LETTER

XXXIV.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON,

Dec. 12. 1769.

MY LORD, Find with fome furprize that you are not fupported as you deferve. Your most determined advocates have fcruples about them, which you are unacquainted with; and, though there be no thing too hazardous for your Grace to engage in, there are fome things too infamous for the vileft prostitute of a news-paper to defend *. In what other manner fhall we account for the profound, fubmiffive filence, which you and your friends have obferved upon a charge, which called immediately for the cleareft refutation, and would have jufli fied the feverest measures of refentment? I did not attempt to blaft your character by an indirect, ambiguous infinuation; but candidly stated to you a plain fact, which ftruck directly at the integrity of a privy-counfellor, of a firit commiffioner of the treafury, and of a leading minifter, who is fuppofed to enjoy the firft fhare in his Majefty's confidence to In every one of thefe capacities, I employed the moft moderate terms to charge you with treachery to your Sovereign, and breach of truft in your of...... · fice. I accufed you of having fold a patent place in the collection of the cuftoms at Exeter, to one Mr. Hine, who, unable or unwilling to depofite the whole purchase-money himself, railed part of it by contribution, and has now a certain Doctor Brooke quartered upon the falary for one hundred pounds. a-year. No fale by the candle was ever conducted with greater formality.I affirm, that the price at

which

From the publication of the preceding to this date, not one word was faid in defence of the infamous Duke of Grafton. But vice and impudence foon recovered themfelves, and the fale of the royal favour was openly avowed and defended. We acknowledge the piety of St. James's; but what is become of his morality? And by the fame means preferves it to this hour.

which the place was knocked down, (and which, I have good reafon to think, was not less than three thoufand five hundred pounds), was, with your connivance and confent, paid to Colonel Burgoyne, to reward him, I prefume, for the decency of his deportment at Prefton; or to reimburse him, per haps, for the fine of one thousand pounds, which, for that very deportment, the court of King's Bench thought proper to fet upon him. It is not often that the chief justice and the prime minister are so strangely at variance in their opinions of men and things.

I thank God, there is not in human nature a degree of impudence daring enough to deny the charge I have fixed upon you. Your courteous fecretary *, your confidential architect †, are filent as the grave. Even Mr. Rigby's countenance fails him. He violates his fecond nature, and blushes whenever he fpeaks of you.-Perhaps the noble colonel himself will relieve you. No man is more tender of his reputation. He is not only nice, but perfectly fore in every thing that touches his honour. If any man, for example, were to accufe him of taking his ftand at a gaming-table, and watching, with the fobereft attention, for a fair opportunity of engaging a drunken young nobleman at piquet, he would undoubtedly confider it as an infamous af perfion upon his character, and refent it like a man of honour.Acquitting him therefore of drawing a regular and fplendid fubfiftence from any unworthy practices either in his own houfe or elsewhere, let me afk your Grace, for what military merits you have been pleafed to reward him with military government? He had a regi ment of dragoons, which one would imagine was at least an equivalent for any fervices he ever per formed. Besides, he is but a young officer, confidering

* Tommy Bradshaw.

Mr. Taylor. He and George Rofs (the Scotch agent and worthy confidant of Lord Mansfield) managed the business.

dering his preferment, and, except in his activity at Prefton, not very confpicuous in his profeffion. But it feems the fale of a civil employment was not fufficient; and military governments, which were intended for the fupport of worn-out veterans, must be thrown into the fcale, to defray the extenfive bribery of a contefted election. Are thefe the fteps you take to fecure to your Sovereign the attachment of his army? With what countenance dare you appear in the royal prefence, branded as you are with the infamy of a notorious breach of truft? With what countenance can you take your feat at the treafury-board or in council, when you feel that every circulating whifper is at your expence alone, and flabs you to the heart? Have you a fingle friend in parliament fo fhamelefs, fo thoroughly abandoned, as to undertake your defence? You know, my Lord, that there is not a man in either houfe, whofe character, however flagitious, would not be ruined by mixing his reputation with yours; and does not your heart inform you, that you are degraded below the condition of a man, when you are obliged to hear thefe infults with fubmiffion, and even to thank me for my moderation?

