venience, to Mr. Pitt's surrender of the right; then forward to Lord Rockingham's surrender of the fact; then back again to Lord Rockingham's declaration of the right; then forward to taxation with Mr. Townshend; and in the last instance, from the gentle Conway's undetermined discretion, to blood and compulsion with the Duke of Bedford*: Yet if we may believe the simplicity of Lord North's eloquence, at the opening of next sessions you are once more to be the patron of America. Is this the wisdom of a great minister? or is it the ominous vibration of a pendulum? Had you no opinion

being now able to contribute to the exigencies of the state, from a desire to equalize the entire colonization, and from a professed belief that charters granted by the crown with such an exemption as above, displayed an undue stretch of the prerogative, it was determined upon, by Mr. Grenville's administration, to bring the matter boldly to an issue, and for the legislature to claim an authority over the colonies by passing an act which should immediately affect them. The statute enacted for this purpose was the Stamp Act, which imposed a duty upon many of the articles most current through the colonies. The colonies were thrown into a general commotion by this measure, the duty could not be collected, and almost every province became ripe for rebellion.

At home the members of opposition doubted, or affected to doubt, both the propriety and legality of the conduct of administration. Mr. Pitt denied the right, the Marquis of Rockingham admitted the right, but denied the expediency; while many politicians perplexed by the sophistry advanced by the pleaders on all sides, vacillated in their opinion, and sometimes united with one party and sometimes with another. Of this last description was the Duke of Grafton, who occasionally favoured Mr. Pitt's opinion, occasionally the Marquis of Rockingham's, and at last sided with Mr. Charles Townshend in a determined resolution to carry the system of taxation into effect at all hazards. EDIT.

* Mr. Knox, in his "Extra official State Papers," from which extracts have been made in notes to Miscellaneous Letters, Nos. XXXI. and LIII. narrates the following anecdote as having happened to himself on the repeal of the Stamp Act.

"The morning after the resolution passed in the House of Commons, to repeal the Stamp Act, and to bring in the declaratory bill, I was sent for to a meeting of the Opposition at Mr. Rigby's in Parliament Street; when I came there, Mr. Grenville and Mr. Rigby came out to me and told me, the Duke of Bedford and several others desired to know my opinion of the effects which those resolutions would produce in America. My ananswer was in few words-addresses of thanks and measures of rebellion. Mr. Grenville smiled and shook his head, and Mr. Rigby swore by G he thought so, and both wished me a good morning." EDIT.

of your own, my Lord? or was it the gratification of betraying every party with which you have been united, and of deserting every political principle, in which you had concurred?

Your enemies may turn their eyes without regret from this admirable system of provincial government. They will find gratification enough in the survey of your domestic and foreign policy.

If, instead of disowning Lord Shelburne, the British court had interposed with dignity and firmness, you know, my Lord, that Corsica would never have been invaded". The French saw the weakness of a distracted ministry, and were justified in treating you with contempt. They would probably have yielded in the first instance, rather than hazard a rupture with this country; but, being once engaged, they cannot retreat without dishonour. Common sense foresees consequences, which have escaped your Grace's penetration. Either we suffer the French to make an acquisition, the importance of which you have probably no conception of, or we oppose them by an underhand management, which only disgraces us in the eyes of Europe, without answering any purpose of policy or prudence. From secret, indirect assistance, a transition to some more open decisive measures becomes unavoidable; till at last we find ourselves principals in the war, and are obliged to hazard every thing for an object, which might have originally been obtained without expense or danger. I am not versed in the politics of the north; but this I believe is certain, that half the money you have distributed to carry the expulsion of Mr. Wilkes, or even your secretary's share in the last subscription, would have kept the Turks at your devotionf. Was it economy, my Lord?

* Lord Shelburne, father to the present Marquis of Lansdown, while secretary of state, instructed our ambassader at the court of Versailles to remonstrate, in very spirited terms, on the intended invasion of Corsica by the French. His Lordship's conduct, however, was disavowed by his colleagues, and he resigned his situation, Oct. 21, 1768. But see note to Letter 111. p. 46.

†The Ottoman Porte was at this time in the hands of French influence; the court of Tuilleries supplying it with French officers, and instructing it, through their means, in modern tactics, so as to enable it to support

more

or did the coy resistance you have constantly met with in the British senate, make you despair of corrupting the Divan? Your friends indeed have the first claim upon your bounty, but if five hundred pounds a year can be spared in pension to Sir John Moore*, it would not have disgraced you to have allowed something to the secret service of the public.

