to believe it. If, from some strange unaccountable fatality, the people of that kingdom cannot be induced to consult their own security, by such an effectual augmentation, as may enable the troops there to act with power and energy, is the commander in chief here to blame? Or, is he to blame, because the troops in the Mediterranean, in the West Indies, in America, labour under great difficulties from the scarcity of men, which is but too visible all over these kingdoms? Many of our forees are in climates unfavourable to British constitutions; their loss is in proportion. Britain must recruit all these regiments from her own emaciated bosom; or, more precariously, by Catholics from Ireland. We are likewise 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 of addressing 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 it 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 ribbon 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 the clamours for justice to the injured troops, the Manilla ransom was suddenly buried in a profound, and, since that time, an uninterrupted silence? will explain the cause to the public. The several ministers who have been employed since that time, have been very desirous to do 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 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 fiveand-twenty thousand pounds by their acquiescence to this breach of faith in the Spaniards, I think they

I

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 ribbon, by my regiment, by the sale of that regiment, and by half pay as an Irish colonel.

His Majesty was pleased to give me my government for my service 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 ribbon, as a reward for many 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 Rock

ingham 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 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 to sacrifice those brave men, by the strange avarice of accepting 3801. per annum, and giving up 8001,! 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 he 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,

SIR,

LETTER V.

TO SIR WILLIAM DRAPER,

Knight of the Bath

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. Individuals who hate, and the public who despise, 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 acknow. ledgments 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.