DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6915#0060
44
FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL.
satisfied with the warm acknowledgments 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."
It is said, and has been generally believed, that Sir Willam Draper desisted
from answering this letter at the request of the noble lord or of his friends : and
in the notice which Junius takes of a subsequent letter of Sir William's, upon
a casual renewance of the correspondence, there appears to be some foundation
for such a belief. " They say in common discourse," observes he, " that a man
may be his own enemy ; and the frequency of the fact makes the expression
intelligible. But that a man should be the bitterest enemy of his friends, implies
a contradiction of a peculiar nature. Sir William Draper is still that fatal
friend Lord Granby found him. Yet I am ready to do justice to his generosity;
if, indeed, it be not something more than generous to be the voluntary advocate
of men who think themselves injured by his assistance, and to consider nothing
in the cause he adopts but the difficulty of defending it." (Letter xxvu.
October 13, 1769.)
In the preceding invective bestowed by Junius on Lord Granby, amidst
many conceded virtues, the fault chiefly insisted upon is the facility of his
disposition, which too frequently sunk " the noble pride and independence of a
man of spirit" into "the servile, humiliating complaisance of a courtier."
Before six months had elapsed, however, the minister himself had very sufficient
proofs of the falsity of this accusation. It is needless to advert to more than the
following fact.
The Commander-in-Chief had accompanied the minister as far as his conscience
would allow him, in the parliamentary debates respecting Mr. Wilkes : he had
even voted for the expulsion of this gentleman ; but here he felt compelled to
stop. If, after such a decision, Mr. Wilkes's constituents chose once more to
return him, Lord Granby deemed it improper to interfere with the fair voice
and verdict of the people, by opposing his being received into the legislature.
Such however was well known to be the determination of the Duke of Grafton ;
and hence, perceiving there was no limit to ministerial revenge without a
violation of the constitution, Lord Granby resigned his offices of Commander-in-
Chief and Master-General of the Ordnance in January, 1770, and was joined
FINE ARTS OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL.
satisfied with the warm acknowledgments 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."
It is said, and has been generally believed, that Sir Willam Draper desisted
from answering this letter at the request of the noble lord or of his friends : and
in the notice which Junius takes of a subsequent letter of Sir William's, upon
a casual renewance of the correspondence, there appears to be some foundation
for such a belief. " They say in common discourse," observes he, " that a man
may be his own enemy ; and the frequency of the fact makes the expression
intelligible. But that a man should be the bitterest enemy of his friends, implies
a contradiction of a peculiar nature. Sir William Draper is still that fatal
friend Lord Granby found him. Yet I am ready to do justice to his generosity;
if, indeed, it be not something more than generous to be the voluntary advocate
of men who think themselves injured by his assistance, and to consider nothing
in the cause he adopts but the difficulty of defending it." (Letter xxvu.
October 13, 1769.)
In the preceding invective bestowed by Junius on Lord Granby, amidst
many conceded virtues, the fault chiefly insisted upon is the facility of his
disposition, which too frequently sunk " the noble pride and independence of a
man of spirit" into "the servile, humiliating complaisance of a courtier."
Before six months had elapsed, however, the minister himself had very sufficient
proofs of the falsity of this accusation. It is needless to advert to more than the
following fact.
The Commander-in-Chief had accompanied the minister as far as his conscience
would allow him, in the parliamentary debates respecting Mr. Wilkes : he had
even voted for the expulsion of this gentleman ; but here he felt compelled to
stop. If, after such a decision, Mr. Wilkes's constituents chose once more to
return him, Lord Granby deemed it improper to interfere with the fair voice
and verdict of the people, by opposing his being received into the legislature.
Such however was well known to be the determination of the Duke of Grafton ;
and hence, perceiving there was no limit to ministerial revenge without a
violation of the constitution, Lord Granby resigned his offices of Commander-in-
Chief and Master-General of the Ordnance in January, 1770, and was joined