX. 523 points of his Grace's case stated, 379, 380 ; they ought, ofScially, to have seen the right of the crown to make the grant to sir James Lowther defended, and the duke of Portland's title examined, 380 ; to the printer of the Pub- lic Advertiser, 393 ; the conduct of ministers in dismissing sir J. Amherst from the govern- ment of Virginia considered, 394, 3q5. Vaii^Juiii ;Mr , sends proposal's to the duke of Grafton, 209, 210 ; state of the fact, 210, note ; his offer a high misdemeanour, 212 ; prosecuted in the court of King's Bench, 212, note : the prosecution dropped, and why, 213, tiote ; vindicated by Junius as a much injured man, 225. Veteran, letters of, to lord Barrington, 496 ; on his lordship's appointment of a deputy-secre- tary, 496 ; charges lord B. with ruining general Fowke, 498, and note ; examines his Lordship's political tergiversations, 499 ; on his changes in the war-office, 499 ; his conduct in the affair of St George's Fields considered, 500 ; censures his nicknaming of general Har- vey, 500 ; estimates his Lordship's abilities, 502 : further remarks on his Lordship's unpre- cedented changes in the war-office, 503. Virginia, the government of, taken froni sir J. Amherst, 3S8 ; this measure considered, 388, 39i» 394- Wales (Princess Dowager of), her influence with the king examined and exposed, 462, et scq. ; the deplorable condition of the country attri- buted to her, 463 ; by her management a war is certain instead of being avoided, 465. lValJ>ole \Slr), expelled from the House of Com- mons, 170, and note ; his case supposed to be strictly in point to prove, that expulsion in- capacitates from being re-elected, 171 ; state of his case from the journals of the House of Commons, 170, 171, note ; remarks on his case by sir William Blackstone, 179, et scq. ; stric- tures thereon by Junius, 182, et seq. ; the vote of expulsion, as expressed in the votes, 183 ; strictures on its meaning and extent, 183, et s;q. Westminster (Electors of) , remonstrance to the king on the dissolution of parliament, 69, 70, note. Weston 'Edward), supposed to vindicate the duke of Grafton, 150, note : an example of age \vithout the benefit of experience, 151 ; quota- tion from his supposed pamphlet, with re- marks, 153 ; denies that he was the author, 3^53, note ; letters to him by Crito, 152, 153, note. Wey)noHth (Lord;, appointed one of the secre- taries of state, 131 ; estimate of his talents, 131 ; resigns his office, 274, note. Whipcord's letter to Mr Home, 278, note. White/oord (Mr Caleb\ author of the letter signed Junia, 431, note. Wkittlebury Forest, the duke of Grafton hered- itary ranger of, 299 ; the right to the timber claimed by his Grace, 300 ; the story of the oaks refuted by Philalethes, 303, 304, note. Wilkes ,Mr , the conclusion of a letter of his to i^Ir Horne, 74, note ; letter of, on ]Mr Garrick's performing the character of Hastings, 75, 76, note ; private letters of Junius to him, 87, et seq. ; Junius assures him of his support, 8j ; his connexion with ]\Ir Sawbridgc considered, 87, et seq. ; a plan proposed for reconciling them, 90; the conduct of the supporters of the Bill of Rights censured, 90—93 ; exam- ination of the articles of their declaration, 93 — 97 ; Mr Wilkes's vindication of his conduct, 97 — 100 ; to Junius, on the reading of his second letter before the Bill of Rights Societ}', 103, 104 ; to Junius, 106 ; on his proposed card, excusing himself from going to St. Paul's, 106 ; to Junius, on perusing his dedication and preface, loS ; on the commitment of Eyre, loS, 109; on the Bill of Rights Society, no; proved not to be author of Junius's letters, 44 ; prosecution of, for an obscene poem, 116, note ; cause of his persecution by the ministry stated, 150, 7iote ; was a candidate for London before he offered himself for the county of Middlesex, 153, note; riots on his account, 153, 381, notes ; extracts from lord Mansfield's speech on re- versing his outlawry, 154, note; suffered to appear at large, and to canvass for the city and county, with an outlawry hanging over him, i53> 154; the question arising from his expul- sion, stated with justice and precision, 169, et scq. ; further observations thereon, 450 ; was not of consideration enough to excite the re- sentment of a king, 215; his address and peti- tion to the king, 220, 221, note : speech in the House of Comin.ons, on his motion for erasing tlie votes and resolutions against him, 267 — 269, note ; detail of circumstances relating to that erasure, 2c3, 269, note; extracts from his letters relative to his dispute with Mr Horne, 280 — 282, 285, ):ote ; commissions I\Ir Thornas Walpole to solicit a pension for him, 2S9 ; re- ceives ;C2oo per annum from the duke of Port- land and lord Rockingham, 2S9, and Jiote ; has no resource but in the public favour, 306 ; view of his circumstances on his return from France, 371, et seq. ; disgraceful scene at the hustings, 372 ; he could never have been per- mitted to go such lengths, if all were well be- tween lord Bute and ministers, 373. Wollaston (Mr", expelled, re-elected, and ad- mitted into the same parliament, 184 ; the pub- lic left to determine whether this be a plain matter of fact, 186. Wood/all {Yi.'i.\ proofs of his strict veracity, 50; private letters of Junius to him, relative to the printing and publishing his letters, 55, et seq. ; letters of Junius to him on his prosecu- tion, 69, 71 ; his expenses on this account, 69, note ; letters of Mr Woodfall to Junius, 72, note, and 84 ; Junius gives the property of his letters to him, 115 ; account of the trial of, for publishing Junius's Letters, 117 — 123, note; prosecution of, for publishing Junius's letter to the king, 213, note. Wood/ail (William), extracts from his Vox Senatils of the speeches of Messrs Fox and Burke on the subject of the liberty of the press, ii3 — 121, note. 524 INDEX. X. X., letters of, to the printer of the Public Advertiser, 436, 437 ; general Gansel's affair examined, 438, 439, 441. Yaics (Sir Joseph), quits the court of Kind's Bench, 247 ; honourable anecdote of his in- tegrity, 246, 247, note. Vorke (Charles), cut his throat, immediately after his appointment to the chancellorship, 251, note. V. v., in answer to X. X., 437, 438. V. Z., letter of, to the printer of the Public Ad- vertiser, 356 ; reports of a certain speech in parliament, 357 — 360. Zeno's letter to Junius in vindication of lord Mansfield, 312—314, note; reply to him by Philo-Junius, 3i;i— 317. THE L^U, Er.ADEURY, AGKEW, & CO. LIMD., PRINTERS, WlilTEFRIARS. 000 358 >^t:^^- ■y-yyyy^'yyyy,'' ' ^ ■:fmmmm^f^'i. c:>iism^ Mmmmmim 'i^'^^^'^. '. '- . ' ; • ' :<\*jyyy*yyyyyyy'^^ •yyyK'y'y.'y.'yyyyyyi^y:'yy>X<>y^^^^^^ f'*S'km'k^':^'