1769. Junius's Letter to the Duke of thefe uncommon advantages might have been more honourable to your felf, but could not be more inftructive to mankind. We may trace it in the veneration of your country, the choice of your friends, and in the accomplishment of every fanguine hope, which the public might have conceived from the illuftrious name of R—1. The eminence of your ftation gave you a commanding profpect of your duty, The road, which led to honour, was open to your view. You could not lofe it by mistake, and you had no temptation to depart from it by defign. Compare the natural dignity and importance of the richeft peer of England; the noble independance, which he might have maintained in parliament; and the real intereft and respect, which he might have acquired, not only in parliament, but thro' the whole kingdom; compare thefe glorious diftinctions with the ambition of holding a fhare in government, the emoluments of a place, the fale of a borough, or the purchase of a corporation, and though you may not regret the virtues, which create refpect, you may fee, with anguish, how much real importance and authority you have loft. Confider the character of an independent, virtuous duke of -; imagine what he might be in this country, then reflect one moment upon what you are. If it be poflible for me to withdraw my attention from the fact, I will tell you in theory what fuch a man might be. Confcious of his own weight and importance, his conduct in parliament would be directed by nothing but the conftitutional duty of a peer. He would confider himself as a guardian of the laws. Willing to fupport the juft measures of government, but determined to obferve the conduct of the minifter with fufpicion, he would oppofe the violence of faction with as much firmness, as the encroachments of prerogative. He would be as little capable of bargaining with the minifter for places for himself or his dependants, as of defcending to mix himself in the intrigues of oppofition. Whenever an important queflion called for his opinion in parliament, he would be heard by the moft profligate minifter, with deference and respect. His authority would either fanctify, 473 or difgrace, the measures of government. The people would look up to him as to their protector, and a virtuous prince would have one honeft man in his dominions, in whofe integrity and judgment he might fafely confide. If it fhould be the will of providence to afflict him with a domeftic misfortune, he would fubmit to the ftroke, with feeling, but not without dignity. He would confider the people as his children, and receive a generous heart-felt confolation, in the fympathizing tears, and bleffings of his country. Your grace may probably difcover fomething more intelligible in the negative part of this illuftrious character. The man I have described would never prostitute his dignity in parliament by an indecent violence either in oppofing or defending a minifter. He would not at one moment rancouroufly perfecute, at another bafely cringe to the favourite of his Sn. After outraging the royal dignity with peremptory conditions, little thort of menace and hoftility, he would never defcend to the hu mility of foliciting an interview with the favourite, and of offering to recover, at any price, the honour of his friendship. Though deceived perhaps in his youth, he would not, through the courfe of a long life, have invariably chofen his friends from among the most profligate of mankind. His own honour would have forbidden him from mixing his private pleasures or converfation with jockeys, gamefters, blafphemers, gladiators, or buffoons. He would then have never felt, much lefs would he have fubmitted to the humiliating dif honeft neceffity, of engaging in the interefts and intrigues of his dependants, of fupplying their vices, or relieving their beggary, at the expence of his country. He would not have betrayed fuch ignorance or fuch contempt of the constitution, as openly to avow, in a court of juftice, the purchafe and fale of a borough. would not have thought it confiftent with his rank in the state, or even with his perfonal importance, to be the little tyrant of a little corporation. He would never have been infulted with virtues, which he had laboured to extinguish, nor fuffered the difgrace He of 474 Junius's Letter to of a mortifying defeat, which has made him ridiculous and contemptible, even to the few by whom he was not detefted. I reverence the afflictions of a good man-his forrows are facred. But how can we take part in the dif. treiles of a man, whom we can neither love nor esteem; or feel for a calamity, of which he himself is infen. fible? Where was the father's heart, when he could look for, or find an immediate confolation for the lofs of an only fon, in confultations and bargains for a place at court, and even in the mifery of balloting at the India house! Admitting then that you have miftaken or deferted thofe honourable principles, which ought to have directed your conduct; admitting that you have as little claim to private af. fection as to public efteem, let us fee with what abilities, with what degree of judgement, you have carried your own lyftem into execution. A great man, in the fuccefs and even in the magnitude of his crimes, finds a refcue from contempt. Your grace is every way unfortunate. Yet I will not look back to thofe ridiculous fcenes, by which, in your earlier days, you thought it an honour to be diftinguifhed; the recorded ftripes, the public infamy, your own fufferings, or Mr. R's fortitude. Thefe events undoubtedly left an impreffion, though not upon your mind. To fuch a mind, it may perhaps be a pleasure to reflect, that there is hardly a corner of any of his majesty's kingdoms, except France, in which, at one time or other, your valuable life has not been in danger. Amiable man! We fee and acknowledge the protection of providence, by which you have fo often efcaped the perfonal deteftation of your fellow fubjects, and are ftill referved for the public juftice of your country. Your hiftory begins to be important at that aufpicious period, at which you were deputed to reprefent the earl of Bute, at the court of Versailles. It