whole house of Bourbon. I am not surprised that the generality of men should endeavour to shut their eyes to this melancholy prospect. Yet I am filled with grief and indignation when I behold a wise and gallant people lost in a stupidity which does not feel, because it will not look forward. The voice of one man will hardly be heard when the voice of truth and reason is neglected; but as far as mine extends, the authors of our ruin shall be marked out to the public. I will not tamely submit to be sacrificed, nor shall this country perish without warning. ATTICUS. LETTER XLIX. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SIR, October 26, 1768. THE great abilities which have distinguished the character of the Earl of Rochford have justly procured him the love of his countrymen, and have entitled him to the favour and protection of his sovereign: it was therefore with universal approbation that the public received the promises of his advancement at this important crisis to the important office of Secretary of State. It was with a degree of hope to which they have long been unaccustomed that they flattered themselves foreign business would now be no longer neglected. They had reason to expect much from a man to whom nature had been lavish, and whose natural talents, great as they were, must have been considerably augmented by a long residence and a constant attention to business in courts which are perhaps superior to all others in the arts and mysteries of negotiation. It was now that they felt themselves secure in the assurance that the correspondences with the courts of Paris, Madrid, and Turin, were to be carried on by a man above all others qualified for so arduous a task; by a man who had gained great reputation as an ambassador in each of them. It was in vain that the enemies to administration endeavoured to suggest that that nobleman was not singled out on account of his superior abilities, but on account of his neutra lity and non-attachment to any particular men or measures; it was in vain that they represented his nomination as a mere act of necessity, resulting from the incapacity of the leaders to promote any other without widening their bottom, which was a measure that, above all others, they most apprehended. These suggestions had little or no effect; they were either totally disbelieved or disregarded; the consequence was good, and the public were not at all curious to know the cause; their joy, that such a measure was to take place, was only equalled by their surprise; and as their joy proceeded from a reflection of the past, as it related to Lord Rochford, they were inattentive to the present, as it relates to others. What pity it is that they were so soon disappointed, and that a joy so well founded was destined to be of so short a duration. In proportion as they were elevated with the hopes of his being taken into office, so are they dejected by the manner of his appointment. The course and order of business appears to have been violated, and that vacancy, to which his Lordship ought to have succeeded, and which he was so well qualified to fill, has been suffered to be possessed by another altogether a stranger to the principal wheels of those machines which it becomes his duty to regulate; and the abilities of the Earl have been as far as possible thwarted by his being plunged into a correspondence with courts of whose maxims and interests he is no better qualified to judge than any other of his Majesty's servants who would make use of as much attention, and who may be happily endowed with as much penetration. It is now then that the public have both cause and inclination to ask a question, which they before thought useless and impertinent: it is now that with horror they reflect on the intelligence communicated by your correspondent Atticus; it is now that they tremble at the thoughts of a secret negotiation with the French court in relation to Corsica; and it is now that they ask, why was Lord Rochford appointed Secretary of State, and for the Northern department +? * See the preceding letter. WHY? See this subject further discussed in Junius, Letter 1, vol. i. p. 109. LETTER L. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SIR, October 27, 1768. WHEN an anonymous writer tells the public that a great minister, who happens to be his particular friend, has given him assurances of any sort, with regard to state affairs, the authority is doubly suspicious. In the first place, that such writers should have such friends is not, in the highest degree, probable. In the next, it is much to be doubted, whether ministers of state always tell the truth even to their most intimate acquaintance. I take for granted, the author of the letter, signed Plain Truth and Justice*, is a modest man, since he expects an implicit reliance on the bare assertion of a person entirely unknown to us. But I fear he will find himself a little disappointed, for the public is not to be imposed upon by such gross artifices. The letters, in which your correspondent Atticus had foretold the decline of public credit, seemed to rest upon a very different footing. He made no assertions of his own, because he neither required nor expected any reliance on his personal credit or authority. He stated facts too