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dote was referred to, merely to shew how ready a great man may be to receive a great bribe: and if Modestus could read the original, he would see, that the expression only not accepted, was, probably, the only one in our language that exactly fitted the case. The bribe offered to the Duke of Marlborough was not refused.

I cannot conclude without taking notice of this honest gentleman's learning, and wishing he had given us a little more of it. When he accidentally found himself so near speaking truth, it was rather unfair of him to leave out the non potuisse refelli. As it stands, the pudet hac opprobria may be divided equally between Mr. Rigby and the Duke of Bedford. Mr. Rigby, I take for granted, will assert his natural right to the modesty of the quotation, and leave all the opprobrium to his Grace.

PHILO JUNIUS.

LETTER XXX.

TO THE

Printer of the Public Advertiser.

SIR, October 17, 1769. IT is not wonderful that the great cause in which this country is engaged, should have roused and engrossed the whole attention of the people. I rather admire the generous spirit with which they feel and assert their interest in this important question, than blame them for their indifference about any other. When the constitution is openly invaded, when the first original right of the people, from which all laws derive their authority, is directly attacked, inferior grievances naturally lose their force, and are suffered to pass by without punishment or observation. The present Ministry are as

singularly marked by their fortune, as by their crimes. Instead of atoning for their former conduct, by any wise or popular measure, they have found, in the enormity of one fact, a cover and defence for a series of measures, which must have been fatal to any other administra. tion. I fear we are too remiss in observing the whole of their proceedings. Struck with the principal figure, we do not sufficiently mark in what manner the canvas is filled up. Yet surely it is not a less crime, nor less fatal in its consequences, to encourage a flagrant breach of the law, by a military force, than to make use of the forms of Parliament to destroy the constitu tion.--The Ministry seem determined to give us a choice of difficulties, and, if possible, to perplex us with the multitude of their offences. The expedient is worthy of the Duke of Grafton. But though he has preserved a gradation and variety in his measures, we should remember that the principle is uniform. Dictated by the same spirit, they deserve the same attention. The following fact, though of the most alarming nature, has not yet been clearly stated to the public; nor have the consequences of it been sufficiently understood.--Had I taken it up at an earlier period, I should have been accused of an uncandid, malignant precipitation, as if I watched for an unfair advantage against the Ministry, and would not allow them a reasona ble time to do their duty. They now stand without excuse. Instead of employing the lei. sure they have had, in a strict examination of the offence, and punishing the offenders, they seem to have considered that indulgence as a security to them; that, with a little time and management, the whole affair might be buried in silence and utterly forgotten.

A major general of the army is arrested by

Major General Gansel.

the sheriff's officers for a considerable debt. He persuades them to conduct him to the Tilt-yard, in St. James's Park, under some pretence of husiness, which it imported him to settle before he was confined. He applies to a serjeant, not immediately on duty, to assist, with some of his companions, in favouring his escape. He at tempts it. A bustle ensues. The bailiffs claim their prisoner.

An officer of the guards*, not then on duty, takes part in the affair, applies to thet lieutenant commanding the Tilt-yard guard, and urges him to turn out his guard to relieve a general officer. The lieutenant declines interfering in person, but stands at a distance, and suffers the business to be done. The officer takes upon himself to order out the guard. In a moment they are in arms, quit their guard, march, rescue the general, and drive away the sheriff's officers, who, in vain, represent their right to the prisoner, and the nature of the arrest. The soldiers first conduct the general into the guard-room, then escort him to a place of safety, with bayonets fixed, and in all the forms of military triumph. I will not enlarge upon the various circumstances, which attended this atrocious proceed. ing. The personal injury received by the officers of the law, in the execution of their duty, may, perhaps, be atoned for by some private compensation. I consider nothing but the wound which has been given to the law itself, to which no remedy has been applied, no satisfaction made. Neither is it my design to dwell upon the misconduct of the parties concerned, any farther than is necessary to shew the behaviour of the Ministry in its true light. I would make every compassionate allowance for the infatuation of the prisoner, the false and criminal

Lieutenant Dodd. + Lieutenant Garth.

discrétion of one officer, and the madness of another. I would leave the ignorant soldiers entirely out of the question. They are certainly the least guilty; though they are the only per. sons who have yet suffered, even in the appearance of punishment. The fact itself, however atrocious, is not the principal point to be considered. It might have happened under a more regular government, and with guards better disciplined than ours. The main question is, In what manner have the Ministry acted on this extraordinary occasion? A general officer calls upon the king's own guard, then actually on duty, to rescue him from the laws of his country: yet, at this moment, he is in a situation no worse than if he had not committed an offence equally enormous in a civil and military view. A lieutenant upon duty, designedly quits his guard, and suffers it to be drawn out by another officer, for a purpose, which he well knew (as we may collect from an appearance of caution, which only makes his behaviour the more criminal) to be in the highest degree illegal. Has this gentleman been called to a court-martial to answer for his conduct? No. Has it been censured? No. Has it been in any shape en quired into? No. Another lieutenant, not upon duty, nor even in his regimentals, is daring enough to order out the king's guard, over which he had properly no command, and engages them in a violation of the laws of his country, perhaps the most singular and extravagant that ever was attempted. What punishment has he suffered? Literally none. Suppos ing he should be prosecuted at common law for the rescue; will that circumstance, from which the Ministry can derive no merit, excuse or justify their suffering so flagrant a breach of

A few of them were confined.

military discipline to pass by unpunished and unnoticed? Are they aware of the outrage offered to their Sovereign, when his own proper guard is ordered out to stop, by main force, the execution of his laws? What are we to conclude from so scandalous a neglect of their duty, but that they have other views, which can only be answered by securing the attachment of the guards? The Minister would hardly be so cau. tious of offending them, if he did not mean, in due time, to call for their assistance.

With respect to the parties themselves, let it be observed, that these gentlemen are neither young officers, nor very young men. Had they belonged to the unfledged race of ensigns, who infest our streets, and dishonour our public places, it might, perhaps, be sufficient to send them back to that discipline from which their parents, judging lightly from the maturity of their vices, had removed them too soon. In this case, I am sorry to see, not so much the folly of youths, as the spirit of the corps, and the connivance of government. I do not ques tion that there are many brave and worthy officers in the regiments of guards. But considering them as a corps, I fear, it will be found, that they are neither good soldiers nor good subjects. Far be it from me to insinuate the most distant reflection upon the army. On the contrary, I honour and esteem the profession; and, if these gentlemen were better soldiers, I am sure they would be better subjects. It is not that there is any internal vice or defect in the profession itself, as regulated in this country, but that it is the spirit of this particular corps to despise their profession: and that, while they vainly assume the lead of the army, they make it matter of impertinent comparison, and triumph over the bravest troops in the world (I mean our marching regiments) that they, indeed, stand upon higher ground, and are privileged to neg、

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