commons should appear to be in perpetual contradic- was advised to dissolve the present parliament, you tion, not only to common sense, and to the laws we advised him tell his subjects, that "he was careful are acquainted with (and which alone we can obey,) not to assume any of those powers which the constibut even to one another. I was led to trouble youtution had placed in other hands," etc. Yet queen with these observations by a passage, which, to speak Anne, it seems, 'was justified in exerting her prerogain lutestring, I met with this morning in the course of tive to stop a house of commons, whose proceedings, my reading, and upon which I mean to put a ques-compared with those of the assembly of which you tion to the advocates for privilege. On the 8th of are a most worthy member, were the perfection of March, 1704, (Vide Journals, Vol. xiv. p. 566,) the justice and reason. house thought proper to come to the following resolutions: 1. That no commoner of England, committed by the house of commons for breach of privilege or contempt of that house, ought to be, by any writ of Habeas Corpus, made to appear in any other place, or before any other judicature, during that session of parliament wherein such person was so committed." 2. "That the sergeant-at-arms, attending this house, do make no return of, or yield any obedience to, the said writs of Habeas Corpus; and for such refusal, that he have the protection of the house of com In what a labyrinth of nonsense does a man involve himself who labors to maintain falsehood by argument! How much better would it become the dignity of the house of commons, to speak plainly to the people, and tell us, at once, "that their will must be obeyed: not because it is lawful and reasonable, but because it is their will!" Their constituents would have a better opinion of their candor, and, I promise you, not a worse opinion of their integrity. PHILO JUNIUS. LETTER XLVIII. TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. June 22, 1771. Welbore Ellis, what say you? Is this the law of parliament, or is it not? I am a plain man, sir, and cannot follow you through the phlegmatic forms of an oration. Speak out, Gildrig, say yes or no. If you say yes, I shall then inquire by what authority The profound respect I bear to the gracious Mr. de Grey, the honest lord Mansfield, and the prince who governs this country, with no less honor barons of the exchequer, dared to grant a writ of to himself than satisfaction to his subjects, and who Habeas Corpus for bringing the bodies of the lord restores you to your rank under his standard, will mayor and Mr. Oliver before them; and why the save you from a multitude of reproaches. The atlieutenant of the Tower made any return to a writ, tention I should have paid to your failings, is involwhich the house of commons had, of a similar in-untarily attracted to the hand that rewards them; stance, declared to be unlawful. If you say no, take and though I am not so partial to the royal judgcare you do not at once give up the cause in support ment as to affirm, that the favor of a king can reof which you have so long and so laboriously tortured move mountains of infamy, it serves to lessen, at your understanding. Take care you do not confess least, (for undoubtedly it divides) the burden. While that there is no test by which we can distinguish, no I remember how much is due to his sacred character, evidence by which we can determine, what is, and I cannot, with any decent appearance of propriety, what is not, the law of parliament. The resolutions call you the meanest and basest fellow in the kingI have quoted, stand upon your journals, uncontro- dom. I protest, my lord, I do not think you so. verted and unrepealed: they contain a declaration You will have a dangerous rival in that kind of fame of the law of parliament, by a court competent to the to which you have hitherto so happily directed your question, and whose decision, as you and lord Mans- ambition, so long as there is one man living who field say, must be law, because there is no appeal thinks you are worthy of his confidence, and fit to be from it: and they were made not hastily, but after trusted with any share in his government. I confess long deliberation upon a constitutional question. you have great intrinsic merit; but take care you do What farther sanction or solemnity will you annex not value it too highly. Consider how much of it to any resolution of the present house of commons. would have been lost to the world, if the king had beyond what appears upon the face of those two reso- not graciously affixed his stamp, and given it curlutions, the legality of which you now deny? If you say that parliaments are not infallible, and that rency among his subjects. If it be true that a virtuous man, struggling with adversity, be a scene queen Anne, in consequence of the violent proceed-worthy of the gods, the glorious contention between ings of that house of commons, was obliged to prorogue and dissolve them, I shall agree with you very heartily, and think that the precedent ought to be followed immediately. But you, Mr. Ellis, who hold But this language