JUNIUS ELUCIDATED. PRELIMINARY ADDRESS. LETTERS OF JUNIUS, THE MYSTERY ATTENDING THEIR AUTHORSHIP-POLITICAL STATE OF THE TIMES-FIRST LETTER BY JUNIUS, ITS POWER and EffecT-SIR WILLIAM DRAPER'S REPLY-MORE THAN THIRTY PERSONS NAMED AS THE AUTHOR, IN VARIOUS PAMPHLETS AND ESSAYS-ALLUSION TO THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE THAT NOBLEMAN INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH DUNNING, AND BARRÉ, IN PARLIAMENT AND POLITICS-THE THREE PAINTED IN ONE PICTURE BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS-THESE PARTIES PECULIARLY QUALIFIED TO PRODUCE THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS-STYLE OF THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE HIS DECLARATION TO SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS-DR. GOOD'S OPINION OF DUNNING'S TALENTS -COLONEL BARRÉ, His CareER AND CHARACTERISTICS-FIRST PUBLICATION OF THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS IN THE “PUBLIC ADVERTISER ”—WOODFALL'S EDITION IN 1812 ABSTRACT OF DR. GOOD'S "PRELIMINARY ESSAY"-WORKS PUBLISHED ON THE SUBJECT SINCE 1812. AMONG the mysteries and "Curiosities of Literature" is the authorship of Junius's Letters. These celebrated political Essays and Satires acquired on their appearance and have maintained extreme and unprecedented popularity; not only from their causticity and unflinching truthfulness of tone and statement, but from the impenetrable mask which concealed the features of the author. The presumed immunities and privileges of Parliament,-the tyranny of King-craft and Minister-craft,--the vassalage of party writers, and the dread of state prosecutions, had previously kept the public press in a state of abject bondage; when a few anonymous letters appeared in the "Public Advertiser" between the years 1767 and 1772, and raised a storm on the political ocean, which endangered many vessels that had till then sailed smoothly on its placid surface. Several of these writings had excited public attention before the first which bore the signature of JUNIUS.* This was a deeplymatured, sententious, searching political production, calculated to excite curiosity, and provoke controversy. Fortunately for Junius and his cause it called a champion on the stage (Sir William Draper) who exhibited so much petulance and uncontrolled anger, that it occasioned a public reply from Junius, and seriously injured his own friends and the party he espoused, whilst he gave decided advantages to an antagonist who skilfully inflicted on him the most mortifying and maddening punishment. Junius admitted that Sir William impelled him "to say more of Lord Granby's character than he originally intended;" and it is more than probable that if the angry Baronet had not replied to the first Letter of Junius, the latter would never have obtained his subsequent notoriety; the monarch might have escaped the delicate satire which was inflicted on him in the thirty-fifth Letter of the series, and his unprincipled and unworthy ministers might have remained in power to exercise their wanton and reckless tyranny for many more years. Justly might they exclaim, "Save us from officious friends, and we will bear with open enemies." Notwithstanding the celebrity these Letters acquired, and the strenuous efforts that have been made at various times since their publication, and by every artifice that cunning could devise, to discover the anonymous author or authors, no conclusive or satisfactory result has ever yet been attained. Prosecutions and imprisonments for libel, Essays, Pamphlets, and Discussions, have all failed to detect the true "Junius;" who, up to this time, has preserved his incognito, and has upheld and maintained his mystic mask. * Dated 21st January, 1769. THE LATE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE. xxvii More than thirty different persons have been named as the author, and the respective advocate of each has devoted more or less of hypothesis and argument in pamphlet, magazine, review, or incidental essay, to show that he has identified the writer. It is generally agreed that not one of the persons hitherto named had all the qualifications which are displayed in the "Letters" referred to. Even Sir Philip Francis, whose case and claims are stronger than those of any other person, wanted some of the most essential attributes. But I forbear to comment on him and others in this place. My course and duty will be to endeavour to substantiate my own theory, which I purpose to do by giving a short narrative of the origin, progress, and final issue of my own researches on the subject. In the 14th volume of the "Beauties of England and Wales,” in the account of Wiltshire, and, speaking of the late Marquess of Lansdowne and his seat, Bowood, I expressed myself as follows: 66 Among the number of persons to whom the Letters of Junius have been attributed is the Marquess of Lansdowne : but on this point all our sagacious pamphleteers and political quidnuncs have failed to produce proofs or probabilities. The author of these justly-admired Essays remains undiscovered, according to his own motto, Stat nominis umbra. His name, connections, private character, and public pursuits, are unknown to the world: but the writer of this article can affirm, and is enabled to prove, that the secret was not deposited in one breast, nor is it buried with the author.