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once the pride and honor of an Englishman. The civil equality of the laws preserved the property, and defended the safety of the subject. Are these glorious privileges the birthright of the people, or are we only tenants at the will of the ministry? But that I know there is a spirit of resistance in the hearts of my countrymen; that they value life, not by its conveniences, but by the independence and dignity of their condition; I should, at this moment, appeal only to their discretion. I should persuade them to banish from their minds all memory of what we were; I should tell them this is not a time to remember that we were Englishmen; and give it, as my last advice, to make some early agreement with the minister, that, since it has pleased him to rob us of those political rights, which once distinguished the inhabitants of a country where honor was happiness, he would leave us at least the humble, obedient security of citizens, and graciously condescend to "rotect us in our submission.

LETTER XXXI

JUNIUS.

that they have been punished, or even censured for either. Another gentleman lays much stress upon the calamity of the case; and, instead of disproving facts, appeals at once to the compassion of the public. This idea, as well as the insinuation, that, depriving the parties of their commissions would be an injury to their creditors, can only refer to general Gansel. The other officers are in no distress; therefore, have no claim to compassion: nor does it appear that their creditors, if they have any, are more likely to be satisfied by their continuing in the guards. But this sort of plea will not hold in any shape. Compassion to an offender, who has grossly violated the laws, is, in effect, a cruelty to the peaceable subject who has observed them: and even admitting the force of any alleviating circumstances, it is nevertheless true, that in this instance, the royal compassion has interposed too soon. The legal and proper mercy of a king of England may remit the punishment, but ought not to stop the trial.

Besides these particular objections, there has been a cry raised against Junius, for his malice and injustice in attacking the ministry upon an event which they could neither hinder nor foresee. This, I must affirm, is a false representation of his argument. He lays no stress upon the event itself, as a ground of accusation against the ministry, but dwells entirely upon their subsequent conduct. He does not say that they are answerable for the offense, but for the

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SIR, November 14, 1769. The variety of remarks which have been made upon the last letter of Junius, and my own opinion of the writer, who, whatever may be his faults. is certainly not a weak man, have induced me to ex-scandalous neglect of their duty, in suffering an ofamine, with some attention, the subject of that letter. fense so flagrant to pass by without notice or inquiry. I could not persuade myself, that, while he had Supposing them ever so regardless of what they owe plenty of important materials, he would have taken to the public, and as indifferent about the opinion, as up a light or trifling occasion to attack the ministry; they are about the interests of their country, what much less could I conceive, that it was his intention answer, as officers of the crown, will they give to Juto ruin the officers concerned in the rescue of general nius, when he asks them, "Are they aware of the Gansel, or to injure the general himself. These are outrage offered to their sovereign, when his own little objects, and can no way contribute to the great proper guard is ordered out to stop, by main force, purposes he seems to have in view, by addressing the execution of his laws?" And when we see a himself to the public. Without considering the or- ministry giving such a strange, unaccountable protecnamented style he has adopted, I determined to look | tion to the officers of the guards, is it unfair to susfarther into the matter, before I decided upon the pect that they have some secret and unwarrantable merits of his letter. The first step I took was to in- motives for their conduct? If they feel themselves quire into the truth of the facts; for if these were injured by such a suspicion, why do they not immeeither false or misrepresented, the most artful exer- diately clear themselves from it by doing their duty? tion of his understanding, in reasoning upon them. For the honor of the guards, I cannot help expressing would only be a disgrace to him. Now, sir, I have another suspicion, that if the commanding officer had found every circumstance stated by Junius to be not received a secret injunction to the contrary, he literally true. General Gansel persuaded the bailiffs would, in the ordinary course of his business, have to conduct him to the parade, and certainly solicited applied for a court martial to try the two subalterns; a corporal, and other soldiers, to assist him in mak- the one for quitting his guard, the other for taking ing his escape. Captain Dodd did certainly apply to upon him the command of the guard, and employing captain Garth for the assistance of his guard. Cap-it in the manner he did. I do not mean to enter into, tain Garth declined appearing himself, but stood or defend, the severity with which Junius treats the aloof, while the other took upon him to order out the guards. On the contrary, I will suppose, for a moking's guard, and by main force rescued the general. ment, that they deserve a very different character. It is also strictly true, that the general was escorted If this be true, in what light will they consider the by a file of musqueteers to a place of security. These conduct of the two subalterns, but as the general reare facts, Mr. Woodfall, which I promise you no proach and disgrace to the whole corps? And will gentleman in the guards will deny. If all or any of they not wish to see them censured, in a military them are false, why are they not contradicted by the way, if it were only for the credit and discipline of parties themselves? However secure against mili- the regiment? tary censure, they have yet a character to lose; and, surely, if they are innocent, it is not beneath them to pay some attention to the opinion of the public.

