act under the auspices of Lord Chatham, and | ieft at the head of affairs by that nobleman's retreat, he became a minister by accident; but, deserting the principles and professions which gave him a moment's popularity, we see him, from every honorable engagement to the public, an apostate by design. As for business, the world yet knows nothing of his talents or resolution, unless a wavering, wayward 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 Treasury may be as thoughtless and extravagant as he pleases. I hope, however, he will not rely too much on the fertility of Lord North's genius for finance. His Lordship 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 rade, a choice of expedients, and a depth of resources equal to the necessities, 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 adhered 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 conseque ces before he ventures to increase the public debt. Outraged and oppressed as we are, this nation will not bear, after a six years' peace, to see new millions borrowed, without any eventasl 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 inquiry 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 circumstances 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 becomes the royal dignity to have the debts of a prince provided for, like the repairs of a country bridge or a decayed hospital. The manageWithin about seven years, the King had run up a debt of £513,000 beyond the ample allowance made for his expenses on the civil list, and had just applied. at the opening of Parliament, for a grant to pay it off. The nation were indignant at such overreaching. The debt, however, was paid this session, and in a few years there was another contracted. Thus it went on, from time to time, until 1782, when £300,000 more were paid, in addition to a large sum during the interval. At this time a partial provision was made, in connection with Mr. Burke's plan of economical reform, for preventing all future encroachments of this kind on the public evenues. ment of the King's affairs in the House of Com mons can not be more disgraced than it has been. A leading minister repeatedly called down for absolute ignorance-ridiculous motions ridiculously withdrawn-deliberate plans disconcerted, 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 of being Chancellor 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 alien. ated 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 indispensable, 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 the contribution. But, unfortunately for this country, Mr. Grenville was at any rate to be distressed because he was minister, and Mr. Pitt and Lord Camden were to be patrons of America, because they were in opposition. Their declaration gave spirit and argument 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.8 7 Notwithstanding these early difficulties, Lord North became at last a very dexterous and effective debater. 8 This attack on Lord Chatham and his friend shows the political affinities of Junius. He believed with Mr. Grenville and Lord Rockingham in the right of Great Britain to tax America; and in referring to Mr. Grenville's attempt to enforce that right by the Stamp Act, he adopts his usual course of interweaving an argument in its favor into the language used. He thus prepares the way for his censures on Lord Chatham and Lord Camden, affirming that they acted on the principle that "Mr. Grenville was at any rate to be distressed because he was minister and they were in opposition," thus implying that they were actuated by factious and selfish views in their defense of America. About a year after this letter was written, Lord Rockingham was reconciled to Lord Chatham and Lord Camden, and all united to break down the Grafton ministry. Junius now turned round and wrote his celebrated eulogium on Lord Chatham, contained in his fiftyfourth letter, in which he says, "Recorded honors shall gather round his monument, and thicken over him. It is a solid fabric, and will support 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." The last of his letters was addressed to Lord Camden, in which he says, "I turn with pleas ure from that barren waste, in which no solitary plant takes root, no verdure quickens. to a charao Inder 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 invented, and a question rev.ved, which ought to have been buried in oblivion. In these circumstances, a new office is established for the business of the Plantations, and the Earl of Hillsborough called forth, at a most critical season, to govern America. The choice at least announced to us a man of superior capacity and knowledge. Whether he be so or not, let his dispatches as far as they have appeared, let his measures as far as they have operated, determine for him. In the former we have seen strong assertions without proof, declamation 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 conciliate 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. Petitions have been hindered from reaching the Throne, and the continuance of one of the principal assemblies put 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.9 So violent, and I believe I may call it so unconstitutional an exertion of the prerogative, to say nothing of the weak, injudicious terms in which it was conveyed, gives us as humble 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 measures in America. Whenever that force shall be necessarily withdrawn or diminished, the dismission of such a minister will neither console us for his mprudence, nor remove the settled resentment of a people, who, complaining of an act of the Legislature, 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 acquainted with the affairs and temper of the Southern courts; Lord