We are told, by the higheft judicial authority, that Mr. Vaughan's offer to purchase the reversion of a patent place in Jamaica (which he was otherwise fufficiently entitled to) amounted to a high mifdemeanour. Be it fo: and if he deserves it, let him be punished. But the learned judge might have had a fairer opportunity of displaying the powers of his eloquence. Having delivered himself with fo much energy upon the criminal nature and dangerous confequences of any attempt to corrupt a man in your Grace's ftation, what would he have faid to the minifter himself, to that very privy counsellor, to that firft commiffioner of the treafury, who does not wait for, but impatiently folicits the touch of corruption; who employs the meaneft of his creatures in these honourable fervices, and, forgetting

the

the genius and fidelity of his fecretary, defcends to apply to his houfe-builder for affiftance?

This affair, my Lord, will do infinite credit to government, if, to clear your character, you should think proper to bring it into the Houfe of Lords, or into the court of King's Bench.-But, my Lord, you dare not do either. JUNIUS.

A little before the publication of this and the preceding letter, the chafte Duke of Grafton had commenced a profecution against Mr. Samuel Vaughan, for endeavouring to corrupt his integrity by an offer of five thousand pounds for a patent place in Jamaica. A rule to fhow caufe why an information fhould, not he exhibited against Vaughan for certain misdemeanours, being granted by the Court of King's Bench, the matter was folemnly argued on the 27th of November 1769, and, by the unanimous opinion of the four judges, the rule was made abfolute. The pleadings and fpeeches were accurately taken in short hand and publithed. The whole of Lord Mansfield's fpeech, and particularly the following extracts from it, deferve the reader's attention. "A practice of the kind complained of here is certainly difhonourable and fcandalous."If a man, ftanding under the relation of an officer under the

King, or of a perfon in whom the King puts confidence, or of "a minifter, takes money for the use of that confidence the King "puts in him, he bafely betrays the King,―he bafely betrays

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The

his truft.If the King fold the office, it would be acting con "trary to the trust the constitution hath reposed in him. conftitution does not intend the crown thould fell thofe offices; to raise a revenue out of them.. Is it poffible to hesitate, whe"ther this would not be criminal in the Duke of Grafton"contrary to his duty as a privy counfellor-contrary to his "duty as a minifter- -contrary to his duty as a fubject ? – -His advice fhould be free according to his judgment- -It is the "duty of his office ;- he hath fwarn to it.' -Notwithftanding all this, the chafte Duke of Grafton certainly fold a patent place to Mr. Hine for three thousand five hundred pounds; and, for fo doing, is now Lord Privy Seal to the chafte George, with whofe piety we are perpetually deafened. If the houfe of commons had done their duty, and impeached the black Duke for this moft infamous breach of truft, how wofully muft poor honeft Mansfield have been puzzled! His enibarraffment would have afforded the most ridiculous fcene that ever was exhibited. To fave the worthy judge from this perplexity, and the no less worthy Duke from impeachment, the profecution against Vaughan was immediately dropped upon my difcovery and publication of the Duke's treachery. The fuffering this charge to pafs, without any inquiry, fixes fhameless proftitution upon the face of the house of commons, more ftrongly than even the Middlefex election.. Tes the licentioufnef of the prefs is complained of!

LET

LETTER XXXV.

TO THE FRINTER OF THE PUBLICK ADVER

TISER.

Dec. 1769.

When the complaints of a brave and powerful people are obferved to increase in proportion to the wrongs they have fuffered; when, inftead of finking into fubmiffion, they are roused to refiftance; the time will foon arrive, at which every inferior confideration muft yield to the fecurity of the Sovereign, and to the general fafety of the ftate. There is a moment of difficulty and danger, at which flattery and falfehood can no longer deceive, and fimplicity itfelf can no longer be mifled. Let us fuppofe it arrived. Let us fuppofe a gracious, well-intentioned Prince made fenfible, at laft, of the great duty he owes to his people, and of his own difgraceful fituation; that he looks round him for affiftance, and afks for no advice but how to gratify the wishes and secure the happiness of his fubjects. In these circumftances, it may be matter of curious SPECULATION to confider, if an honest man were permitted to approach a King, in what terms he would addrefs himself to his Sovereign. Let it be imagined, no matter how improbable, that the firit prejudice against his character is removed; that the ceremonious difficulties of an audience are furmounted; that he feels himself animated by the purest and most honourable affections to his King and country; and that the great perfon whom he addreffes has spirit enough to bid him fpeak freely, and understanding enough to listen to him with attention. Unacquainted with the vain impertinence of forms, he would deliver his fentiments with dignity and firmness, but not without refpect.

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SIR,