I am happy that you are using
this web site and hope that you found it useful. Unfortunately, the cost of
making this material freely available is increasing, so if you have
found the site useful and would like to contribute towards its continuation,
I would greatly appreciate it. Click the button to go to Paypal and make a
donation.
The Letters of Junius
Letter XIII:
To the Printer of the Public Advertiser: 12 June 1769.
[44] SIR,
THE Duke of GraftonDuke 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 style, 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.
- Have not the first rights of the people, and the first principles of the
constitution, been openly invaded, and
[45] the very name of all
elections made ridiculous,
by the arbitrary appointment of Mr. Luttrell?
- 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 could bury all decency and shame under the ruins?
Is this the man who dares to talk of Mr. Wilkes's morals?
- 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?
- Was not Lord Chatham the first who raised him to the rank and post of a minister, and the first
whom he abandoned?
- Did he not join with Lord Rockingham, and betray
him?
- Was he not the
bosom friend of Mr. Wilkes, whom he now pursues to destruction ?
- Did he
not take his degrees with credit at Newmarket, White's, and the opposition
?
- 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?
- Has not Sir John
Moore a pension of five hundred pounds a year? This may probably be all 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 expence of more than half a million?
- Is there any one mode of thinking or acting, with respect to America,
which the Duke of Grafton has not successively adopted and abandoned?
- 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 Oedipus, without
the distress. Is it [46] wealth, or wit, or beauty?
Or, is the amorous youth in love?
The rest is notorious. That Corsica has been sacrificed to the French;
that, in some instances, the laws have been scandalously relaxed, and, in
others, daringly violated; and that the King's subjects have been called
upon to assure him of their fidelity, in spite of the measures of his servants.
A writer, who builds his arguments upon facts such as these, is not easily
to be confuted. He is not to be answered by general assertions, or general
reproaches. He may want eloquence to amuse and persuade; but, speaking truth,
he must always convince.
PHILO-JUNIUS.
| Meet the web creator |
These materials may be freely used for
non-commercial purposes in accordance with applicable statutory allowances
and distribution to students.
Re-publication in any
form is subject to written permission. |
Last modified
12 January, 2016
|