Weymouth was equally qualified for either de ter fertile, as I willingly believe, in every great and good qualification." Political men have certainly a peculiar faculty of viewing the characters of others under very different lights, as they happen to affect their own interests and feelings. The "arbitrary condition" was that the General Court of Massachusetts should rescind one of their own resolutions and expunge it from their records. The whole of this passage in relation to Hillsborough is as correct in point of fact, as it is well reasoned and finely expressed. partment. By what unaccountable caprice Las it happened, that the latter, who pretends to no experience whatsoever, is removed to the most important of the two departments, and the or mer, by preference, placed in an office where his experience can be of no use to him? Lord Weymouth had distinguished himself in his first employment by a spirited, if not judicious con. duct. He had animated the civil magistrate beyond the tone of civil authority, and had di rected 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 Burgundy, behold him exerting the whole strength of his clear, un. clouded faculties in the service 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 respectable minister interposed his authority between the magistrate and the people, and signed the mandate on which, for aught he knew, the lives of thousands depended, he did it from the deliberate motion of his heart, supported by the best of his judgment." 10 The changes here censured had taken place about three months before. The office of Foreign Secretary for the Southern Department was made vacant by the resignation of Lord Shelburne. Lord Rochford, who had been minister to France, and thus made "acquainted with the temper of the Southern courts," ought naturally to have been appointed (if at all) to this department. Instead of this, he was made Secretary of the Northern Department, for which he had been prepared by no previous knowledge; while Lord Weymouth was tak en from the Home Department, and placed in the Southern, being "equally qualified" [that is, wholly unqualified by any "experience whatsoever'] for either department in the Foreign office, whether Southern or Northern. As Secretary of the Home Department, Lord Weymouth had addressed a letter to the magistrates of London, early in 1768, advising them to call in the military, provided certain disturbances in the streets should continue. The idea of setting the soldiery to fire on masses of unarmed men has always been abhorrent to the English nation. It was, therefore, a case admirably suited to the purposes of this Letter. In using it to inflame the people against Lord Weymouth, Junius charitably supposes that he was not repeating the errors of his youth-that he was pelled by "the furious spirit" of one of the proudest neither drunk, nor ignorant of what he did, nor imfamilies of the realm-all of which Lord Weymouth would certainly say—and therefore (which his Lord ship must also admit) that he did, from “the delib erate motion of his heart, supported by the best of his judgment," sign a paper which the great body of the people considered as authorizing promiscuous murder, and which actually resulted in the death of fourteen persons three weeks after. The whole is so wrought up as to create the feeling, that Lord Weymouth was in both of these states of mindthat he acted with deliberation in carryig out the dictates of headlong or drunken passion. All this, of course, is greatly exaggerated. Se vere measures did seem indispensable to suppress the mobs of that day, and, whoever stood forth to di rect them. must of necessity incur the popular in It has lately been a fashion to pay a compli- vileness of pecuniary corruption. Jefferies himment to the bravery and generosity of the Com-self, when the court had no interest, was an upmander-in-chief [the Marquess of Granby] at the right judge. A court of justice may be subject expense of his understanding. They who love to another sort of bias, more important and perhim least make no question of his courage, while nicious, as it reaches beyond the interest of indi his friends dwell chiefly on the facility of h s dis-viduals, and affects the whole community. A position. Admitting him to be as brave as a judge, under the influence of government, may total absence of all feeling and reflection can be honest enough in the decision of private causmake him, let us see what sort of merit he de-es, yet a traitor to the public. When a victim rives from the remainder of his character. If it is marked out by the ministry, this judge will be generosity to accumulate in his own person offer himself to perform the sacrifice. He wi" and family a number of lucrative employments; not scruple to prostitute his dignity, and betra to provide, at the public expense, for every crea- the sanctity of his office, whenever an arbitra›› ture that bears the name of Manners, and, neg-point is to be carried for government, or the lecting the merit and services of the rest of the sentment of a Court to be gratified. army, to heap promotions upon his favorites and dependents, 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 complaisance of a courtier. As to the goodness of his heart, if a proof of it be taken from the facility of never refusing, what conclusion shall we draw from the indecency of never performing? 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 degraded the office of Commander-in-chief into [that of] a broker of commissions.1 These principles and proceedings, odious an contemptible as they are, in effect are no less in judicious. A 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 justice. 