is too mild for the occasion. The this language, are inconsistent with your own prin-king is determined that our abilities shall not be lost ciples. You have hitherto maintained, that the house to society. The perpetration and description of new of commons are the sole judges of their own privileges, crimes will find employment for us both. My lord, and that their declaration does ipso facto constitute if the persons who have been loudest in their prothe law of parliament; yet now you confess that par- fessions of patriotism, had done their duty to the liaments are fallible, and that their resolutions may public with the same zeal snd perseverance that I be illegal; consequently that their resolutions do did, I will not assert that government would have not constitute the law of parliament. When the king recovered its dignity, but at least our gracious sovereign must have spared his subjects this last insult;* which, if there be any feeling left among us, they will resent more than even the real injuries they received from every measure of your grace's administration. In vain would he have looked round him for another character so consummate as yours. * If there be, in reality, any such law in England as the law of parliament, which (under the exception stated in my letter on privilege) I confess, after long deliberation, I very much doubt, it certainly is not constituted by, nor can it be collected from, the resolutions of either house, whether enacting or declaratory. I desire the reader will compare the above resolutions of the year 1704, with the following of the 3d of April, 1628.-"Resolved, That the writs of Habeas Corpus cannot be denied, but ought to be granted to every man that is committed or detained in prison, or otherwise restrained by the command of the king, the privy council, or any other, he praying the -ame." 1 you and the best of princes deserves a circle equally attentive and respectable: I think I already see other gods rising from the earth to behold it. Lord Mansfield shrinks from his principles: his ideas of government, perhaps, go farther than your own, but his heart disgraces the theory of his * The duke was lately appointed lord privy seal. understanding. Charles Fox is yet in blossom; and as for Mr. Wedderburne, there is something about him which even treachery cannot trust. For the present, therefore, the best of princes must have contented himself with lord Sandwich. You would long since have received your final dismission and reward, and I, my lord, who do not esteem you the more for the high office you possess, would willingly have followed you to your retirement. There is surely something singularly benevolent in the character of our sovereign. From the moment he ascended the throne, there is no crime of which human nature is capable (and I call upon the recorder to witness it) that has not appeared venial in his sight. With any other prince, the shameful desertion of him in the midst of that distress which you alone had created. in the very crisis of danger, when he fancied he saw the throne surrounded by men of virtue and abilities, would have outweighed the memory of your former services. But his majesty is full of justice, and understands the doctrine of compensations. He remembers, with gratitude, how soon you had accommodated your morals to the necessity of his service; how cheerfully you had abandoned the engagements of private friendship, and renounced the most solemn professions to the public. The sacrifice of lord Chatham was not lost upon him. Even the cowardice and perfidy of deserting him may have done you no disservice in his esteem. The instance was painful, but the principle might please. You did not neglect the magistrate while you flattered the man. The expulsion of Mr. Wilkes, predetermined in the cabinet; the power of depriving the subject of his birthright, attributed to a resolution of one branch of the legislature; the constitution impudently invaded by the house of commons; the right of defending it treacherously renounced by the house of lords; these are the strokes, my lord, which, in the present reign, recommend to office and constitute a minister. They would have determined your sovereign's judgment, if they had made no impression upon his heart. We need not look for any other species of merit to account for his taking the earliest opportunity to recall you to his councils. But you have other merit in abundance. Mr. Hine, the duke of Portland, and Mr. Yorke :Breach of trust, robbery, and murder. You would think it a compliment to your gallantry, if I added rape to the catalogue; but the style of your amours secures you from resistance. I know how well these several charges have been defended. In the first instance, the breach of trust is supposed to have been its own reward. Mr. Bradshaw affirms, upon his honor, (and so may the gift of smiling never depart from him!) that you reserved no part of Mr. Hine's purchase-money for your own use, but that every shilling of it was scrupulously paid to governor Burgoyne. Make haste, my lord; another patent, applied in time, may keep the Oaks* in the family. If not. Birnham-Wood, I fear, must come to the Macaroni. The duke of Portland was in life your earliest friend. In defense of his property, he had nothing to plead but equity against sir James Lowther, and prescription against the crown. You felt for your friend: but the law must take its course. Posterity will scarce believe that lord Bute's son-in-law had barely interest enough at the treasury to get his grant completed before the general election.