you dare not deny, because it is of publick notoriety), it could not ftand indifferent whether he was guilty or not, much lefs could there be any prefumption of his innocence; and, in these circumftances, I affirm, in contradiction to YOU, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD, that, by the laws of England, he was not bailable. If ever Mr. Eyre fhould be brought to trial, we fhall hear what You have to fay for yourself; and I pledge myfelf, before God and my country, in proper time and place, to make good my charge againft JUNIUS.

you.

LETTER XLVI.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLICK ADVER

TISER.

Nov. 9. 1771.

JUNIUS engages to make good his charge againft Lord Chief Justice Mansfield fome time before the meeting of parliament, in order that the house of commons may, if they think proper, make it one article in the impeachment of the faid Lord Chief Fuftice.

LETTER LXVII.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON.

Nov. 27. 1771.

WHAT is the reafon, my Lord, that when almost every man in the kingdom, without diftinction 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 baronet, and triumph in his diftrefs, as if the event (without any reference to vice or virtue) were interefting to human nature; your Grace alone fhould

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fhould appear fo miferably depreffed and afflicted? In fuch univerfal joy, I know not where you will look for a compliment of condolence, unless you appeal to the tender, fympathetick forrows of Mr. Bradshaw. That cream-coloured gentleman's tears, affecting as they are, carry confolation with them. He never weeps but, like an April fhower, with a lambent ray of funshine upon his countenance. From the feelings of honeft men upon this joyful occafion, I do not mean to draw any conclufion to your Grace. They naturally rejoice when they fee a fignal inftance of tyranny refifted with fuccefs; -of treachery expofed to the derifion of the world; -an infamous informer defeated, and an impudent robber dragged to the publick gibbet.-But, in the other clafs of mankind, I own I expected to meet the Duke of Grafton. Men who have no regard for juftice, nor any fenfe of honour, feem as heartily pleased with Sir James Lowther's welldeferved punishment, as if it did not conftitute an example against themfelves. The unhappy Baronet has no friends, even among those who refemble him. You, my Lord, are not reduced to fo deplorable a ftate of dereliction. Every villain in the kingdom is your friend; and, in compliment to fuch amity, I think you fhould fuffer your difmal countenance to clear up. Befides, my Lord, I am a little anxious for the confiftency of your character. You violate your own rules of decorum, when you do not infult the man whom you have betrayed.

The divine juftice of retribution feems now to have begun its progrefs. Deliberate treachery entails punishment upon the traitor. There is no poffibility of efcaping it, even in the highest rank to which the consent of society can exalt the meaneft and worst of men. The forced, unnatural union of Luttrell and Middlefex was an omen of another unnatural union, by which indefeasible

If

infamy is attached to the house of Brunswick. one of these 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 faid, had some share in recommending Colonel Luttrell to the King-or was it only the gentle Bradshaw who made himself answerable for the good behaviour of his friend? An intimate connection has long fubfifted between him and the worthy Lord Irnham. It arofe from a fortunate fimilarity of principles, cemented by the conftant mediation of their common friend Mifs Davis *.

Yet I confefs I fhould be forry that the opprobrious infamy of this match should reach beyond E e 2

the

* There is a certain family in this country, on which Nature feems to have entailed an hereditary baseness of difpofition. As far as their history has been known, the son has regularly improved upon the vices of his father, and has taken care to transmit them pure and undiminished into the bofom of his fucceffor. In the fenate, their abilities have confined them to those humble, fordid fervices in which the fcavengers of the miniftry are usually employed. But, in the memoirs of private treachery, they stand first and unrivalled. The following story will ferve to illuftrate the character of this respectable family, and to convince the world, that the prefent poffeffor has as clear a title to the infamy of his anceftors as he has to their eftate. It deferves to be recorded for the curiosity of the fact, and should be given to the publick as a warning to every honest member of fociety.

The prefent Lord Irnham, who is now in the decline of life, lately cultivated the acquaintance of a younger brother of a family with which he had lived in fome degree of intimacy and friendship. The young man had long been the dupe of a most unhappy attachment to a common prostitute. His friends and relations forefaw the confequences of this connection, and did every thing that depended upon them to fave him from ruin. But he had a friend in Lord Irnham, whofe advice rendered all their endeavours ineffectual. This hoary letcher, not contented with the enjoyment of his friend's mistress, was base enough to take advantage of the paffions and folly of a young man, and persuaded him to marry her. He defcended 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 next night lay with her himself.

Whether the depravity of the human heart can produce any thing more bafe and deteftable than this fact, must be left undetermined, until the fon fhall arrive at the father's age and experience.

the family. We have now a better reafon than ever to pray for the long life of the best of Princes, and the welfare of his royal iffue-I will not mix any thing ominous with my prayers;-but let parliament look to it.-A Luttrell fhall never fucceed to the crown of England.-If the hereditary virtues of the family deferve a kingdom, Scotland will be a proper retreat for them.

The next is a moft remarkable inftance of the goodness of Providence. The juft law of retaliation has at laft overtaken the little contemptible tyrant of the North. To the fon-in-law of your dearest friend the Earl of Bute you meant to tranffer the Duke of Portland's property; and you haftened the grant with an expedition unknown to the Treasury, that he might have it time enough to give a decifive turn to the election for the county. The immediate confequence of this flagitious robbery was, that he loft the election which you meant to infure to him, and with fuch fignal circumftances of scorn, reproach, and insult, (to fay 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 gentleman in this country.-In the event, he loses the very property of which he thought he had gotten poffeffion, and after an expence which would have paid the value of the land in queftion twenty times over. The forms of villany, you fee, are neceffary to its fuccess. Hereafter, you will act with greater circumfpection, and not drive fo directly to your object. To fnatch 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 foon approach your perfon?-Do you think that Junius has renounced the Middlefex election?-or that the King's timber fhall be refused to the Royal

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Navy with impunity?-or that you fhall hear no more of the fale of that patent to Mr. Hine, which you endeavoured to fcreen, by fuddenly dropping. your profecution of Samuel Vaughan, when the rule against him was made abfolute? I believe, indeed, there never was fuch an inftance in all the hiftory of negative impudence.-But it fhall not fave you. The very funshine you live in is a prelude to your diffolution. When you are ripe, you fhall be plucked. JUNIUS.

P. S. I beg you will convey to our gracious mafter my humble congratulations upon the glorious fuccefs of peerages and penfions, fo lavishly distributed as the rewards of Irish virtue.

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LETTER XLVIII.

TO LORD CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD.

Jan. 21. 1772. HAVE undertaken to prove, that when, at the interceffion of three of your countrymen, you bailed John Eyre, you did that which by law you were not warranted to do; and that a felon, under the circumflances of being taken in the fact, with the ftolen goods upon him, and making no defence, is not bailable by the laws of England. Your learned advocates have interpreted 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 offences than a juftice of peace. With the inftance before me,. I am fuppofed to question your power of doing wrong, and to deny the existence of a power at the fame moment that I arraign the illegal exercife of it. But the opinions of fuch men, whether wilful in their malignity, or fincere in their ignorance, are unworthy of my notice. You,

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Lord!