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.13 This, sir, is the detail. In one view, behold a nation overwhelmed with debt; her revenues With respect to the navy, I shall only say, wasted; her trade declining; the affections of that this country is so highly indebted to Sir Ed- her colonies alienated; the duty of the magisward Hawke, that no expense should be spared trate transferred to the soldiery; a gallant army, to secure him an honorable and affluent retreat. which never fought unwillingly but against their The pure and impartial administration of jus- fellow-subjects, moldering away for want of the tice is perhaps the firmest bond to secure a cheer-direction of a man of common abilities and spirit; fal submission of the people, and to engage their and, in the last instance, the administration of affections to government. It is not sufficient justice become odious and suspected to the whole that questions of private right or wrong are just-body of the people. This deplorable scene adly decided, nor that judges are superior to the dignation. Still, it was a question among the most candid men, whether milder means might not have been effectual. mits but of one addition-that we are governed by councils, from which a reasonable man can expect no remedy but poison, no relief but death. If, by the immediate interposition of Provi dence, it were [be] possible for us to escape a 13 It is unnecessary to say that Lord Mansfield is here pointed at. No one now believes that tis great jurist ever did the things here ascribed to him by Junius. All that is true is, that he was a very 12 The Marquess of Granby, personally considered, was perhaps the most popular member of the cabinet, with the exception of Sir Edward Hawke. He was a warm-hearted man, of highly social qualities and generous feelings. As it was the object of Junius to break down the ministry, it was peculiarly necessary for him to blast and destroy his popular-high Tory, and was, therefore, naturally led to exalt ity. This he attempts to do by discrediting the character of the Marquess, as a man of firmness, strength of mind, and disinterestedness in managing the concerns of the army. This attack is distinguished for its plausibility and bitterness. It is clear that Junias was in some way connected with the army or with the War Department, and that in this situation he had not only the means of very exact information, but some private grudge against the Commander in-chief. His charges and insinuations are greatly overstrained; but it is certain that the army was moldering away at this time in a manner which left the country in very defenseless condition. Lord Chatham showed this by incontestible evidence, in his speech on the Falkland Islands, delivered about a year after this Letter was writ ten. M the prerogatives of the Crown; and that he was a very politic man (and this was the great failing in his character), and therefore unwilling to oppose the King or his ministers, when he knew in heart they were wrong. This was undoubtedly the case in re spect to the issuing of a general warrant for ap prehending Wilkes, which he ought publicly to have condemned; but, as he remained silent, men ratu rally considered him, in his character of Chief Jus tice. as having approved of the course directed by the King. Hence Mansfield was held responsible for the treatment of Wilkes, of whom Junius here speaks in very nearly the terms used by Lord Chat ham, as a man whose "conduct" he censured, but with whom every moderate man must "make com mon cause," when he was "persecuted in a way which the real spirit of the law will not justify." 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 in tegrity and wisdom. They will not believe it possible that their ancestors could have survived, or recovered from so desperate a conditica, while a Duke of Grafton was Prime Minister, a Lord North Chancellor of the Exchequer, a Weymouth and a Hillsborough Secretaries of State, a Granby Commander-in-chief, and a Mansfield chief criminal judge of the kingdom. JUNIUS LETTER TO SIR WILLIAM DRAPER, KNIGHT OF THE BATH! You begin with a general assertion, that writ ers, 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 licentions 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 and brightest characters of the kingdom; and that, if the affections of the colonies have been alienated, if Corsica has been shamefully abandoned, if commerce languishes, if public credit is threatened with a new debt, and your own Manille ransom most dishonorably given up, it has al' been owing to the malice of political writers, who will not suffer the best and brightest of characters (meaning still the present ministry) to take a single right step for the honor or in terest of the nation.3 But it seems you were a SIR,―The defense of Lord Granby does honor 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 understanding; 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 my formidable opponent, when he had the misfortune to self bound to follow your example. I should have hoped that even my name might carry some authority with it, if I had not seen how very little weight or consideration a printed paper receives even from the respectable signature of Sir Willim Draper.2 1 Dated February 7, 1769. It is unnecessary to give the letters of Sir William Draper, since their contents will be sufficiently understood from the replies, and our present concern is not with the merits of the controversy, but the peculiarities of Junius as a writer. 