† Enough has been said of that detestable transaction which ended in the death of Mr. Yorke: I cannot speak of it without horror and compassion. To excuse yourself, you publicly impeach your accomplice. nnd to his mind, perhaps, the accusation may be flattery. But in murder you are both principals. It was once a question of emulation; and, if the event had not disappointed the immediate schemes of the closet, it might still have been a hopeful subject of jest and merriment between you. This letter, my lord, is only a preface to my future correspondence. The remainder of the summer shall be dedicated to your amusement. I mean now and then to relieve the severity of your morning studies, and to prepare you for the business of the day. Without pretending to more than Mr. Bradshaw's sincerity, you may rely upon my attachment as long as you are in office. You Will your grace forgive me, if I venture to express some anxiety for a man whom I know you do not love? My lord Weymouth has cowardice to plead, and a desertion of a later date than your own. know the privy-seal was intended for him; and if you consider the dignity of the post he deserted, you will hardly think it decent to quarter him on Mr. Rigby. Yet he must have bread, my lord; or, rather, he must have wine. If you deny him the cup, there will be no keeping him within the pale of the ministry. LETTER XLIX. JUNIUS. TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. July 9, 1771. The influence of your grace's fortune still seems to preside over the treasury. The genius of Mr. Bradshaw inspires Mr. Robinson.* How remarkable it is (and I speak of it not as a matter of reproach, but as something peculiar to your character) that you have never yet formed a friendship, which has not been fatal to the object of it; nor adopted a cause, to which, one way or other, you have not done mischief! Your attachment is infamy while it lasts; and, which ever way it turns, leaves ruin and disgrace behind it. The deluded girl, who yields to such a profligate, even while he is constant, forfeits her reputation as well as her innocence, and finds herself abandoned at last to misery and shame. Thus it happened with the best of princes. Poor Dingley, too! I protest I hardly know which of them we ought most to lament; the unhappy man who sinks under the sense of his dishonor, or him who survives it. Characters so finished are placed beyond the reach of panegyric. Death has fixed his seal upon Dingley; and you, my lord, have set your mark upon the other. The only letter I ever addressed to the king was so unkindly received, that I believe I shall never presume to trouble his majesty in that way again. But my zeal for his service is superior to neglect; and, like Mr. Wilkes's patriotism, thrives by perseention. Yet his majesty is much addicted to useful reading; and, if I am not il-informed, has honored the Public Advertiser with particular attention. I have endeavored, therefore, and not without success, (as perhaps, you may remember,) to furnish it with such interesting and edifying intelligence, as probably would not reach him through any other channel. The services you have done the nation, your * A superb villa of colonel Burgoyne, about this time integrity in office, and signal fidelity to your ap advertised for sale. It will appear by a subsequent letter, that the duke's precipitation proved fatal to the grant. It looks like the hurry and confusion of a young highwayman, who takes a few shillings, but leaves the purse and watch behind him. And yet the duke was an old offender. * By an intercepted letter from the secretary of the treasury, it appeared, that the friends of government vers to be very active in supporting the ministerial nomination of sheriff's. proved good master, have been faithfully recorded. | descent from Charles the Second is only a bar to Nor have his own virtues been entirely neglected. your pretentions to the crown, and no way interrupts These letters, my lord, are read in other countries, the regularity of your succession to all the virtues and in other languages; and I think I may affirm, of the Stuarts. without vanity, that the gracious character of the best of princes is by this time, not only perfectly known to his subjects, but tolerably well understood by the rest of Europe. In this respect alone I have the advantage of Mr. Whitehead. His plan I think is too narrow. He seems to manufacture his verses for the sole use of the hero who is supposed to be the subject of them, and, that his meaning may not be exported in foreign bottoms, sets all translation at defiance. The unfortunate success of the reverend Mr. Horne's endeavors in support of the ministerial nomination of sheriffs, will, I