strance.

partment. By what unaccountable caprice has it happened, 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 ?10 Lord Weymouth had distinguished 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 Burgundy, behold him exerting the whole strength of his clear, unclouded 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."

Under one administration the Stamp Act is made, under the second it is repealed, under the third, in spite of all experience, a new mode of taxing the colonies is invented, and a question revived, which ought to have been buried in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 remonSince 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." So violent, and I believe I may call it so unconstitutional an exertion of the prerogative, to say noth-this, he was made Secretary of the Northern Deing 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 imprudence, 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.

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

partment, for which he had been prepared by no previous knowledge; while Lord Weymouth was taken 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.

11 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 Lordship must also admit) that he did, from "the deliberate 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 mind— that he acted with deliberation in carrying out the dictates of headlong or drunken passion.

All this, of course, is greatly exaggerated. Severe measures did seem indispensable to suppress the mobs of that day, and, whoever stood forth to direct them, must of necessity incur the popular in

|

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 resentment of a Court to be gratified.

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 indihis friends dwell chiefly on the facility of his 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 be generosity to accumulate in his own person and family a number of lucrative employments; to provide, at the public expense, for every creature that bears the name of Manners; and, neglecting the merit and services of the rest of the 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.15

12

These principles and proceedings, odious and contemptible as they are, in effect are no less injudicious. 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 wasted; 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, moldering away for want of the direction of a man of common abilities and spirit; and, in the last instance, the administration of justice become odious and suspected to the whole

With respect to the navy, I shall only say, that this country is so highly indebted to Sir Edward Hawke, that no expense should be spared to secure him an honorable 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 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 Providence, it were [be] possible for us to escape a

12 The Marquess of Granby, personally considered, was perhaps the most popular member of the cabinet, with the exception of Sir Edward Hawke. He 13 It is unnecessary to say that Lord Mansfield is was a warm-hearted man, of highly social qualities here pointed at. No one now believes that this and generous feelings. As it was the object of Ju- great jurist ever did the things here ascribed to him nius to break down the ministry, it was peculiarly by Junius. All that is true is, that he was a very 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 the prerogatives of the Crown; and that he was a 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 Junius 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 a 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

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 natu 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 Chatham, as a man whose "conduct" he censured, but with whom every moderate man must "make common cause," when he was "persecuted in a way which the real spirit of the laws will not justify."

crisis so full of terror and despair, posterity will or recovered from so desperate a condition, while 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, ¦

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.1

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 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 William Draper.

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 regiment of foot, which he resigned to Colonel Gisborne for his half-pay of £200 Irish. This common trans.

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 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 Manilla ransom most dishonorably given up, it has all 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 interest of the nation.3 But it seems you were a

action furnished Junius with many a sarcasm. Sir formidable opponent, when he had the misfortune to 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 become objects of notice and scenes of travel. He arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, in January, 1770; and, traveling northward, he arrived, during the summer of that year, in Maryland, where he was received with that hospitality which she always paid to strangers, 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 Lieutenant Governor of Minorca-a trust which, however discharged, ended unhappily. He died at Bath, on the 8th of January, 1787."

3 A few words of explanation may be necessary on two of the points here mentioned.

The Corsicans had risen against their former masters and oppressors, the Genoese, and, through the bravery and conduct of their leader, General Paoli, 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 to interfere, and prevent France from being aggrandized 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.

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 descend

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 youred to the indecency of inquiring into his convivial friend appear awkward and ridiculous, by giving him a laced suit of tawdry qualifications which Nature never intended him to wear. You say, he has acquired nothing but honorises as liberally as his liquor, and will suffer no 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.

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

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 As to his bounty, compassion, &c., it would to tell you, Sir William, that in this article your have been but little to the purpose, though you first fact is false; and as there is nothing more had proved all that you have asserted. I meddle painful to me than to give a direct contradiction with nothing but his character as Commander- to a gentleman of your appearance, I could wish in-chief; and though I acquit him of the base- that, in your future publications, you would pay ness of selling commissions, I still assert that his a greater attention to the truth of your premises, military cares have never extended beyond the before you suffer your genius to hurry you to a disposal of vacancies; and I am justified by the conclusion. Lord Ligonier did not deliver the complaints of the whole army, when I say that, army (which you, in classical language, are in this distribution, he consults nothing but par- pleased to call a Palladium) into Lord Granby's liamentary interests, or the gratification of his hands. It was taken from him, much against immediate dependents. As to his servile sub-his inclination, some two or three years before mission to the reigning ministry, let me ask, Lord Granby was Commander-in-chief. As to whether he did not desert the cause of the whole the state of the army, I should be glad to know army when he suffered Sir Jeffery Amherst to where you have received your intelligence. Was be sacrificed? and what share he had in recall- it in the rooms at Bath, or at your retreat at ing that officer to the service ? Did he not be- Clifton? The reports of reviewing generals this, the Grafton ministry had decided three months comprehend only a few regiments in England, before to give her up, and the great body of the nawhich, as they are immediately under the royal tion were indignant at this decision. 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 publish 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 [General Harvey] can not correct.