Upon the whole, sir, the ministry seem to me to have taken a very improper advantage of the goodnature of the public, whose humanity, they found, considered nothing in this affair but the distress of

The force of Junius's observations upon these facts cannot be better marked, than by stating and refut-general Gansel. They would persuade us, that it was ing the objections which have been made to them. One writer says, " Admitting the officers have offended, they are punishable at common law; and will you have a British subject punished twice for the same offense?" I answer, that they have committed two offenses, both very enormous, and violated two laws. The rescue is one offense, the flagrant breach of discipline another; and hitherto it does not appear

only a common rescue by a few disorderly soldiers, and not the formal, deliberate act of the king's guard, headed by an officer; and the public has fallen into the deception. I think, therefore, we are obliged to Junius for the care he has taken to inquire into the facts, and for the just commentary with which he has given them to the world. For my own part, I am as unwilling as any man to load the unfortunate;

but really, sir, the precedent with respect to the guards, is of a most important nature, and alarming enough (considering the consequences with which it may be attended) to deserve a parliamentary inquiry. When the guards are daring enough, not only to violate their own discipline, but publicly, and, with the most atrocious violence, to stop the execution of the laws, and when such extraordinary offenses pass with impunity, believe me, sir, the precedent strikes deep. PHILO JUNIUS.

SIR,

LETTER XXXII.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. November 15, 1769. I admit the claim of a gentleman, who publishes in the Gazetteer under the name of Modestus. He has some right to expect an answer from me; though, I think, not so much from the merit or importance of his objections, as from my own voluntary engagement. I had a reason for not taking notice of him sooner, which, as he is a candid person, I believe, he will think sufficient. In my first letter, I took for granted, from the time which had elapsed, that there was no intention to censure, or even to try, the persons concerned in the rescue of general Gansel: but Modestus having since either affirmed, or strongly insinuated, that the offenders might still be brought to a legal trial, any attempt to prejudge the cause, or to prejudice the minds of a jury, or a court-martial, would be highly improper.

A man more hostile to the ministry than I am, would not so often remind them of their duty. If the duke of Grafton will not perform the duty of his station, why is he minister? I will not descend to a scurrilous altercation with any man; but this is a subject too important to be passed over with silent indifference. If the gentlemen, whose conduct is in question, are not brought to a trial, the duke of Grafton shall hear from me again.

gant chastity of a prude, who gratifies her passions with distinction, and prosecutes one lover for a rape; while she solicits the lewd embraces of another. Your cheek turns pale: for a guilty conscience tells you, you are undone. Come forward, thou virtuous minister, and tell the world by what interest Mr. Hine has been recommended to so extraordinary a mark of his master's favor; what was the price of the patent he has bought, and to what honorable purpose the purchase money has been applied. Nothing less than many thousands could pay colonel Burgoyne's expenses at Preston. Do you dare to prosecute such a creature as Vaughan, while you are basely setting up the royal patronage to auction? Do you dare to complain of an attack upon your own honor, while you are selling the favors of the crown, to raise a fund for corrupting the morals of the people? And do you think it is possible such enormities should escape without impeachment? It is, indeed, highly your interest to maintain the present house of commons. Having sold the nation to you in gross, they will undoubtedly protect you in the detail; for, while they patronise your crimes, they feel for their own. JUNIUS.

