ingenuous enough to own, that they could not think of involving this distressed nation in another war for our private concerns. In short, our rights for the present are sacrificed to national convenience; and I must confess that, although I may lose five-and-twenty thousand pounds by their acquiescence to this breach of faith in the Spaniards, I think they are in the right to temporize, considering the critical situation of this country, convulsed in every part by poison infused by anonymous, wicked, and incendiary writers. Lord Shelburne will do me the justice to own that, in September last, I waited upon him with a joint memorial from the admiral Sir S. Cornish and myself, in behalf of our injured companions. His lordship was as frank upon the occasion as other secretaries had been before him. He did not deceive us by giving any immediate hopes of relief. Junius would basely insinuate, that my silence may have been purchased by my government, by my blushing ribband, by my regiment, by the sale of that regiment, and by my halfpay as an Irish colonel. His Majesty was pleased to give me my government [Yar mouth], for my services at Madras. I had my first regiment in 1757. Upon my return from Manilla, his Majesty, by Lord Egremont, informed me that I should have the first vacant red ribband, as a reward for my services in an enter. prise which I had planned as well as executed. The Duke of Bedford and Mr. Grenville confirmed those assurances many months before the Spaniards had protested the ransom bills. To accommodate Lord Clive, then going upon a most important service to Bengal, I waived my claim to the vacancy which then happened. As there was no other vacancy until the Duke of Grafton and Lord Rockingham were joint ministers, I was then honoured with the order; and it is surely no small honour to me, that in such a succession of ministers, they were all pleased to think that I had deserved it in my favour they were all united. Upon the reduction of the 79th regiment, which had served so gloriously in the East Indies, his Majesty, unsolicited by me, gave me the 16th of foot as an equivalent. My motives for retiring afterwards are foreign to the purpose; let it suffice, that bis Majesty was pleased to approve of them; they are such as no man can think indecent, who knows the shocks that repeated vicissitudes of heat and cold, of dangerous and sickly climates, will give to the best constitutions in a pretty long course of service. I resigned my regiment to Colonel Gisborne, a very good officer, for his half-pay, and 2001. Irish annuity*; so that, according to Junius, I have been bribed to say nothing more of the Manilla ransom, and sacrifice those brave men by the strange avarice of accepting three hundred and eighty pounds per annum, and giving up eight hundred! If this be bribery, it is not the bribery of these times. As to my flattery, those who know me will judge of it. By the asperity of Junius's style, I cannot indeed call him a flatterer, unless it be as a cynic or a mastiff; if he wags his tail, he will still growl, and long to bite. The public will now judge of the credit that ought to be given to Junius's writings, from the falsities that he has insinuated with respect to myself. WILLIAM DRAPER. LETTER V TO SIR WILLIAM DRAPER, KNIGHT OF THE BATH. SIR, February 21, 1769. I SHOULD justly be suspected of acting upon motives of more than common enmity to Lord Granby, if I continued to give you fresh materials or occasion for writing in his defence. *The letter, as it appeared in the Public Advertiser, stated, by mistake, "twelve hundred pounds Irish annuity!" and the error continued to be propagated through every edition of Junius's Letters, without a single exception. In a note addressed to the printer, however, and published in the same newspaper, Feb. 22, 1769, the mistake is noticed and corrected as follows:— Sir, Feb. 19. 'I beg the favour of you to correct the following error in my answer to Junius. Instead of 12001. please to put, and 2007. Irish annuity.' 'I am, Sir, 'W. DRAPER.' But it would seem that Junius preferred the error to the correction, for in the edition of his letters revised by himself, the error in the amount of Sir William Draper's Irish annuity is retained, and thence, doubtless, continued in subsequent impressions. But it may have been an oversight, as in the next letter Junius mentions correctly the amount of Draper's Irish annuity.-ED. Individuals who hate and the public who despise, him have read your letters, Sir William, with infinitely more satisfaction than mine. Unfortunately for him, his reputation, like that unhappy country to which you refer me for his last military achievements, has suffered more by his friends than his enemies. In mercy to him, let us drop the subject*. For my own part, I willingly leave it to the public to determine whether your vindication of your friend has been as able and judicious, as it was certainly well intended; and you, I think, may be satisfied with the warm acknowledgments he already owes you, for making him the principal figure in a piece, in which, but for your amicable assistance, he might have passed without particular notice or distinction. In justice to your friends, let your future labours be con fined to the care of your own reputation. Your declaration, that you are happy in seeing young noblemen come among us, is liable to two objections. With respect to Lord Percy, it means nothing, for he was already in the army. He was aid de-camp to the king, and had the rank of colonel. A regiment, therefore, could not make him a more military man, though it made him richer, and probably at the expense of some brave, deserving, friendless officer. The other concerns yourself. After selling the