Great Britain is at stake, these worthy counsellors dispute without decency, advise without sincerity, resolve without decision, and leave the measure to be executed by the man who voted against it. This, I conceive, is the last disorder of the state. The consultation meets but to disagree. Opposite medicines are prescribed, and the last fixed on is changed by the hand that gives it.

Such is the council, by which the best of sovereigns is advised, and the greatest nation upon earth governed. Separately the figures are only offensive; in a group they are formidable. Commerce languishes, manufactures are oppressed, and public credit already feels her approaching dissolution: yet, under the direction of this council, we are to prepare for a dreadful contest with the colonies, and a war with the whole house of Bourbon. I am not surprised that the generality of men should endeavour to shut their eyes to this melancholy prospect. Yet I am filled with grief and indignation, when I behold a wise and gallant people lost in a stupidity, which does not feel, because it will not look forward. The voice of one man will hardly be heard when the voice of truth and reason is neglected; but as far as mine extends, the authors of our ruin shall be marked out to the public, I will not tamely sub

mit to be sacrificed, nor shall this country perish

THE great abilities which have distinguished the character of the Earl of Rochford, have justly procured him the love of his countrymen, and have entitled him to the favour and protection of his sovereign: it was therefore with universal approbation that the public received the promises of his advancement at this important crisis to the important office of secretary of state. It was with a degree of hope, to which they have long been unaccustomed, that they flattered themselves foreign business would now be no longer neglected. They had reason to expect much from a man to whom nature had been lavish, and whose natural talents, great as they were, must have been considerably augmented by a long residence and a constant attention to business in courts, which are perhaps superior to all others in the arts and mysteries of negotiation. It was now that they felt themselves secure in the assurance that the correspondences with the courts of Paris, Ma

drid, and Turin were to be carried on by a man above all others qualified for so arduous a task; by a man who had gained great reputation as an ambassador in each of them.

It was in vain that the enemies to administration endeavoured to suggest that that nobleman was not singled out on account of his superior abilities, but on account of his neutrality and non-attachment to any particular men or measures; it was in vain that they represented his nomination as a mere act of necessity, resulting from the incapacity of the leaders to promote any other without widening their bottom, which was a measure that, above all others, they most apprehended.

These suggestions had little or no effect; they were either totally disbelieved or disregarded; the consequence was good, and the public were not at all curious to know the cause; their joy, that such a measure was to take place, was only equalled by their surprise; and as their joy proceeded from a reflection of the past, as it related to Lord Rochford, they were inattentive to the present, as it related to others.

What pity it is that they were so soon disappointed, and that a joy so well founded was destined to be of so short a duration. In proportion as they were elevated with the hopes of his being taken into office, so are they dejected

by the manner of his appointment. The course and order of business appears to have been violated, and that vacancy, to which his lordship ought to have succeeded, and which he was so well qualified to fill, has been suffered to be possessed by another altogether a stranger to the principal wheels of those machines, which it becomes his duty to regulate; and the abilities of the earl have been as far as possible thwarted by his being plunged into a correspondence with courts, of whose maxims and interests he is no better qualified to judge than any other of his Majesty's servants who would make use of as much attention, and who may be happily endowed with as much penetration *. It is now then that the public have both cause and inclination to ask a question, which they before thought useless and impertinent: it is now that with horror they reflect on the intelligence communicated by your correspondent Atticus; it is now that they tremble at the thoughts of a secret negotiation with the French court in relation to Corsica; and it is now that they ask, Why was Lord Rochford appointed secretary of state, and for the northern department †?

* See the preceding letter. EDIT.

WHY?

See this subject further discussed in JUNIUS, letter i

WHEN an anonymous writer tells the public, that a great minister, who happens to be his particular friend, has given him assurances of any sort, with regard to state affairs, the authority is doubly suspicious. In the first place, that such writers should have such friends is not, in the highest degree, probable. In the next, it is much to be doubted, whether ministers of state always tell the truth even to their most intimate acquaintance. I take for granted, the author of the letter, signed Plain Truth and Justice*, is a modest man, since he expects an implicit reliance on the bare assertion of a person entirely unknown to us. But I fear he will find himself a little disappointed, for the public is not to be imposed upon by such gross artifices. The letters, in which your correspondent Atticus had foretold the decline of public credit, seemed to rest upon a very different footing.

* He alludes to a correspondent in the Public Advertiser, who had replied to his former letter under this sig

nature. EDIT.