LETTER XXXIV.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON.
MY LORD,

December 12, 1769. I find with some surprise, that you are not supported as you deserve. Your most determined advocates have scruples about them which you are unacquainted with; and though there be nothing too hazardous for your grace to engage in, there are some things too infamous for the vilest prostitute of a newspaper to defend.* In what other manner shall we account for the profound, submissive silence which you and your friends have observed upon a charge which called The motives on which I am supposed to have taken immediately for the clearest refutation, and would up this cause, are of little importance, compared with have justified the severest measures of resentment? the facts themselves, and the observations I have made I did not attempt to blast your character by an indiupon them. Without a vain profession of integrity, rect, ambiguous insinuation; but candidly stated to which in these times might justly be suspected, you a plain fact, which struck directly at the inshall show myself, in effect, a friend to the interests tegrity of a privy counsellor, of a first commissioner of my countrymen; and leave it to them to deter- of the treasury, and of a leading minister, who is supmine, whether I am moved by a personal malevolence posed to enjoy the first share in his majesty's confto three private gentlemen, or merely by a hope of dence. In every one of these capacities I employed perplexing the ministry; or whether I am animated, the most moderate terms to charge you with treachery by a just and honorable purpose of obtaining a sat-to your sovereign, and breach of trust in your office. isfaction to the laws of this country, equal, if possible, to the violation they have suffered.

LETTER XXXIII.

JUNIUS.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF GRAFTON.

MY LORD,

November 29, 1769. Though my opinion of your grace's integrity was but little affected by the coyness with which you received Mr. Vaughan's proposals, I confess I give you some credit for your discretion. You had a fair opportunity of displaying a certain delicacy, of which you had not been suspected, and you were in the right to make use of it. By laying in a moderate stock of reputation, you undoubtedly meant to provide for the future necessities of your character, that, with an honorable resistance upon record, you might safely indulge your genius, and yield to a favorite inclination with security. But you have discovered your purposes too soon; and, instead of the modest reserve of virtue, have shown us the terma.

lection of the customs at Exeter to one Mr. Hine, who,
I accused you of having sold a patent place in the col-
unable or unwilling to deposit the whole purchase
money himself, raised part of it by contribution, and
has now a certain doctor Brooke quartered upon the
salary for one hundred pounds a year. No sale by
the candle was ever conducted with greater formality.
I affirm, that the price at which the place was knocked
down (and which, I have good reason to think, was
not less than three thousand five hundred pounds)
was, with your connivance and consent, paid to
colonel Burgoyne, to reward him, I presume, for the
decency of his deportment at Preston; or to reim-
burse him, perhaps, for the fine of one thousand
pounds, which, for that very deportment, the court
of king's bench thought proper to set upon him. It
is not often that the chief justice and the prime min-

not one word was said in defense of the duke of Grafton.
* From the publication of the preceding to this date.
But vice and impudence soon recovered themselves, and
the sale of the royal favor was openly avowed and de-
what is become of its morality?
fended. We acknowledge the piety of St James's, but

✦ And by the same means preserves it to this hour.

ister are so strangely at variance in their opinions of of a patent place in Jamaica (which he was otherwise men and things.

I thank God, there is not in human nature a degree of impudence daring enough to deny the charge I have fixed upon you. Your courteous secretary, * your confidential architect, † are silent as the grave. Even Mr. Rigby's countenance fails him. He violates his second nature, and blushes whenever he speaks of you. Perhaps the noble colonel himself will relieve you. No man is more tender of his reputation. He is not only nice but perfectly sore, in everything that touches his honor. If any man, for example, were to accuse him of taking his stand at a gamingtable, and watching, with the soberest attention, for a fair opportunity of engaging a drunkeu young nobleman at piquet,he would, undoubtedly, consider it as an infamous aspersion upon his character, and resent it like a man of honor. Acquitting him, therefore, of drawing a regular and splendid subsistence from any unworthy practices, either in his own house, or elsewhere, let me ask your grace, for what military merits you have been pleased to reward him with military government? He had a regiment of dragoons, which, one would imagine, was at least an equivalent for any services he ever performed. Besides, he is but a young officer, considering his preferment; and, except in his activity at Preston, not very conspicuous in his profession. But it seems the sale of a civil employment was not sufficient; and military governments, which were intended for the support of wornout veterans must be thrown in to the scale, to defray the extensive bribery of a contested election. Are these the steps you take to secure to your sovereign the attachment of his army? With what countenance dare you appear in the royal presence, branded as you are, with the infamy of a notorious breach of trust? With what countenance can you take at the treasury board, or in the council, when yon feel that every circulating whisper is at your expense alone, and stabs you to the heart? Have you a single friend in parliament so shameless, so thoroughly abandoned, as to undertake your defense? You know, my lord, that there is not a man in either house, whose character, however flagitious, would not be ruined by mixing his reputation with yours; and does not your heart inform you that you are degraded below the condition of a man, when you are obliged to bear these insults with submission, aud even to thank me for my moderation?