2 The reader will be interested in the following brief sketch of Sir William Draper's life by a contemporary: "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 Lawrence. In 1761 he acted at Belleisle as a brigadier. In 1762 he commanded the troops who conquered Manilla, which place was saved from plunder by the promise of a ransom of £1,000,000, that was never paid. His first appearance as an able writer was in his clear refutation of the objections of the Spanish court to the payment of that ransom. His services were rewarded with the command of the sixteenth regi ment of foot, which he resigned to Colonel Gisborne for his half pay of £200 Irish. This common trans. action furnished Junius with many a sarcasm. Sir William had scarcely closed his contest with that lose his wife, who died on the 1st of September, 1769. As he was foiled, he was no doubt mortified; and he set out, in October of that year, to make the tour of the American colonies, which had now be come objects of notice and scenes of travel. He ar rived at Charleston, South Carolina, in January, 1770, and, traveling northward, he arrived, during the sum mer of that year, in Maryland, where he was received with that hospitality which she always paid to stran gers, and with the attentions that were due to the merit of such a visitor. From Maryland Sir William passed on to New York, where he married Miss De Lancey, a lady of great connections there, and agreeable endowments, who died in 1778, leaving him a daughter. In 1779 he was appointed Lieu. tenant Governor of Minorca-a trust which, however discharged, ended unhappily. He died at Bath, on the 8th of January, 1787." A few words of explanation may be necessary on two of the points here mentioned. The Corsicans had risen against their former mas ters and oppressors, the Genoese, and, through the bravery and conduct of their leader, General Pacii, had nearly recovered their liberties. Genoa now called in the aid of France, and finally sold her the island. Public sentiment in England was strongly in favor of the Corsicans; and the general feeling was that of Lord Chatham, that England ought te interfere, and prevent France from being aggrand ized at the expense of the Corsicans. Instead of little tender of coming to particulars. Your conscience insinuated 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 have 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 military 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 awkward and ridiculous, by giving him a laced suit of tawdry qualifications which Nature never intended him to wear. tray the just interest 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 favor 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 I never descended to the indecency of inquiring 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 prom. honorises as liberally as his liquor, and will suffer no man to leave his table either sorrowful or sober. None but an intimate friend, who must frequenthave seen him 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 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 premises, before you suffer your genius to hurry you to a conclusion. Lord Ligonier did not 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 You say, he has acquired nothing but in the field. Is the ordnance nothing? Are the Blues nothing? Is the command of the army, with all the patronage annexed to it, noth-ly ing? Where he got these nothings I know not; but you, at least, ought to have told us where he deserved them. As to his bounty, compassion, &c., it would have been but little to the purpose, though you had proved all that you have asserted. I meddle with nothing but his character as Commanderin-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 justified by the complaints of the whole army, when I say that, in this distribution, he consults nothing but parliamentary interests, or the gratification of his immediate dependents. As to his servile sub-his inclination, some two or three years before mission to the reigning ministry, let me ask, whether he did not desert the cause of the whole army when he suffered Sir Jeffery Amherst to be sacrificed? and what share he had in recalling that officer to the service? Did he not bethis, the Grafton ministry had decided three months before to give her up, and the great body of the nation were indignant at this decision. In respect to the Manilla ransom, it has already been stated, that the Spanish court, in their usual spirit, had endeavored to evade the debt. Year af ter year had been spent in fruitless negotiations, when the decided tone recommended by Lord Chatham would have at once secured payment. The na tion felt disgraced by this tame endurance. Sir William Draper was indeed rewarded with the order of the Bath, whose "blushing ribbon" is so stingingly alluded to at the close of this letter. He also received the pecuniary emoluments here mentioned. But all this was considered by many as mere favoritism, and the reward of his silence; for Admiral Cornish, who commanded the fleet in that expedition, together with the inferior officers and troops, was left to languish and die without redress. Sir Jeffery Amherst was a favorite general of Lord Chatham, and conducted most of his great en terprises in America. He was rewarded with the office of Governor of Virginia, but was abruptly displaced in 1768, through the interposition of Hillsboragh, chiefly on account of his friendship for Chatham. He was, however, speedily raised to a high Lord Granby was Commander-in-chief. er station in the army, through the determined interposition of his friends, but not (as Junius inti mates) through that of Lord Granby. In respect to Lord Percy, it was bitterly com plained of in the army that he should receive a regi ment "plainly by way of pension to the noble, disinterested house of Percy," for their support of the ministry, while the most meritorious officers were passed over in neglect, and suffered, after years of arduous service, to languish in want. It is hardly correct to say that a fact is false, but rather the statement which affirms it. |