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 enterprises in America. He was rewarded with the office of Governor of Virginia, but was abruptly displaced in 1768, through the interposition of Hillsborgh, chiefly on account of his friendship for Chattam

He was, however, speedily raised to a high

er station in the army, through the determined interposition of his friends, but not (as Junius intimates) 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.

Permit me now, Sir William, to address my-tary skill and capacity." As to the Manilla self personally to you, by way of thanks for the ransom, he says that he had complained, and honor of your correspondence. You are by no even appealed to the public, but his efforts with means undeserving of notice; and it may be of the ministry were in vain. "Some were ingenconsequence even to Lord Granby to have it de- uous enough to own that they could not think termined, whether or no the man, who has praised of involving this distressed nation into another him so lavishly, be himself deserving of praise. war for our private concerns. In short, our When you returned to Europe, you zealously rights, for the present, are sacrificed to national undertook the cause of that gallant army, by convenience; and I must confess that, although whose bravery at Manilla your own fortune had I may lose five-and-twenty thousand pounds by been established. You complained, you threat- their acquiescence to this breach of faith in the ened, you even appealed to the public in print. Spaniards, I think they are in the right to temBy what accident did it happen that, in the porize, considering the critical situation of this midst of all this bustle, and all these clamors for country, convulsed in every part by poison injustice to your injured troops, the name of the fused by anonymous, wicked, and incendiary writManilla ransom was suddenly buried in a pro-ers. found, and, since that time, an uninterrupted silence? Did the ministry suggest any motives to you strong enough to tempt a man of honor to desert and betray the cause of his fellow-soldiers? Was it that blushing ribbon, which is now the perpetual ornament of your person? Or was it that regiment, which you afterward (a thing unprecedented among soldiers) sold to Colonel Gisborne ? Or was it that government [of Yarmouth], the full pay of which you are contented to hold, with the half-pay of an Irish colonel ? And do you now, after a retreat not very like that of Scipio, presume to intrude your self, 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 honorable terms? We know your prudence, Sir William, and I should be sorry to stop your preferment.

His pecuniary transactions he explained in a manner which ought to have satisfied any candid mind, that there was nothing in them either dishonest or dishonorable. As to his being rewarded with office and preferment, while his companions in arms were neglected, this was certainly not to be imputed to him as a crime, since his services merited all he received. Still, he may, on this account, have been more willing (as Junius insinuated) to remain quiet. He closed his second letter thus: "Junius makes much and frequent use of interrogations: they are arms that may be easily turned against himself. I could, by malicious interrogation, disturb the peace of the most virtuous man in the kingdom. I could take the Decalogue, and say to one man, 'Did you never steal?' to the next, Did you never commit murder?' and to Junius himself, who is putting my life and conduct to the rack, 'Did you never bear false witness against thy neighbor?' Junius must easily see, that unless he affirms to the contrary in his real Sir William Draper, in reply to this Letter, name, some people, who may be as ignorant of said, concerning Lord Granby, "My friend's po- him as I am, will be apt to suspect him of havlitical engagements I know not, so can not pre-ing deviated a little from the truth; therefore let tend to explain them, or assert their consist- Junius ask no more questions. You bite against ency." He does, however, reassert "his mili-a file; cease, viper!"

JUNIUS.

LETTER

TO SIR WILLIAM DRAPER, KNIGHT OF THE BATH.1

SIR,-An academical education has given you an unlimited command over the most beautiful figures of speech. Masks, hatchets, racks, and vipers dance through your letters in all the mazes of metaphorical confusion. These are the gloomy companions of a disturbed imagination-the melancholy madness of poetry without the 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

1 Dated March 3, 1769. This was the Io Triumphe of Junins in closing the correspondence.

your answers, you ought to have no objection. Even Mr. Bingley promises to answer, if put to the torture.

Do you then really think that, if I were to ask a most virtuous man whether he ever committed theft, or murder, it would disturb his peace of mind? Such a question might perhaps discompose the gravity of his muscles, but I believe it

2 This man was a bookseller, who had been subponaed by the government in the case of Wilkes. For some reason, he refused to answer the questions put by either party, and made himself the laughing-stock of both, by declaring under oath that he would never answer until put to the torture. He was imprisoned a number of months for contempt of court, and at last released.