We are told, by the highest judicial authority, that Mr. Vaughan's offer to puchase the reversion * Tommy Bradshaw.

business.

sufficiently entitled to) amounts to a high misdemeanor. Be it so: and if he deserves it, let him be punished. But the learned judge might have had a fairer opportunity of displaying the powers of his eloquence. Having delivered himself, with so much energy, upon the criminal nature and dangerous consequences of any attempt to corrupt a man in your grace's station, what would he have said to the minister himself, to that very privy counsellor, to that first commissioner of the treasury, who does not wait for, but impatiently solicits, the touch of corruption; who employs the meanest of his creatures in these honorable services; and, forgetting the genius and fidelity of his secretary, descends to apply to his house builder for assistance?

This affair, my lord, will do infinite credit to gov. ernment, if, to clear your character, you should think proper to bring it into the house of lords, or into the court of king's bench. But, my lord, you dare not do either. JUNIUS.

LETTER XXXV.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SIR, December 19, 1769. When the complaints of a brave and powerful people are observed to increase in proportion to the wrongs they have suffered; when, instead of sinking into submission, they are roused to resistance, the time will soon arrive, at which every inferior consideration must yield to the security of the sovereign, and to the general safety of the state. There is a moment of difficulty and danger, at which flattery and falsehood can no longer deceive, and simplicity itself can no longer be misled. Let us suppose it arrived: let us suppose a gracious well-intentioned prince made sensible, at last, of the great duty he owes to his people, and of his own disgraceful situation: that he looks round him for assistance, and asks for no advice, but how to gratify the wishes and secure the happiness of his subjects. In these circumstances, it may be matter of curious speculation to consider, if an honest man were premitted to approach a king, in what terms he would address himself to his sovereign. Let it be imagined, no matter how improbable, that the first prejudice against his character is removed; that the ceremonious difficulties of an audience are surmounted; that he feels himself animated by the purest and most honorable affections to his king and his country; and that the great person whom he addresses, has spirit enough to bid him speak freely, and understanding enough to listen to

impertinence of forms, he would deliver his sentiments with dignity and firmness, but not without respect.

Sir, It is the misfortune of your life, and origi nally the cause of every reproach and distress which has attended your government, that you should never have been acquainted with the language of truth, until you heard it in the complaints of your people. It is not, however, too late to correct the error of

+ Mr. Taylor. He and George Ross (the Scotch agent and worthy confident of Lord Mansfield) managed the A little before the publication of this and the pre-him with attention. Unacquainted with the vain ceding letter, the duke of Grafton had commenced a prosecution against Mr Samuel Vaughan, endeavoring to corrupt his integrity, by an offer of five thousand pounds for a patent place in Jamaica. A rule to show cause why an information should not be exhibited against Vaughan for certain misdemeanors, being granted by the court of king's bench, the matter was solemnly argued on the 27th of November, 1769, and by the unanimous opinion of the four judges, the rule was made absolute. The pleadings and speeches were accurately taken in short-hand, and published. The whole of lord Mansfield's speech, and particularly the following extracts from it, deserve the reader's attention: "A practice of the kind complained of here, is certainly dishonorable and scandalous. If a man, standing under the relation of an officer under the king, or of a person in whom the king puts confidence, or of a minister, takes money for the use of that confidence the king puts in him, he basely betrays the king; he basely betrays his trust. If the king sold the office, it would be acting contrary to the trust the constitution had reposed in hir The constitution does not intend the crown should sell those offices to raise a revenue out of them. Is it possible to hesitate, whether this would not be criminal in the duke of Grafton; contrary to his duty as a privy counsellor, contrary to his duty as

a minister, contrary to his duty as a subject? His advice should be free, according to his judgment. It is the duty of his office; he hath sworn to it." Notwithstanding all this, the duke of Grafton certainly sold a patent place to Mr. Hine, for three thousand five hundred pounds. If the house of commons had done their duty, and impeached the duke for this breach of trust, how wofully must poor honest Mansfield have been puzzled! His embarrassment would have afforded the most ridiculous scene that was ever exhibited. To save the judge from this perplexity, and the duke from impeachment, the prosecution against Vaughan was immediately dropped.