You will say perhaps that the situation of affairs at home demanded and engrossed the whole of your attention. Here, I confess, you have been active. An amiable, accomplished Prince ascends the throne under the happiest of all auspices, the acclamations and united affections of his subjects. The first measures of his reign, and even the odium of a favourite, were not able to shake their attachment. Your services, my Lord, have been more successful. Since you were permitted to take the lead, we have seen the natural effects of a system of government, at once both odious and contemptible. We have seen the laws sometimes scandalously relaxed, sometimes violently stretched beyond their tone. We have seen the sacred person of the Sovereign insulted; and in profound peace, and with an undisputed title, the fidelity of his subjects brought by his own servants into public questiont. Without abilities, resolution, or interest, you have done more than Lord Bute could accomplish with all Scotland at his heels.

Your Grace, little anxious perhaps either for present or future reputation, will not desire to be handed down in these colours to posterity. You have reason to flatter yourself that the memory of your administration will survive even the more successfully the war in which it was engaged with Russia. The growing extent of French influence over the continent, might in this instance perhaps have easily been curtailed by a little address, and even transferred to the court of St. James's. EDIT.

• Sir John Moore was an old Newmarket acquaintance of his Grace's, where he succeeded in completely squandering away his private fortune. The Duke of Grafton, out of compassion, obtained for him the pension in question. EDIT.

+ The wise Duke, about this time, exerted all the influence of government to procure addresses to satisfy the King of the fidelity of his subjects. They came in very thick from Scotland; but, after the appearance of this letter, we heard no more of them.

forms of a constitution, which our ancestors vainly hoped would be immortal; and as for your personal character, I will not, for the honour of human nature, suppose that you can wish to have it remembered. The condition of the presenttimes is desperate indeed; but there is a debt due to those who come after us, and it is the historian's office to punish, though he cannot correct. I do not give you to posterity as a pattern to imitate, but as an example to deter; and as your conduct comprehends every thing that a wise or honest minister should avoid, I mean to make you a negative instruction to your successors for ever.

JUNIUS.

LETTER XIII.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.
SIR,

12 June, 1769. THE Duke of Grafton's friends, not finding it convenient to enter into a contest with JUNIUS, are now reduced to the last melancholy resource of defeated argument, the flat general charge of scurrility and falsehood. As for his stile, I shall leave it to the critics. The truth of his facts is of more importance to the public. They are of such a nature, that I think a bare contradiction will have no weight with any man, who judges for himself. Let us take them in the order in which they appear in his last letter.

1. Have not the first rights of the people, and the first principles of the constitution been openly invaded, and the very name of an election made ridiculous by the arbitrary appointment of Mr. Luttrell?

2. Did not the Duke of Grafton frequently lead his mistress into public, and even place her at the head of his table, as if he had pulled down an ancient* temple of Venus, and

• Miss Parsons had at this time surpassed the prime both of her youth and beauty.

See this anecdote related more in detail in Miscellaueous Letters, No. XX. EDIT.

could bury all decency and shame under the ruins?-Is this the man who dares to talk of Mr. Wilkes's morals?

3. Is not the character of his presumptive ancestors as strongly marked in him, as if he had descended from them in a direct legitimate line? The idea of his death is only prophetic; and what is prophecy but a narrative preceding the fact?

4. Was not Lord Chatham the first who raised him to the rank and post of a minister, and the first whom he aban-' doned?

5. Did he not join with Lord Rockingham, and betray him?

6. Was he not the bosom friend of Mr. Wilkes, whom he now pursues to destruction?

7. Did he not take his degrees with credit at Newmarket, White's, and the Opposition?

8. After deserting Lord Chatham's principles, and sacrificing his friendship, is he not now closely united with a set of men, who, though they have occasionally joined with all parties, have in every different situation, and at all times, been equally and constantly detested by this country?

9. Has not Sir John Moore a pension of five hundred pounds a year?-This may probably be an acquittance of favours upon the turf; but is it possible for a minister to offer a grosser outrage to a nation, which has so very lately cleared away the beggary of the civil list, at the expense of more than half a million?

10. Is there any one mode of thinking or acting with respect to America, which the Duke of Grafton has not successively adopted and abandoned?

11. Is there not a singular mark of shame set upon this man, who has so little delicacy and feeling as to submit to the opprobrium of marrying a near relation of one who had debauched his wife?-In the name of decency, how are these amiable cousins to meet at their uncle's table?-It will be a scene in Edipus, without the distress.-Is it wealth, or wit, or beauty, or is the amorous youth in love?