notorious to be disputed, and he reasoned upon them in a way which there has yet been no attempt to answer.. This is the fair ground on which his opponents ought to meet him. Vague assertions have no claim to credit, and, if they had, would amount to no proof. What ministers are pleased to say, or what their friends say for them, is but of little moment. A man who in the present crisis would direct his conduct upon sure grounds, ought to examine the real state of public affairs, and, according as he finds them, act with prudence for himself and his family. I know that an artful combination in the alley may, for a short time, raise or sink the price of stocks a trifle. But no arts, no combination, can support them against the reality of national distress. The maxim holds through life. A beggar may cut a figure for a day, but his ruin is inevitable, and his creditors perish with him. *He alludes to a correspondent in the Public Advertiser, who had replied to his former letter under this signature. Your correspondent assures us that no money will be wanted for the ensuing year. With all due respect to an anonymous assertion, I should be glad to know by what sort of reasoning he would support it. Do the ministry mean to leave the debt on the civil list unpaid? I will tell him that they cannot, dare not do it. This debt amounts to above six hundred thousand pounds, and if they can pay it without money, so much the better. Have they made any agreement with the East India Company? No. Have they made any provision for outstanding navy and victualling bills? I answer, they must whether they will or no. Have the Bank agreed to continue creditors for the last million they advanced to government? I answer, that the Bank have no confidence in the present administration, and will not trust them. As to taking the four per cents. entirely out of the market, Mr. Grenville, or an able financier who possessed the confidence of the public, might perhaps accomplish it, but it is not an object within the reach of the present treasury board. They talk of it in their dreams, and forget it when they wake*. These, Sir, are considerations independent of a war, which hangs over us, and of a contest with the colonies, which in no way can end favourably for this country. As to moderate qualifying measures, I know but one which the Americans will accept of, and that is an absolute release from all subjection. They will reject with disdain an offer to be represented in parliament, because they will be independent. They found the effect of their last combination, and when they demand a repeal of an act of the legislature, it must be done without conditions. But, in the name of common sense, what useful purpose will our submission answer? Upon the repeal of the stamp act, our exports to America, instead of doubling, as had been promised, diminished considerably. What are we doing, then, but surrendering the first essential rights and principles of the constitution for the sake of a bribe, of which we are cheated at last? We may retire to our prayers, for the game is up. BRUTUS. * See Junius, Letter 39, vol. i. p. 299, in which the failure of Lord North to effect this object is censured by the author and explained in a note appended to it. LETTER LI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SIR, November 14, 1768. WHEN I foretold the approach of a foreign war, the certainty of a rupture with the colonies, and the decline of public credit, my opinion was chiefly founded on the character, circumstances, and abilities of the present administration. Fortune has but little share in the events most interesting to mankind. Individuals perish by their own imprudence, and the ruin of an empire is no more than the misconduct of a minister or a king. Without the credit of personal reputation, divided as a ministry, and unsupported by talents or experience, his Majesty's servants had left the field of national calamity wide open to prediction. It seems they were determined to accomplish more than even their enemies had foretold. For my own part, I am not personally their enemy, and I could have wished that their conduct had not made the name of friend to the ministry irreconcilable with that of friend to Great Britain. The most contemptible character in private life, and the most ruinous to private fortunes, is that which possesses neither judgment nor inclination to do right, nor resolution enough to be consistent in doing wrong, Such a man loses all the credit of firmness and uniformity, and suffers the whole reproach of weak or malicious intentions. In politics, there is no other ministerial character so pernicious to the honour of a prince, or so fatal to the welfare of a nation. It is of the highest importance to inquire whether the present ministry deserve it. The name of Lord Chatham's administration was soon lost in that of the Duke of Grafton. His Grace took the lead, and made himself answerable for the measures of a council at which he was supposed to preside. He had gone as far as any man in support of Mr. Pitt's doctrine, that parliament had no right to lay a tax upon America, for the sole purpose of raising a revenue. It was a doctrine on which Lord Chatham and the Chancellor* formed their administration, and his *Lord Camden. |