questions merely political, an honest man may stand neuter. But the laws and constitution are the general property of the subject;-not to defend is to relinquish;-and who is there so senseless as to renounce his share in a common benefit, unless he hopes to profit by a new division of the spoil. As a lord of parliament, you were repeatedly called upon to condemn or defend the new law declared by the House of Commons. You affected to have scruples, and every expedient was attempted to remove them.-The question was proposed and urged to you in a thousand different shapes. Your prudence still supplied you with evasion; your resolution was invincible. For my own part, I am not anxious to penetrate this solemn secret. I care not to whose wisdom it is entrusted, nor how soon you carry it with you to your grave*. You have betrayed your opinion by the very care you have taken to conceal it. It is not from Lord Mansfield that we expect any reserve in declaring his real sentiments in favour of government, or in opposition to the people; nor is it difficult to account for the motions of a timid, dishonest heart, which neither has virtue enough to acknowledge truth, nor courage to contradict it.-Yet you continue to support an administration which you know is universally odious, and which, on some occasions, you yourself speak of with contempt. You would fain be thought to take no share in government, while, in reality, you are the main spring of the machine.-Here too we trace the little, prudential policy of a Scotchman.-Instead of acting that open, generous part, which becomes your rank and station, you meanly skulk into the closet, and give your Sovereign such advice, as you have not spirit to avow or defend. You secretly engross the power, while you decline the title of minister; and though you dare not be Chancellor, you know how to secure the emoluments of the office.-Are the seals to be for ever in commission, that you may enjoy five thou

He said in the House of Lords, that he believed he should carry his opinion with him to the grave. It was afterwards reported that he had intrusted it, in special confidence, to the ingenious Duke of Cumberland.

sand pounds a year?-I beg pardon, my Lord*;-your fears have interposed at last, and forced you to resign.-The odium of continuing speaker of the House of Lords, upon such terms, was too formidable to be resisted. What a mul titude of bad passions are forced to submit to a constitu tional infirmity! But though you have relinquished the salary, you still assume the rights of a minister.-Your conduct, it seems, must be defended in parliament.-For what other purpose is your wretched friend, that miserable serjeant, posted to the House of Commons? Is it in the abili ties of a Mr. Leigh to defend the great Lord Mansfield?— Or is he only the punch of the puppet-shew, to speak as he is prompted, by the CHIEF JUGGLER behind the curtaint?

In public affairs, my Lord, cunning, let it be ever so well wrought, will not conduct a man honourably through lifet Like bad money, it may be current for a time, but it will soon be cried down. It cannot consist with a liberal spirit, though it be sometimes united with extraordinary qualifica tions. When I acknowledge your abilities, you may believe I am sincere. I feel for human nature, when I see a man, so gifted as you are, descend to such vile practice.-Yet do not suffer your vanity to console you too soon. Believe me, my good Lord, you are not admired in the same degree, in which you are detested. It is only the partiality of your friends, that balances the defects of your heart with the su periority of your understanding. No learned man, even among your own tribe, thinks you qualified to preside in a court of common law. Yet it is confessed that, under Jus tinian, you might have made an incomparable Prætor.—It

*

Upon the death of Charles Yorke, who, as has been already observed, shot himself almost immediately on his appointment to the Chancellorship, the great seal was held in commission by Sir Sydney Stafford Smythe, the Hon. Henry Bathurst, and Sir Richard Aston; while Lord Mansfield was appointed speaker of the Upper House, with a salary as above. Lord Apsley succeeded to Mr. Yorke, and of course took the office of speaker at the same time from the hands of Lord Mansfield. EDIT.

This paragraph gagged poor Leigh. I really am concerned for the man, and wish it were possible to open his mouth. He is a very pretty

orator.

See Private Letter, No. 44. EDIT.

is remarkable enough, but I hope not ominous, that the laws you understand best, and the judges you affect to admire most, flourished in the decline of a great empire, and are supposed to have contributed to its fall.

Here, my Lord, it may be proper for us to pause together. It is not for my own sake that I wish you to consider the delicacy of your situation. Beware how you indulge the first emotions of your resentment. This paper is delivered to the world, and cannot be recalled! The persecution of an innocent printer cannot alter facts, nor refute arguments.Do not furnish me with farther materials against yourself.An honest man, like the true religion, appeals to the understanding, or modestly confides in the internal evidence of his conscience. The impostor employs force instead of argument, imposes silence where he cannot convince, and propagates his character by the sword.

