objection to selling his own timber to his own admiralty, to repair his own ships, nor to putting the money into his own pocket. People of a religious turn naturally adhere to the principles of the church; whatever they acquire falls into mort-main. Upon a representation from the admiralty of the extraordinary want of timber for the indispensable repairs of the navy, the surveyor-generai was directed to make a survey of the timber in all the royal chaces and forests in England. Having obeyed his or ders with accuracy and attention, he reported that the finest timber he had any where met with, and the properest, in every respect, for the purposes of the navy, was in Whittlebury Forest, of which your Grace, I think, is hereditary ranger. In consequence of this report, the usual warrant was prepared at the treasury, and delivered to the surveyor, by which he, or his deputy, were authorised to cut down any trees in Whittlebury Forest, which should appear to be proper for the purposes above-mentioned. The deputy being informed that the warrant was signed, and delivered to his principal in London, crosses the country to Northamptonshire, and, with an officious zeal for the public service begins to do his duty in the forest. Unfortunately for him, he had not the warrant in his pocket. The oversight was enormous; and you have punished him for it accordingly. You have insisted, that an active, useful officer should be dismissed from his place. You have ruined an innocent man and his family. In what language shall I address so black, so cowardly a tyrant? Thou worse than one of the Brunswicks, and all the Stuarts! To them who know Lord North, it is unnecessary to say, that he was mean and base enough to submit to you. This, however, is but a small part of the fact. After ruining the surveyor's deputy, for acting without

the warrant, you attacked the warraut itself. You declared that it was illegal; and swore, in a fit of foaming frantic passion, that it never should be executed. You asserted, upon your honour, that, in the grant of the rangership of Whittlebury Forest, made by Charles the Second (whom, with a modesty that would do honour to Mr. Rigby, you are pleased to call your ancestor) to one of his bastards, (from whom I make no doubt of your descent,) the property of the timber is vested in the ranger. I have examined the original grant; and now, in the face of the public, contradict you directly upon the fact. The very reverse of what you have asserted upon your honour is the truth. The grant, expressly, and by a particular clause, reserves the property of the timber for the use of the Crown. In spite of this evidence, in defiance of the representations of the admiralty, in perfect mockery of the notorious distresses of the English navy, and those equally pressing and almost equally notorious necessities of your pious Sovereign, here the matter rests. The Lords of the Treasury recal their warrant; the deputy-surveyor is ruined for doing his duty; Mr. John Pitt (whose name, I suppose, is offensive to you) submits to be brow-beaten and insulted; the oaks keep their ground; the King is defrauded; and the navy of England may perish for want of the best and finest timber in the island. And all this is submitted to, to appease the Duke of Grafton to gratify the man who has involved the King and his kingdom in confusion and distress; and who, like a treacherous coward, deserted his Sovereign in the midst of it!

There has been a strange alteration in your doctrine, since you thought it adviseable to rob the Duke of Portland of his property, in order to strengthen the interest of Lord Bute's son-inlaw before the last general election. Nullum

tempus occurrit regi was then your boasted motto, and the cry of all your hungry partizans. Now it seems a grant of Charles the Second to one of his bastards is to be held sacred and inviolable! It must not be questioned by the King's Servants, nor submitted to any interpretation but your own. My Lord, this was not the language you held, when it suited you to insult the memory of the glorious deliverer of England from that detested family, to which you are still more nearly allied in principle than in blood. In the name of decency and common sense, what are your Grace's merits, either with King or Ministry, that should entitle you to assume this domineering authority over both? Is it the fortunate consanguinity you claim with the House of Stuart? Is it the secret correspondence you have so many years carried on with Lord Bute, by the assiduous assistance of your cream-coloured parasite? Could not your gal. lantry find sufficient employment for him, in those gentle offices by which he first acquired the tender friendship of Lord Barrington? Or is it only that wonderful sympathy of manners which subsists between your Grace and one of your superiors, and does so much honour to you both? Is the union of Blijil and Black George no longer a romance? From whatever origin. your influence in this country arises, it is a phenomenon in the history of human virtue and understanding. Good men can hardly believe the fact; wise men are unable to account for it. Religious men find exercise for their faith, and make it the last effort of their piety not to repine against Providence. JUNIUS.

LETTER LVIII.

ADDRESSED

To the Livery of London.

GENTLEMEN,

September 30, 1771.

IF you alone were concerned in the event of

the present election of a chief magistrate of the metropolis, it would be the highest presumption in a stranger to attempt to influence your choice, or even to offer you his opinion. But the situation of public affairs has annexed an extraordinary importance to your resolutions. You cannot, in the choice of your magistrate, determine for yourselves only. You are going to determine upon a point, in which every member of the community is interested. I will not scruple to say, that the very being of that law, of that right, of that constitution, for which we have been so long contending, is now at stake. They who would ensnare your judgment, tell you, it is a common ordinary case, and to be decided by ordinary precedent and practice. They artfully conclude, from moderate peaceable times, to times which are not moderate, and which ought not to be peaceable. While they solicit your favour, they insist upon a rule of rotation, which excludes all idea of election.

Let me be honoured with a few minutes of your attention. The question, to those who mean fairly to the liberty of the people, (which we all profess to have in view), lies within a very nar. row compass. Do you mean to desert that just and honourable system of measures which you have hitherto pursued, in hopes of obtaining from Parliament, or from the Crown, a full re. dress of past grievances, and a security for the

future? Do you think the cause desperate, and will you declare that you think so to the whole people of England? If this be your meaning and opinion, you will act consistently with it in chusing Mr. Nash. I profess to be unacquainted with his private character; but he has acted as a magistrate, as a public man. As such I speak of him. I see his name in a protest against one of your remonstrances to the Crown. He has done every thing in his power to destroy the freedom of popular elections in the city, by publishing the poll upon a former occasion; and I know, in general, that he has distinguished himself, by slighting and thwarting all those public measures which you have engaged in with the greatest warmth, and hitherto thought most worthy of your approbation. From his past conduct, what conclusion will you draw but that he will act the same part as Lord Mayor, which he has invariably acted as Alderman and Sheriff? He cannot alter his conduct without confessing, that he never acted upon principle of any kind. I should be sorry to injure the character of a man, who, perhaps, may be honest in his intention, by supposing it possible that he can ever concur with you in any political measure or opinion.

If, on the other hand, you mean to persevere in those resolutions for the public good, which, though not always successful, are always honourable, your choice will naturally incline to those men who (whatever they be in other respects) are most likely to co-operate with you in the great purpose, which you are determined not to relinquish. The question is not, of what metal your instruments are made, but whether they are adapted to the work you have in hand. The honours of the city, in these times, are improperly, because exclusively, called a reward. You mean not merely to pay, but to employ.