be in at the death." When these threats did not prevail, he came over to England to embarrass them by his presence; and when he found, that Lord Rockingham was something firmer and more manly than he expected, and refused to be bullied into what he could not perform, Mr. Wilkes declared that he could not leave England without money; and the Duke of Portland and Lord Rockingham purchased his absence with one hundred pounds apiece, with which he returned to Paris. And for the truth of what I here advance, I appeal to the Duke of Portland, to Lord Rockingham, to Lord John Cavendish, to Mr. Walpole, &c. I appeal to the hand-writing of Mr. Wilkes, which is still extant. Should Mr. Wilkes afterwards (failing in this wholesale trade) choose to dole out his popularity by the pound, and expose the city offices to sale to his brother, his attorney, &c. Junius will tell us, it is only an ambition that he has to make them chamberlain, townclerk, &c. and he must not be opposed in thus robbing the ancient citizens of their birth-right-because any defeat of Mr. Wilkes would gratify the king! Should he, after consuming the whole of his own fortune, and that of his wife, and incurring a debt of twenty thousand pounds, merely by his own private extravagance, without a single service or exertion all this time for the public, whilst his estate remained; should he, at length, being undone, commence patriot, have the good fortune to be illegally persecuted, and, in consideration of that illegality, be espoused by a few gentlemen of the purest public principles; should his debts, though none of them were contracted for the public, and all his other incumbrances be discharged; should he be offered L.600 or L.1000 a-year, to make him independent for the future; and should he, after all, instead of gratitude for these services, insolently forbid his benefactors to be |