JUNIUS.

LETTER XLII.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.

SIR,

January 30, 1771. If we recollect in what manner the King's friends have been constantly employed, we shall have no reason to be surprised at any condition of disgrace, to which the once respected name of Englishmen may be degraded. His Majesty has no cares, but such as concern the laws and constitution of this country. In his Royal breast there is no room left for resentment, no place for hostile sentiments against the natural enemies of his crown. The system of government is uniform.-Violence and oppression at home can only be supported by treachery and submission abroad. When the civil rights of the people are daringly invaded on one side, what have we to expect, but that their political rights should be deserted and betrayed, in the same proportion, on the other? The plan of domestic policy, which has been invariably pursued, from the moment of his present VOL. I.

2 L

Majesty's accession, engrosses all the attention of his ser vants. They know that the security of their places depends upon their maintaining, at any hazard, the secret system of the closet. A foreign war might embarrass, an unfavourable event might ruin the minister, and defeat the deep-laid scheme of policy, to which he and his associates owe their employments. Rather than suffer the execution of that scheme to be delayed or interrupted, the King has been advised to make a public surrender, a solemn sacrifice, in the face of all Europe, not only of the interests of his subjects, but of his own personal reputation, and of the dignity of that crown, which his predecessors have worn with honour. These are strong terms, Sir, but they are supported by fact and argument.

The King of Great Britain had been for some years in possession of an island*, to which, as the ministry themselves have repeatedly asserted, the Spaniards had no claim of right. The importance of the place is not in question. If it were, a better judgment might be formed of it from the opinions of Lord Anson and Lord Egmont, and from the anxiety of the Spaniards, than from any fallacious insinuations thrown out by men, whose interest it is to undervalue that property, which they are determined to relinquish. The pretensions of Spain were a subject of negotiation between the two courts. They had been discussed, but not admitted. The King of Spain, in these circumstances, bids adieu to amicable negotiation, and appeals directly to the sword. The expedition against Port Egmont does not appear to have been a sudden ill-concerted enterprise. It seems to have been conducted not only with the usual military precautions, but in all the forms and ceremonies of war. A frigate was first employed to examine the strength of the place. A message was then sent, demanding immediate possession, in the Catholic King's name, and ordering our people to depart. At last a military force appears, and compels the garrison to

* Falkland or the Great Malouine Island. See a brief statement of the whole dispute in a note to the Miscellaneous Letters, No. LXXXVIII.

surrender. A formal capitulation ensues, and his Majesty's ship, which might at least have been permitted to bring home his troops immediately, is detained in port twenty days, and her rudder forcibly taken away. This train of facts carries no appearance of the rashness or violence of a Spanish governor. On the contrary, the whole plan seems to have been formed and executed, in consequence of deliberate orders, and a regular instruction from the Spanish court. Mr. Bucarelli is not a pirate, nor has he been treated as such by those who employed him. I feel for the honour of a gentleman, when I affirm that our King owes him a signal reparation. Where will the humiliation of this country end! A King of Great Britain, not contented with placing himself upon a level with a Spanish governor, descends so low as to do a notorious injustice to that governor. As a salvo for his own reputation, he has been advised to traduce the character of a brave officer, and to treat him as a common robber, when he knew with certainty that Mr. Bucarelli had acted in obedience to his orders, and had done no more than his duty. Thus it happens in private life, with a man who has no spirit nor sense of honour.-One of his equals orders a servant to strike him. Instead of returning the blow to the master, his courage is contented with throwing an aspersion, equally false and public, upon the character of the servant.

This short recapitulation was necessary to introduce the consideration of his Majesty's speech, of 13th November, 1770, and the subsequent measures of government. The excessive caution, with which the speech was drawn up, had impressed upon me an early conviction, that no serious resentment was thought of, and that the conclusion of the business, whenever it happened, must, in some degree, be dishonourable to England. There appears through the whole speech, a guard and reserve in the choice of expression, which shews how careful the ministry were not to embarrass their future projects by any firm or spirited declaration from the throne. When all hopes of peace are lost, his Majesty tells his parliament, that he is preparing,-not for barbarous war,