wise subject to the fatal drains to the East Indies, to Senegal, and the alarming emigrations of our people to other countries: Such depopulation can only be repaired by a long peace, or by some sensible bill of naturalization, I must now take the liberty to talk to JUNIUS on my own account. He is pleased to tell me that he addresses himself to me personally. I shall be glad to see him. It is his impersonality that I complain of, and his invisible attacks; for his dagger in the air is only to be regarded, because one cannot see the hand which holds it; but had he not wounded other people more deeply than myself, I should not have obtruded myself at all on the patience of the public. Mark how a plain tale shall put him down, and transfuse the blush of my ribband into his own cheeks. JUNIUS tells me, that at my return, I zealously undertook the cause of the gallant army, by whose bravery at Manilla my own fortunes were established; that I complained, that I even appealed to the public. I did so; I glory in having done so, as I had an undoubted right to vindicate my own character, attacked by a Spanish memorial, and to assert the rights of my brave companions. I glory likewise that I have never taken up my pen, but to vindicate the injured. JUNIUS asks by what accident did it happen, that in the midst of all this bustle, and all these clamours for justice to the injured troops, the Manilla ransom was suddenly buried in a profound, and, since that time, an uninterrupted silence? I will explain the cause to the public. The several ministers who have been employed since that time have been very desirous to do us justice from two most laudable motives, a strong inclination to assist injured bravery, and to acquire a well deserved popularity to themselves. Their efforts have been in vain. Some were ingenuous enough to own, that they could not think of involving this distressed nation into 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 half-pay as an Irish colonel. His Majesty was pleased to give me my government*, 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 enterprize, 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 waved 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 his 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 offi * Yarmouth. EDIT. cer, for his half-pay, 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 stile, 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, 21 February, 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. 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 The letter, as it appeared in the Public Advertiser, stated, by mistake, "twelve hundred pounds Irish annuity!" and the error has been hitherto propagated through every edition of JUNIUS's Letters, without a single exception. In a note addressed to the printer, however, and pub. lished in the same newspaper, Feb. 22, 1769, the mistake is announced, and corrected as follows. SIR, 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." Feb. 19. I am, Sir, W. DRAPER. EDIT. 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 confined 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 aidde-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 expence 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 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 - See the error corrected in the Editor's note to the preceding Letter represent to us, as if you had given up an income of 800% a year for 380%? 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 you 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. LETTER VI. TO JUNIUS. JUNIUS. SIR, 27 February, 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 2004. Irish, and the equivalent for the half-pay together, produce no more than 380% 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. JUNIUS makes much and frequent use of interrogations: |