fear, obstruct his preferment. Permit me to recommend him to your grace's protection. You will find him copiously gifted with those qualities of the heart which usually direct you in the choice of your friendships. He too was Mr. Wilkes's friend, and as incapable as you are of the liberal resentment of a gentleman. No, my lord; it was the solitary, vindictive malice of a monk, brooding over the infirmities of his friend, until he thought they quickened into public life, and feasting with a rancorous rapture upon the sordid catalogue of his disThe tresses. Now let him go back to his cloister. church is a proper retreat for him. In his principles he is already a bishop. The mention of this man has moved me from my natural moderation. Let me return to your grace. You are the pillow upon which I am determined to rest all my resentments. What idea can the best of sovereigns form to himself of his own government? In what repute can he conceive that he stands with the people, when he sees, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that, whatever be the office, the suspicion of his favor is fatal to the candidate; and that, when the party he wishes well to, has the fairest prospect of success, if his royal inclination should unfortunately be discovered, it drops like an acid, and turns the election? This event, among others, may, perhaps, contribute to open his majesty's eyes to his real honor and interest. In spite of all your grace's ingenuity, he may, at last, perceive the inconvenience of selecting, with such a curious felicity, every villain in the nation to fill the various departments of his government. Yet I should be sorry to confine him in the choice either of his footmen or his friends. LETTER L. JUNIUS. Your grace's re-appointment to a seat in the cabinet was announced to the public by the ominous return of lord Bute to this country. When that noxious planet approaches England, he never fails to bring plague and pestilence along with him. The king already feels the malignant effect of your influence over his councils. Your former administration made Mr. Wilkes an alderman of London and representative of Middlesex. Your next appearance in office is marked with his election to the shrievalty. In whatever measure you are concerned, you are not only disappointed of success, but always contrive to make the government of the best of princes contemptible in his own eyes, and ridiculous to the whole world. Making all due allowance for the effect of the minister's declared interposition, Mr. Robinson's activity, and Mr. Horne's new zeal in support of administration, we still want the genius of the duke of Grafton to account for committing the whole interest of government in the city to the conduct of Mr. Harley. I will not bear hard upon your faithful friend and emissary, Mr. Touchet; for I know the difficulties of his situation, and that a few lottery tickets are of use to his economy. There is a proverb concerning persons in the predicament of this gentleman, which, however, cannot be strictly applied to him; They commence dupes and finish knaves. Now, Mr. Touchet's character is uniform. I am convinced that his sentiments never depended upon his circumstances; and that, in the most prosperous state of his fortune, he was always the very man he is at present. But was there no other person of rank and consequence in the city, whom government could confide in, but a notorious Jacobite? Did you imagine that the whole body of the dissenters, that the whole whig interest of London, would attend at the levee, and submit to the directions of a notorious Jacobite? Was there no whig magistrate in the city, to whom the servants of George the Third could entrust the management of a business so very interesting to their master as the election of sheriffs? Is there no room at St. James's but for Scotchmen and Jacobites? My lord, I do not mean to question the sincerity of Mr. Harley's attachment to his majesty's government. Since the commencement of the present reign, I have seen still greater contradictions reconciled. The principles of these worthy Jacobites are not so absurd as they have been represented. Their ideas of divine right are not so much annexed to the person or family, You charge me with "a new zeal in support of adas to the political character of the sovereign. ministration," and with "endeavors in support of the Had there ever been an honest man among the Stuarts, ministerial nomination of sheriffs." The reputation his majesty's present friends would have been whigs which your talents have deservedly gained to the upon principle. But the conversion of the best of signature of Junius, draws from me a reply, which I princes has removed their scruples. They have for-disdained to give to the anonymous lies of Mr. Wilkes. given him the sins of his Hanoverian ancestors, and You make frequent use of the word gentleman; I only acknowledged the hand of Providence in the descent call myself a man, end desire no other distinction. If of the crown upon the head of a true Stuart. In you you are either, you are bound to make good your my lord, they also behold, with a kind of predilection charges, or to confess that you have done me a hasty which borders upon loyalty, the natural representa-injustice upon no authority. tive of that illustrious family. The mode of your SIR, FROM THE REV. MR. HORNE TO JUNIUS. July 13, 1771. Farse, Comedy, and Tragedy.