was an honourable office, and executed with the fame fpirit with which it was accepted. Your patrons wanted an ambaffador, who would fubmit to make conceffions, without daring to infit upon any honourable condition for his fovereign. Their bufinefs re the Duke of quired a man, who had as little feeling for his own dignity as for the welfare of his country; and they found him ia the firft rank of the nobility. Belleifle, Goree, Guadalupe, St. Lucia, Martinique, the Fishery, and the Havanna, are glorious monuments of your grace's talents for negotiation. My lord, we are too well acquainted with your pecuniary character, to think it poffible, that fo many public facrifices should have been made, without fome private compenfations. Your conduct carries with it an interior evidence, beyond all the legal proofs of a court of juftice. Even the callous pride of Lord Egremont was alarmed. He faw and felt his own difhonour in correfponding with you; and there certainly was a moment, at which he meant to have refifted, had not a fatal lethargy prevailed over his faculties, and carried all fenfe and memory away with it. I will not pretend to specify the fecret terms on which you were invited to fupport an administration, which Lord Bute pretended to leave in full poffeffion of their minifterial authority, and perfectly mafters of themfelves. He was not of a temper to relinquish power, though he retired from employment. Stipulations were certainly made between your grace and him, and certainly violated. After two years fubmiffion, you thought you had collected a strength fufficient to controul his influence, and that it was your turn to be a tyrant, because you had been a flave. When you found yourself miftaken in your opinion of your gracious mafter's firmnefs, difappointment got the better of all your humble difcretion, and carried you to an excels of outrage to his perfon, as diftant from true fpirit, as from all decency and respect. After robbing him of the rights of a king, you would not permit him to preserve the honour of a gentleman. It was then Lord Weymouth was nominated to Ireland, and difpatched (we well remember with what indecent hurry) to plunder the treasury of the firt fruits of an employment which you well knew he was never to execute. This fudden declaration of war against the favourite might have given you a momentary merit with the public, if it had either been adopted upon principle, 769. Junius's Letter to the Duke of It would now be of little ufe to point ut, by what a train of weak, injudiious meatures, it became neceffary, or was thought fo, to call you back o a fhare in the adminiftration. The friends, whom you did not in the laft inftance defert, 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 prefume, hardly foreseen. We must look for other ftipulations to account for that fudden refolution of the clofet, by which three of your dependants (whole characters, I think, cannot be lefs refpected than they are) were advanced to offices, through which you might again controul the minifter, and probably engross the whole direction of affairs. The poffeffion of abfolute power is now once more within your reach. The measures you have taken to obtain and confirm it, are too grofs to efcape the eyes of a difcerning, judicious prince. His palace is befieged; the lines of circumvallation are draw ing round him; and unlefs he finds a refource in his own activity, or in the attachment of the real friends of his family, the beft of princes must submit to the confinement of a state prifoner, until your grace's death, or fome less fortunate event, fhall raite the fiege. For the prefent you may fafely refume that ftile of infult and menace, which even a private gentleman cannot fubmit to hear without being contemptible. Mr. Mackenzie's history is not yet forgotten, and you may find precedents enough of the mode in which an imperious fubject may fignify his pleafure to his fove 475 reign. Where will this gracious monarch look for afliftance, when the wretched Gn could forget his obligations to his master, and defert him for a hollow alliance with fuch a man as the duke of ! Let us confider you then as arrived at the fummit of worldly greatness; let us fuppofe that all your plans of avarice and ambition are accomplished, and your most fanguine 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 referved for meditation and retirement? For fhame, my lord, let it not be recorded of you, that the latest moments of your life were dedicated to the fame unworthy purfuits, the fame bufy agitations, in which your youth and manhood were exhaulted. Confider that, although you cannot disgrace your former life, you are violating the character of age, and expofing the impotent imbecility, after you have loft the vigour of the paffions. Your friends will afk, perhaps, whither hall this unhappy old man retire? Can he remain in the metropolis, where his life has been so often threatened, and his palace fo often attacked? If he returns to W11, fcorn and mockery await him. He must create a folitude round his eftate, if he would avoid the face of reproach and derifion. At Plymouth his deftruction would be more than probable; at Exeter, inevitable. No honeft 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. Whichever way he flies, the hue and cry of the country purtues him. In another kingdom, the bleffings of his adminiftration have been more fenfibly felt; his virtues better underftood; or at worst, they will not, for him alone, forget their hofpitality. As well might VERRES have returned to Sicily. You have twice escaped, my lord; beware of a third experiments The indignation of a whole people, plundered, infulted, and oppreffed as they have been, will not always be difappointed: It is in vain therefore to fhift the fcene. 