your education. We are still inclined to make an indulgent allowance for the pernicious lessons you received in your youth, and to form the most sanguine hopes from the natural benevolence of your disposition.* We are far from thinking you capable of a direct, deliberate purpose to invade those original rights of your subjects, on which all their civil and political liberties depend. Had it been possiable for us to entertain a suspicion so dishonorable to your character, we shoud long since have adopted a style of remonstration very distant from the humility of complaint. The doctrine inculcated by our laws, That the king can do no wrong, is admitted without reluctance. We separate the amiable, goodnatured prince from the folly and treachery of his servants, and the private virtues of the man from the vices of his government. Were it not for this just distinction, I know not whether your majesty's condition, or that of the English nation, would deserve most to be lamented. I would prepare your mind for a favorable reception of truth, by removing every painful, offensive idea of personal reproach. Your subjects, sir, wish for nothing, but that, as they are reasonable and affectionate enough to separate your person from your government, so you, in your turn, should distinguish between the conduct which becomes the permanent dignity of a king, and that which serves only to promote the temporary interest and miserable ambition of a minister.

lishman, believe me, sir, you were persuaded to pay a
very ill-judged compliment to one part of your sub-
jects, at the expense of another. While the natives
of Scotland are not in actual rebellion, they are un-
doubtedly entitled to protection: nor do I mean to
condemn the policy of giving some encouragement to
the novelty of their affections for the house of Han-
over. I am ready to hope for every thing from their
new-born zeal, and from the future steadiness of their
allegiance; but, hitherto, they have no claim to your
favor. To honor them with a determined predilection
and confidence, in exclusion of your English subjects,
who placed your family, and, in spite of treachery
and rebellion, have supported it upon the throne, is a
mistake too gross even for the unsuspecting generosity
of youth. In this error we see a capital violation of
the most obvious rules of policy and prudence. We
trace it, however, to an original bias in your educa-
tion, and are ready to allow for your inexperience.
To the same early influence we attribute it, that
you have descended to take a share, not only in the
narrow views and interests of particular persons, but
in the fatal malignity of their passions. At your
accession to the throne, the whole system of govern-
ment was altered, not from wisdom or deliberation,
but because it had been adopted by your predecessor.
A little personal motive of pique and resentment was
sufficient to remove the ablest servants of the crown;*
but it is not in this country, sir, that such men can
be dishonored by the frowns of a king. They were
dismissed, but could not be disgraced. Without en-
tering into a minuter discussion of the merits of the
peace, we may observe, in the imprudent hurry with
which the first overtures from France were accepted,
in the conduct of the negotiation, and terms of the
treaty, the strongest marks of that precipitate spirit
of concession, with which a certain part of your sub-
jects have been at all times ready to purchase a peace
with the natural enemies of this country. On your
part we are satisfied that every thing was honorable
and sincere; and, if England was sold to France, we
doubt not that your majesty was equally betrayed.
The conditions of the peace were matter of grief and
surprise to your subjects, but not the immediate
cause of their present discontent.

You ascended the throne with a declared, and, I
doubt not, a sincere resolution of giving universal
satisfaction to your subjects. You found them
pleased with the novelty of a young prince, whose
countenance promised even more than his words; and
loyal to you, not only from principle, but passion. It
was not a cold profession of allegiance to the first
magistrate, but a partial, animated attachment to a
favorite prince, the native of their country. They
did not wait to examine your conduct, nor to be de-
termined by experience, but gave you a generous
credit for the future blessings of your reign, and paid
you in advance the dearest tribute of their affections.
Such, sir, was once the disposition of a people, who
now surround your throne with reproaches and com-
plaints. Do justice to yourself. Banish from your
mind those unworthy opinions with which some in-
terested persons have labored to possess you. Dis-
trust the men who tell you that the English are
naturally light and inconstant; that they complain
without a cause. Withdraw your confidence equally
from all parties; from ministers, favorites, and re-
lations; and let there be one moment in your life,
in which you have consulted your own understand-national character of his countrymen to contempt.
ing.