-Wilkes, Foote, and Junius-united at the same time against one poor parson, are fearful odds. The two former are only laboring in their vocation, and may equally plead, in excuse, that their aim is a livelihood. I admit the plea for the second: his is an honest calling and my clothes were lawful game; but I cannot so readily approve Mr. Wilkes, or commend him for making patriotism a trade, and a fraudulent trade. But what shall I say to Junius? the grave, the solemn, the didactic! Ridicule, indeed, has been ridiculously called the test of truth: but surely, to confess that you lose your natural moderation when mention is made of the man, does not promise much truth or justice when you speak of him yourself. I put the matter fairly to issue. I say that, so far from any new zeal in support of administration," I am possessed with the utmost abhorrence of their measures; and that I have ever shown myself, and an still ready, in any rational manner, to lay down all I have my life, in opposition to those measures. I say, that I have not, and never have had, any communication or connection of any kind, directly or in directly, with any courtier or ministerial man, or any of their adherents; that I never have received, or solicited, or expected, or desired, or do now hope for, any reward of any sort, from any part or set of men in administration or opposition. I say, that I never used any "endeavors in support of the ministerial nomination of sheriffs;" that I did not solicit any one livery man for his vote for any one of the candidates, nor employ any other person to solicit; and that I did not write one single line or word in favor of Messrs. Plumbe and Kirkman, whom I understand to have been supported by the ministry. You are bound to refute what I here advance, or to lose your credit for veracity. You must produce facts; surmise and general abuse, in however elegant language, ought not to pass for proofs. You have every advantage, and I have every disadvantage: you are unknown; I give my name. All parties, both in and out of administration, have their reasons (which I shall relate hereafter) for uniting in their wishes against me: and the popular prejudice is as strongly in your favor as it is violent against the parson. Singular as my present situation is, it is neither painful, nor was it unforseen. He is not fit for public business, who does not, even at his entrance, prepare his mind for such an event. Health, fortune, tranquillity, and private connections, I have sacrificed upon the altar of the public; and the only return I received, because I will not concur to dupe and mislead a senseless multitude, is barely, that they have not yet torn me in pieces. That this has been the only return is my pride and a source of more real satisfaction than honors or prosperity. I can practice, before I am old, the lessons I learned in my youth; nor shall I forget the words of my ancient monitor: "Tis the last key-stone That makes the arch; the rest that there were put, Are nothing till that comes to bind and shut; Then stands it a triumphal mark! Then men Observe the strength, the height, the why and when It was erected; and still, walking under, Meet some new matter to look up and wonder!" SIR, TO THE REVEREND MR. HORNE. July 24, 1771. I cannot descend to an altercation with you in the newspapers: but since I have attacked your character, and you complain of injustice, I think you have some right to an explanation. You defy me to prove, that you ever solicited a vote, or wrote a word in support of the ministerial aldermen. Sir, I did never suspect you of such gross folly. It would have been impossible for Mr. Horne to have solicited votes, and very difficult to have written in the newspapers in defense of that cause, without being detected, and brought to shame. Neither do I pretend to any intelligence concerning you, or to know more of your conduct than you yourself have thought proper to communicate to the public. It is from your own letters, I conclude, that you have sold yourself to the ministry: or, if that charge be too severe, and supposing it possible to be deceived by appearances so very strongly against you, what are your friends to say in your defense? Must they not confess, that, to gratify your personal hatred of Mr. Wilkes, you sacrificed, as far as depended on your interest and abilities, the cause of the country? I can make allowances for the violence of the passions; and if ever I should be convinced that you had no motive but to destroy Wilkes, I shall then be ready to do justice to your character, and to declare to the world, that I despise you somewhat less than I do at present. But, as a public man, I must for ever condemn you. You cannot but know, (nay, you dare not pretend to be ignorant) that the highest gratifications of which the most detestable * in this nation is capable, would have been the defeat of