476 Sir William Draper's Letter to Junirs. JUNIUS. Such is Junius's attack upon the duke of Our readers will now look on the oppofite fide of the queftion, and fee Junius himself attacked by a public character of much eminence. To JUNIUS. SIR, you have been pleafed to affert, that Sept caufe it has been told in good la guage: for I give you full credit for your elegant diction, well-turned pe riod, and Attic wit; but wit is often times falfe, though it may appear brilliant; which is exactly the cafe of your whole performance. But, fir, 1. am obliged in the moft ferious man-ner to accufe you of being guilty of falfities. You have faid the thing that is not. To fupport your story, you have recourfe to the following irrefiftible argument: "You fold the companions of your victory, because when the fixteenth regiment was given to you, you was filent." The conclufion is inevitable. I believe that fuch deep and acute reafoning could only come from fuch an extraordinary writer at Junius. But unfortunately for you, the premises as well as the conclufion are abfolutely falfe. Many applications have been made to the ministry on the fubject of the Manilla ranfom fince the time of my being colonel of that regiment. As I have for fome years quitted London, I was obliged to have recourfe to the honourable Colonel Monfon and Sir Samuel Cornish, to negotiate for me: In the laff autumn I personally delivered a memorial to the earl of Shelburne at his feat in Wiltshire. As you have told us of your importance, that you are a person of rank and fortune, and above a common bribe, you may in all probability be not unknown to his lordship, who can fatisfy you of the truth of what I fay. But I fhall now take the liberty, fir, to feize your against yourself. If your puerile and tinfel logic could carry the least weight or conviction with it, how muft you stand affected by the inevitable conclufion, as you are pleafed to term it? According to Junius, filence is guilt. In many of the public papers you have been called, in the most direct and offenfive terms, a liar and a coward. When did you reply to thefe foul accufations? You have been quite filent; quite chopfallen: Therefore, because you was filent, the nation has a right to pronounce you to be both a liar and a coward from your own argument: But, fir, ! will give you fairer play; will afford you an opportunity to wipe off the firft appellation; by defiring the proofs of your charge against me. Produce 769. oduce them! To wipe off the laft, aduce yourself. People cannot bear y longer your lion's fkin, and the picable impofture of the old Roman ze which you have affected. For future affume the name of fome dern bravo and dark affaffin: let ur appellation have fome affinity to ar practice. But if I muft perish, nius, let me perifb in the face of day; for once a generous and open ene. I allow that Gothic appeals to id iron are no better proofs of a man's nefty and veracity than hot iron and rning ploughhares are of female aftity; but a foldier's honour is as licate as a woman's; it must not fufpected; you have dared to throw ore than a fufpicion upon mine: u cannot but know the confeences, which even the meeknefs of hriftianity would pardon me for, afr the injury you have done me. Junius's Reply to Sir William Draper. WILLIAM DRAPER. Hæret lateri lethalis arundo. FTER fo long an interval, I did not expect to fee the debate evived between us. My answer to our laft letter fhall be thort; for I rite to you with reluctance, and I ope we fhall now conclude our correundence for ever. Had you been originally and withut provocation attacked by an anonynous writer, you would have fome right o demand his name. But in this caufe you are a voluntier. You engaged in t with the unpremeditated gallantry of foldier. You were content to fet your name in oppofition to a man, who would probably continue in concealment. You understood the terms pon which we were to correfpond, and gave at least a tacit affent to them. After voluntarily attacking me under the character of Junius, what poffible right have you to know me under any ther? Will you forgive me if I infituate to you, that you forefaw fome tonour in the apparent fpirit of coming forward in perfon, and that you were not quite indifferent to the dif pay of your literary qualifications? You cannot but know that the republication of my letters was no more Sept. 1769. 477 than a catchpenny contrivance of a printer, in which it was impoffible I thould be concerned, and for which I am no way answerable. At the fame time I with you to underftand, that if I do not take the trouble of reprinting thefe papers, it is not from any fear of giving offence to Sir William Draper. Your remarks upon a fignature, adopted merely for diftinction, are unworthy of notice; but when you tell me I have fubmitted to be called a liar and a coward, I must ask you, in my turn, whether you ferioutly think it any way incumbent upon me to take notice of the filly invectives of every fimpleton, who writes in a newspaper; and what opinion you would have conceived of my difcretion, if I had fuffered my felf to be the dupe of fo fhallow an artifice ? Your appeal to the fword, though confitent enough with your late profeflion, will neither prove your innocence, nor clear you from fufpicion.Your complaints with regard to the Manilla ranfom were, for a confiderable time, a diftrefs to government. You were appointed (greatly out of your turn) to the command of a regiment, and during that adminiftration we heard no more of Sir W. Draper. The facts, of which I fpeak, may indeed be variously accounted for, but they are too notorious to be denied; and I think you might have learned at the univerfity, that a falfe conclufion is an error in argument, not a breach of veracity. Your folicitations, I doubt not, were renewed under another adminiftration. Admitting the fact, I fear an indifferent perfon would only infer from' it; that experience had made you acquainted with the benefits of complaining. Remember, fir, that you have yourfelf confefled, that, confidering the critical fituation of this country, the miniftry are in the right to temporife with Spain. This conteffion reduces you to an unfortunate dilemma. By renewing your folicitations, you must either mean to force your country into a war at a moft unfeafonable juncture; or, having no view or expectation of that kind, that you look for nothing but a private compenfation to yourself. As to me, it is by no means neceffary that I should be expofed to the refentment of the worlt and the most powerful men in this country, though PPP I may |