When you affectedly renounced the name of EngThe plan of the tutelage and future dominion over the heir apparent, laid many years ago, at Carlton-House, between the princess dowager and her favorite, the earl of Bute, was as gross and palpable as that which was concerted between Anne of Austria and cardinal Mazarine, to govern Louis the Fourteenth, and, in effect, to pro: long his minority until the end of their lives That prince bad strong natural parts, and used frequently to blush for his own ignorance and want of education, which bad been wilfully neglected by his mother and her minion. A little experience, however, soon showed him how shamefully he had been treated, and for what infamous purpose he had been kept in ignorance. Our great Edward, too, at an early period, had sense enough to understand the nature of the connection between his abandoned mother and the detested Mortimer. But, since that time, human nature, we may observe, is greatly altered for the better. Dowagers may be chaste, and minions may be honest. When it was proposed to settle the present king's household, as prince of Wales, it is well known that the earl of Bute was forced into it, in direct contradiction to the late king's inclination. That was the salient point from which all the mischiefs and disgraces of the present reign took life and motion. From that moment, lord Bute never suffered the prince of Wales to be an instant out of his sight. We need not look farther.

Hitherto, sir, you have been sacrificed to the prejudices and passions of others. With what firmness will you bear the mention of your own?

A man not very honorably distinguished in the world, commences a formal attack upon your favorite, considering nothing but how he might best expose his person and principles to detestation, and the

The natives of that country, sir, are as much distinguished by a peculiar character, as by your majesty's favor. Like another chosen people, they have been conducted into the land of plenty, where they find themselves effectually marked, and divided from mankind. There is hardly a period at which the most irregular character may not be redeemed. The mistakes of one sex find a retreat in patriotism, those of the other in devotion. Mr. Wilkes brought with him into politics the same liberal sentiments by which his private conduct had been directed and seemed to think, that, as there are few excesses in which an English gentleman may not be permitted to indulge, the same latitude was allowed him in the choice of his political principles, and in the spirit of maintaining them. I mean to state, not entirely to defend, his conduct. In the earnestness of his zeal he suffered some unwarrantable insinuations to es

*One of the first acts of the present reign was to dismiss Mr Legge, because he had, some years before, refused to yield his interest in Hampshire to a Scotchman, recommended by lord Bute. This was the reason publicly assigned by his lordship.

cape him

He said more than moderate men could birth, to the minister, from whose benevojustify; but not enough to entitle him to the honor lence they derive the comforts and pleasures of their of your majesty's personal resentment. The rays of political life; who has taken the tenderest care of royal indignation, collected upon him, served only to their infancy, and relieves their necessities without illuminate, and could not consume. Animated by offending their delicacy. But if it were possible for the favor of the people on the one side, and heated their integrity to be degraded to a condition so vile by persecution on the other, his views and senti- and abject, that, compared with it, the present estiments changed with his situation. Hardly serious mation they stand in is a state of honor and respect; at first, he is now an enthusiast. The coldest bodies consider, sir, in what manner you will afterwards warm with opposition, the hardest sparkle in col- proceed. Can you conceive that the people of this lision. There is a holy mistaken zeal in politics as country will long submit to be governed by so flexiwell as religion. By persuading others, we convince ble a house of commons? It is not in the nature of ourselves. The passions are engaged, and create a human society that any form of government, in such maternal affection in the mind, which forces us to circumstances, can long be preserved. In ours, the love the cause for which we suffer. Is this a conten- general contempt of the people is as fatal as their de tion worthy of a king? Are you not sensible how testation. Such, I am persuaded, would be the necmuch the meanness of the cause gives an air of ridi- essary effect of any base concussion made by the cule to the serious difficulties into which you have present house of commons; and, as a qualifying been betrayed? The destruction of one man has measure would not be accepted, it remains for you to been now, for many years, the sole object of your decide, whether you will, at any hazard, support a government; and, if there can be any thing still set of men who have reduced you to this unhappy more disgraceful, we have seen for such an object the dilemma, or whether you will gratify the united utmost influence of the executive power, and every wishes of the whole people of England, by dissolving ministerial artifice, exerted without success. Nor the parliament. can you ever succeed, unless he should be imprudent enough to forfeit the protection of those laws to which you owe your crown; or unless your minister should persuade you to make it a question of force alone, and try the whole strength of government in opposition to the people. The lessons he has received from experience will probably guard him from such excess of folly; and, in your majesty's virtues, we find an unquestionable assurance, that no illegal violence will be attempted.