Wilkes. I know that man much better than any of you. Nature intended him only for a goodhumored fool. A systematical education, with long practice, has made him a consummate hypocrite. Yet this man, to say nothing of his worthy ministers, you have most assiduously labored to gratify. To exclude Wilkes, it was not necessary you should solicit votes for his opponents. We incline the balance as effectually by lessening the weight in one scale, as increasing it in the other. * The mode of your attack upon Wilkes (though I am far from thinking meanly of your abilities) convinces me that you either want judgment extremely, or that you are blinded by you resentment. You ought to have foreseen that the charges you urged against Wilkes could never do him any mischief. After all, when we expected discoveries highly interesting to the community, what a pitiful detail did it end in!-some old clothes, a Welch pony-a French footman-and a hamper of claret. Indeed, Mr. Horne, the public should and will forgive him his claret and his footman, and even the ambition of making his brother chamberlain of London, as long as he stands forth against a ministry and parliament who are doing every thing they can to enslave the country, and as long as he is a thorn in the king's side. You will not suspect me of setting up Wilkes for a perfect character. The question to the public is, where shall we find a man who, with purer principles, will go the lengths, and run the hazards, that he has done? The season calls for such a man, and he ought to be supported. What would have been the triumph of that odious hypocrite and his minions, if Wilkes had been defeated! It was not your fault, reverend sir, that he did not enjoy it completely. But now, I promise you, you have so little power to do mischief, that I much question whether the ministry will adhere to the promises they have made you. It will be in vain to say that I am a partisan of Mr. Wilkes, or personally your enemy. You will convince no man, for you do not believe it yourself. Yet I confess I am a little offended at the low rate at which you seem to value my understanding. I beg, Mr Horne, you will hereafter believe, that I measure the integrity of men by their conduct, not by their professions. Such tales may entertain Mr. Oliver, or your grandmother, but, trust me, they are thrown away upon Junius. You say you are a man. Was it generous, was it manly, repeatedly to introduce into a newspaper, the name of a young lady with whom you must heretofore have lived on terms of politeness and good humor? But I have done with you. In my opinion, your credit is irrevocably ruined. Mr. Townshend, I think, is nearly in the same predicament. Poor Oliver has been shamefully duped by you. You have made him sacrifice all the honor he got by his imprisonment. As for Mr. Sawbridge, whose character I really respect, I am astonished he does not see through your duplicity. Never was so base a design so poorly conducted. This letter,* you see, is not intended for the Mr. Horne, at Junius's request. Mr. Horne returned it *This letter was transmitted privately by the printer to to the printer, with directions to publish it. public; but, if you think it will do you any service, | letter of abuse, by the printer, which he finishes with you are at liberty to publish it. SIR, LETTER LII. JUNIUS. FROM THE REV. MR. HORNE TO JUNIUS. telling me, "I am at liberty to publish it." This, to be sure, is a most excellent method to avoid an altercation in the newspapers! The proofs of his positive charges are as extraordinary. "He does not pretend to any intelligence concerning me, or to know more of my conduct than I myself have thought proper to communicate to the July 31, 1771. public." He does not suspect me of such gross folly You have disappointed me. When I told you as to have solicited votes, or to have written anonythat surmise and general abuse, in however elegant mously in the newspapers; because it is impossible language, ought not to pass for proofs, I evidently to do either without being detected, and brought to hinted at the reply which I expected, but you have shame. Junius says this! who yet imagines that he dropped your usual elegance, and seem willing to try has himself written two years under that signature what will be the effect of surmise and general abuse (and more under others) without being detected! his in very coarse language. Your answer to my last let warmest admirers will not hereafter add, without ter (which, I hope, was cool, and temperate, and being brought to shame. But, though he never did modest) has convinced me, that my idea of a man is suspect me of such gross folly, as to run the hazard of much superior to yours of a gentleman. Of your being detected, and brought to shame, by anonymous former letters, I have always said, Materiam supera-writing, he insists that I have been guilty of a much bat opus: I do not think so of the present: the prin- grosser folly, of incurring the certainty of shame and ciples are more detestable than the expressions are detection, by writings signed with my name! But mean and illiberal. I am contented that all those this is