companions of your victory in one instance, and after selling your profession in the other, by what authority do you presume to call yourself a soldier? The plain evidence of facts is superior to all declarations. Before you were appointed to the 16th regiment, your complaints were a distress to government; from that moment you were silent. The conclusion is inevitable. You insinuate to us that your ill state of health obliged you to quit the service. The retirement necessary to repair a broken constitution would have been as good a reason for not accepting as for resigning the command of a regiment. There is certainly an error of the press, or an affected obscurity, in that paragraph where you speak of your bargain with Colonel Gisborne. Instead of attempting to answer what I really do not understand, permit me to explain to the public what I really This is certainly leaving a kind-hearted man, and popular idol, in very humble plight that Lord Granby enjoyed popularity in his day, as well as the late Duke of York, and of the same kind, may be inferred from the fact that his effigy may still be occasionally descried on the sign-boardz of old country inns.-ED. know. In exchange for your regiment you accepted of a colonel's half-pay (at least 2201. a year) and an annuity of 2001. for your own and Lady Draper's life jointly. And is this the losing bargain which you would represent to us, as if you had given up an income of 800l. a year for 380l.? Was it decent, was it honourable, in a man who pretends to love the army, and calls himself a soldier, to make a traffic of the royal favour, and turn the highest honour of an active profession into a sordid provision for himself and his family? It were unworthy of me to press you farther. The contempt with which the whole army heard of the manner of your retreat, assures me that as your conduct was not justified by precedent it will never be thought an example for imitation. The last and most important question remains. When vou receive your half-pay, do you, or do you not, take a solemn oath, or sign a declaration upon honour, to the following effect? That you do not actually hold any place of profit, civil or military, under his Majesty. The charge which this question plainly conveys against you, is of so shocking a complexion, that I sincerely wish you may be able to answer it well, not merely for the colour of your reputation, but for your own inward peace of mind. JUNIUS.* P.S. I had determined to leave the commander-in-chief in the quiet enjoyment of his friends and the bottle; but Titus deserves an answer, and shall have a complete one This postscript. though accompanying the letter which appeared in the Public Advertiser, was omitted by Junius in his own collected edition.-ED. * Heron is in raptures on the felicities of Junius in this brief rejoinder. "Not splendour of imagination," says he, "but keen energy of sentiment, forcible cogency of logic, strong propriety of application, business-like plainness, secretly combined with all the labour of eloquence, an art concealing all art, constitute the excellence of this letter of Junius. There is nothing more masterly, hardly aught equally so, in the invectives of Cicero against Antony, Catiline, or Verres. Compare the style of this letter with that of Johnson, in his pamphlet on the subject of Falkland's Islands; that of Gibbon, in his answer to Davis; or that of James Macpherson, in his famous pamphlet, intituled "A Short History of the Opposition;" and you shall perceive how much Junius here excels these great writers, by combining with happier skill than they the natural tone and manner of real business, with the ornaments of eloquence, and the artifices of rhetoric." The writhings of Sir William will be. seen, if not felt, in the subjoined reply: he has obviously become more cautious in his dealings with his unknown tormentor, but the last sentence shows how bitterly he feels the scraification he has undergone.—ED. LETTER VI. TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER. SIR, February 27, 1769. I HAVE a very short answer for Junius's important question: I do not either take an oath, or declare upon honour, that I have no place of profit, civil or military, when I receive the half-pay as an Irish colonel. My most gracious sovereign gives it me as a pension; he was pleased to think I deserved it. The annuity of 2001. Irish, and the equivalent for the half-pay, together produce no more than 380l. per annum, clear of fees and perquisites of office. I receive 1677. from my government of Yarmouth. Total 5471. per annum. My conscience is much at ease in these particulars; my friends need not blush for me. Janius makes much and frequent use of interrogations: they are arms that may be easily turned against himself. I could, by malicious interrogations, disturb the peace of the most virtuous man in the kingdom; I could take the decalogue, and say to one man, Did you never steal? To the next, Did you never commit murder? And to Junius himself, who is putting my life and conduct to the rack, Did you never bear false witness against thy neighbour? Junius must easily see that, unless he affirms the contrary in his real name, some people who may be as ignorant of him as I am, will be apt to suspect him of having deviated a little from the truth: therefore let Junius ask no more questions. You bite against a file cease, viper. W. D. LETTER VII. TO SIR WILLIAM DRAPER, KNIGHT OF THE BATH *. SIR, March 3, 1769. AN academical education has given you an unlimited command over the most beautiful figures of speech. Masks, hatchets, * Mr. Heron esteems this letter the Io Triumphe of Junius, in regard to the general result of his newspaper correspondence with Sir Williar TUL. I. K |