Far from suspecting you of so horrible a design, we would attribute the continued violation of the laws, and even this last enormous attack upon the vital principles of the constitution, to an ill advised, unworthy, personal resentment. From one false step you have been betrayed into another; and, as the cause was unworthy of you, your ministers were determined that the prudence of the execution should correspond with the wisdom and dignity of the design. They have reduced you to the necessity of choosing out of a variety of difficulties; to a situation so unhappy, that you can neither do wrong without ruin, or right without affliction. These worthy servants have undoubtedly given you many singular proofs of their abilities. Not contented with making Mr. Wilkes a man of importance, they have judiciously transferred the question from the rights and interests of one man to the most important rights and interests of the people; and forced your subjects, from wishing well to the cause of an individual, to unite with him in their own. Let them proceed as they have begun, and your majesty need not doubt that the catastrophe will do no dishonor to the conduct of the piece.

Taking it for granted, as I do very sincerely, that you have personally no design against the constitution, nor any view inconsistent with the good of your subjects, I think you cannot hesitate long upon the choice which it equally concerns your interests and your honor to adopt. On one side, you hazard the affection of all your English subjects; you relinquish every hope of repose to yourself, and you endanger the establishment of your family forever. All this you venture for no object whatsoever; or for such an object as it would be an affront to you to name. Men of sense will examine your conduct with suspicion; while those, who are incapable of comprehending to what degree they were injured, afflict you with clamors equally insolent and unmeaning. Supposing it possible that no fatal struggle should ensue, you determine, at once, to be unhappy, without the hope of a compensation, either from interest or ambition. If an English king be hated or despised, he must be unhappy: and this, perhaps, is the only political truth which he ought to be convinced of, without experiment. But, if the English people should no longer confine their resentment to a submissive representation of their wrongs; if, following the glorious example of their ancestors, they should no longer appeal to the creature of the constitution, but to that high Being who gave them the rights of humanity, whose gifts it were sacrilege to surrender, let me ask you, sir, upon what part of your subjects would you rely for assistance.

The people of Ireland have been uniformly plundered and oppressed. In return, they give you every day fresh marks of their resentment. They despise the miserable governor* you have sent them, because he is the creature of lord Bute: nor is it from any natural confusion in their ideas, that they are so ready to confound the original of a king with the disgraceful representation of him.

The circumstances to which you are reduced will not admit of a compromise with the English nation. Undecisive, qualifying measures will disgrace your government still more than open violence; and, without satisfying the people, will excite their contempt. They have two much understanding and spirit to The distance of the colonies would make it imaccept of an indirect satisfaction for a di- possible for them to take an active concern in your rect injury. Nothing less than a repeal, as affairs, if they were as well affected to your govern formal as the resolution itself, can heal the ment as they once pretended to be to your person. wound which has been given to the constitution, nor, They were ready enough to distinguish between you will any thing less be accepted. I can readily be- and your ministers. They complained of an act of lieve, that there is an influence sufficient to recall the legislature, but traced the origin of it no higher that pernicious vote. The house of commons un-than to the servants of the crown: they pleased doubtedly consider their duty to the crown as para-themselves with the hope that their sovereign, if not mount to all other obligations. To us they are only favorable to their cause, at least was impartial. The indebted for an accidental existence, and have justly transferred their gratitude from their parents to their benefactors; from those who gave them

resident governor. The history of his ridiculous admin* Viscount Townsend, sent over on the plan of being istration shall not be lost to the public.

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