a small flight for the towering Junius: "He is who adopt the one should for ever load me with the far from thinking meanly of my abilities," though other. "he is convinced that I want judgment extremely;" and can "really respect Mr. Sawbridge's character," though he declares him to be so poor a creature, as not to see through the basest design, conducted in the poorest manner. And this most base design is conducted in the poorest manner by a man, whom he does not suspect of gross folly, and of whose abilities he is far from thinking meanly! I appeal to the common sense of the public, to which I have ever directed myself: I believe they have it; though I am sometimes half inclined to suspect that Mr. Wilkes has found a truer judgment of mankind than I have. However, of this I am sure, that there is nothing else upon which to place a steady reliance. Trick, and low cunning, and addressing their prejudices and passions, may be the fittest means to carry a particular point; but if they have not common sense, there is no prospect of gaining for them any real permanent good. The same passions which have been artfully used by an honest man for their advantage, may be more artfully employed by a dishonest man for their destruction. I desire them to apply their common sense to this letter of Junius, not for my sake, but their own; it concerns them most nearly; for the principles it contains lead to dis-justice? He acknowledges they have some sort of grace and ruin, and are inconsistent with every notion of civil society. 46 The charges which Junius has brought against me, are made ridiculous by his own inconsistency and self-contradiction. He charges me positively with a new zeal in support of administration;" and with endeavors in support of the ministerial nomination | of sheriffs." And he assigns two inconsistent motives for my conduct: either that I have" sold myself to the ministry;" or am instigated by the solitary vindictive malice of a monk :" either that I am influenced by a sordid desire of gain, or am hurried on by "personal hatred, and blinded by resentment." In his letter to the duke of Grafton, he supposes me actuated by both in his letter to me, he at first doubts which of the two, whether interest or revenge, is my motive. However, at last he determines for the former, and again positively asserts, that the ministry have made me promises :" yet he produces no instance of corruption, nor pretends to have any intelligence of any ministerial connection. He mentions no cause of personal hatred to Mr. Wilkes, nor any reason for my resentment or revenge: nor has Mr. Wilkes himself ever hinted any, though repeatedly pressed. When Junius is called upon to justify his accusation, he answers, "He cannot descend to an altercation with me in the newspapers." Junius who exists only in the newspapers, who acknowledges he has "attacked my character" there, and thinks "I have some right to an explanation;" yet this Junius "cannot descend to an altercation in the newspapers!" And because he cannot descend to an altercation with me in the newspapers, he sends a Should we ask Junius to reconcile these contradictions, and explain this nonsense, the answer is ready: "He cannot descend to an altercation in the newspapers." He feels no reluctance to attack the character of any man: the throne is not too high, nor the cottage too low: his mighty malice can grasp both extremes. He hints not his accusations as opinion, conjecture, or inference, but delivers them as positive assertions. Do the accused complain of in right to an explanation; but if they ask for proofs and facts, he begs to be excused; and though he is no where else to be encountered, "he cannot descend to an altercation in the newspapers." And this, perhaps, Junius may think "the liberal resentment of a gentleman;" this skulking assassination he may call courage. In all things, as in this, I hope we differ. "I thought that fortitude had been a mean Of two things, however, he has condescended to give proof. He very properly produces a young lady to prove that I am not a man; and a good old woman, my grandmother, to prove Mr. Oliver a fool. Poor old soul! she read her Bible far otherwise than * I beg leave to introduce Mr. Horne to the character of the Double Dealer. I thought they had been better made by some, who have not taken leisure to distinguish acquainted "Another very wrong objection has been the characters. The hero of the play (meaning Melefonte) is a gull, and made a fool, and cheated. Is every man a gull and a fool that is deceived? At that rate, I am afraid, the two classes of men will be reduced to one, and the knaves themselves be at a loss to justify their title. But if an open, honest-hearted man, who has an entire confidence in one whom he takes to be his friend. and who (to confirm him in his opinion) in all appearance, and upon several trials, has been so, if this man be deceived by the treachery of the other, must he of necessity commence fool immediately, only because the other has Congreve: and he, I think, is allowed to have known proved a villain?" Yes, says parson Horne. No, says something of human nature. |
