Britain and America would be reserved for their successors in office, and they were determined to hazard even the ruin of their country, rather than furnish the man [G. Grenville] whom they feared and hated, with the melancholy triumph of having truly foretold the consequences of their own misconduct. But this, such as it is, the triumph of a heart that bleeds at every vein, they cannot deprive him of. They dreaded the acknowledgment of his superiority over them, and the loss of their own authority and credit, more than the rebellion of near half the empire against the supreme legislature. *

It is impossible to conceal from ourselves, that we are at this moment on the brink of a dreadful precipice; the question is whether we shall submit to be guided by the hand which hath driven us to it, or whether we shall follow the patriot voice [G. Grenville's] which has not ceased to warn us of our dangers, and which would still declare the way to safety and to honour'."

"Whether it be matter of honour or reproach, it is at least a singular circumstance, that whoever is hardy enough to maintain the cause of Great Britain, against subjects who disown her authority, or to raise his voice in defence of the laws and constitution, is immediately pointed

i Miscellaneous Letters, No. xxix. Vol. III. p. 73.

out to the public for Mr. Grenville's friend ** It is true he professes doctrines which would be treason in America, but in England at least he has the laws on his side, and if it be a crime to support the supremacy of the British legislature, the Sovereign, the Lords and Commons are as guilty as he is.

If the pretensions of the colonies had not been abetted by something worse than a faction here the stamp act would have executed itself. Every clause of it was so full and explicit that it wanted no further instruction; nor was it of that nature that required a military hand to carry it into execution. For the truth of this I am ready to appeal even to the colonies themselves. * * Your corres

pondent [who had answered Miscell. Lett. xxix.] confesses that Mr. Grenville is still respectable; yet he warns the friends of that gentleman not to provoke him, lest he should tell them what they may not like to hear. These are but words. He means as little when he commends as when he condescends to applaud. Let us meet upon the fair ground of truth, and if he finds one vulnerable part in Mr. Grenville's character, let him fix his poisoned arrow there'."

"If there be any thing improper in this address, [a letter addressed to G. Grenville] the

'Miscellaneous Letters, No. xxxi. Vol. III. p. 83.

singularity of your present situation will, I hope, excuse it. Your conduct attracts the attention, because it is highly interesting to the welfare of the public, and a private man who only expresses what thousands think, cannot well be accused of flattery or detraction. * * This

letter, I doubt not, will be attributed to some party friend, by men who expect no applause but from their dependents. But you, Sir, have the testimony of your enemies in your favour. After years of opposition, we see them revert to those very measures with violence, with hazard and disgrace, which in the first instance might have been conducted with ease, with dignity and moderation.

While parliament preserves its constitutional authority, you will preserve yours. As long as there is a real representation of the people, you will be heard in that great assembly with attention, deference and respect; and if fatally for England the designs of the present ministry should at last succeed, you will have the consolation to reflect that your voice was heard, until the voice of truth and reason was drowned in the din of arms; and that your influence in parliament was irresistible, until every question

was decided by the sword'."

How far the same principles were supported

Miscellaneous Letters, No. LIII. Vol. III. p.

192.

by the same writer under the signature of JÚNIUS, the reader will find in Vol. I. p. 54. and Vol. II p. 350. and it is not necessary to copy farther.

Mr. Malone, in his preface to a well-known' work of Mr. Hamilton, entitled Parliamentary Logic', offers a variety of remarks in disproof that this gentleman was the writer of the letters, several of which are possessed of sufficient force, though few persons will perhaps agree with him in believing that if Hamilton had written them, he would have written them better. The following are his chief arguments:

"Now (not to insist on his own solemn asseveration near the time of his death, that he was not the author of JUNIUS') Mr. Hamilton was so far from being an ardent party man, that during the long period above mentioned [from Jan. 1769 to Jan. 1772] he never closely connected himself with any party. **** Notwithstanding his extreme love of political discussion, he never, it is believed, was heard to speak of any administration or any opposition with vehemence either of censure or of praise; a character so opposite to the fervent and sometimes coarse acrimony of JUNIUS, that this consideration alone is sufficient to settle the point, as far as

P. xxix. et seq.

2 "It has been said that he at the same time declared that he knew who was the author; but unquestionably he never made any such declaration." MALONE.

On the

relates to our author, for ever. question-who was the author?-he was as free to talk as any other person, and often did express his opinion concerning it to the writer of this short memoir; an opinion nearly coinciding with that of those persons who appear to have had the best means of information on the subject, In a conversation on this much agitated point, he once said to an intimate friend, in a tone between seriousness and pleasantry,—“ You know, H * **n, I could have written better papers than those of JUNIUS:' and so the gentleman whom he addressed, who was himself distinguished for his rhetorical powers, and a very competent judge, as well as many other persons, thought.

"It may be added, that his style of composition was entirely different from that of this writer. That he had none of that minute commissarial knowledge of petty military matters, which is displayed in some of the earlier papers of JUNIUS,

“And finally it may be observed, that the figures and allusions of JUNIUS are often of so different a race from those which our author [Hamilton] would have used, that he never spoke of some of them without the strongest disapprobation; and particularly when a friend, for the purpose of drawing him out, affected to think him the writer of these papers; and ban