* On this delicate, intricate, and highly interesting subject, he must, however, forbear to dilate in these pages, but may probably be induced to advance some arguments and develope facts at a future time, and in another place." The lapse of time since the above paragraph was penned, has not altered the opinions which I then entertained, and which are now * “I am the sole depositary of my own secret, and it shall perish with me.”— JUNIUS, Dedication of his Letters to the English Nation. more fully avowed and explained. Extensive reading and much inquiry on the subject, mature deliberation, and comparison of the evidence for and against this theory, have only served to persuade me that the real author is at length named and identified. The intimacy which subsisted between the late Marquess of Lansdowne (then Earl of Shelburne), John Dunning, and Lieutenant-Colonel Barré, at the time the Letters were in course of publication, was so extremely close, and so remarkable in its exclusiveness, as to strengthen materially the position which I now assume; and I find that the same view of the subject was taken in a letter to the Morning Herald newspaper, of the 15th of January, 1813. To show the extent of their friendship, and the remarkable connection of the three parties with each other, it may be necessary to mention a few particulars. They were nearly of the same age; there being only ten years difference between the oldest and the youngest of the three. Dunning and Colonel Barré were both introduced into the House of Commons by Lord Shelburne, as nominees for his own boroughs of Calne, and Wycombe; and on all occasions they espoused the same politics as his Lordship. Colonel Barré and Lord Shelburne were both natives of Ireland, and officers in the army. When the latter was appointed Secretary of State, in 1766, Colonel Barré became Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, and Dunning was Solicitor-General in the same administration, 1768. When his Lordship was again in office, in 1782, as Foreign Secretary, Colonel Barré joined him as Treasurer of the Navy. A few months afterwards Lord Shelburne became Prime-Minister and Barré Paymaster of the Forces: simultaneously with this valuable official appointment he was compensated for the loss of his commission, of which he had been deprived by a former Tory government, by a pension of £3200 a year. Dunning was at the same time created Baron Ashburton, with a seat in the cabinet. His second son and heir was named Richard Barré. The Colonel and Dunning were almost constant visitors at Bowood and at Lansdowne House, London. Finally, to commemorate this extraordinary friendship DUNNING, LORD ASHBURTON-REYNOLDS'S PORTRAITS. xxix between three persons of high talents, political partisans, the late Sir Francis Baring (who was a brother of the widow of Lord Ashburton) commissioned Sir Joshua Reynolds, in 1784-5, to paint a splendid picture of the three. Dunning had then been dead little more than twelve months, and his son and successor in the title was an infant. Sir Francis Baring, though somewhat their junior, was on intimate terms with the parties now under consideration, having himself represented in Parliament two of Lord Shelburne's boroughs. The picture was painted at his house on Putney Heath. Reynolds no doubt had the advantage of sittings from Lord Shelburne and Colonel Barré, both of whom survived their friend; and he had before painted a separate portrait of Dunning. The late Sir Thomas Baring recently informed me that he recollected Reynolds's visits to Putney Heath, whilst engaged upon the picture. A large mezzotint print was engraved by James Ward, A.R.A., from the original painting, for Sir Francis Baring, but has never been published. From all these circumstances it is highly probable that this eminent triumvirate were likely to embark together in any political or other confidential undertaking. In combination, at least, if not individually, they possessed all the qualifications which those Letters so peculiarly manifest. Rank and fortune; mature age; actual service in a particular military expedition; highly cultivated talents and education; a critical knowledge of the language, laws, constitution, and history of England; an immediate connection with the court; an early acquaintance with every ministerial motion or intrigue; a familiar knowledge of the affairs of the different public offices; and particularly an intimate acquaintance with all military matters, jointly show that they were qualified to produce the Letters of Junius. It may be remembered that Junius displayed in his correspondence with Sir William Draper a knowledge of private communications which had passed between that worthy Baronet and the Earl of Shelburne, respecting the affairs of Corsica and the Manilla ransom. This circumstance, in addition to the general politics of the Earl, |