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Political Barometer.

Make it evident to the public, and I shall then only omplain that you have done a right thing in a anner the moft indecent and abfurd. You will member, my lord, how much the iffue of this ueftion depends upon lord Botetourt's character, or the public will not eafily be perfuaded that a onjuncture which did not rife above the level of ord Botetourt's abilities, could be difficult, urgent important.

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You fay, the facts on which you reafon, are niverfally admitted. A gratis dictum, which I atly deny. If, inftead of wandering into wild delamations, you had found it convenient to folve y queftions strictly, we should have joined iffue pon our facts, and the point would long fince ave been determined. Permit me to refresh your emory with fome of them once more.

1. Was not lord Botetourt abfolutely appointed n the 31st of July?

2. Was it mentioned in any shape to Sir J. A. efore the 4th of August ?

3. Was it not then mentioned as a meafure in contemplation only?

4. Did not lord Botetourt kifs hands next mornng, that is Friday the 5th inflant ?

5. Did not Sir J. A's opinion in council defeat in American fcheme, formed by lord B------n ind you, and is not this the true caufe of your ancour against him?

It is unworthy the character of a gentleman to ndeavour to amufe the public with idle declamaons, while fuch queftions as thefe remain unanfvered, LUCIUS.

To the Earl of H---

My LORD, THERE is no furer fign of a weak head, than a fettled depravity of heart. A base action is a iforder of the mind, and next to the folly of dong it, is the folly that defends it. Had the letter igned Lucius never been answered, you would not ave so fhamefully betrayed the weakness of your aufe, and your filence might have been interreted into a consciousness of innocence. The questin is now exhausted, for the public is convinced. How well or ill we have argued is of infinitely lefs mportance than the integrity of facts. Yet even acts, though separately true, will prove nothing, f the order in which they happened, be confoundd. Take it finally, my lord, and difprove it if ou can. Lord Botetourt's appointment was fixed or before funday. You called at Sir Jeffery mherft's on the Wednesday following. He was ot in town, but you faw him next day (Thursday)

You then told him that fuch a measure was in

ontemplation ; but far from naming his fucceffor ou did not tell him that his fucceffor was ap

ointed. Yet lord Botetouit kiffed hands the next 1orning (Friday), and the firt notice Sir J. A. eceived of his lordship's appointment was by an xprefs fent to him that evening by his brother.

That

you are a civil, polite perfon is true. Few en understand the little morals better, or obferve he great ones lefs than your lordship. You can, ow and fimile in an honeft man's face, while you ick his pocket. Thefe are the virtues of a court, n which your education has not been neglected. n any other fchool you might have learned, that implicity and Integrity are worth them all. Sirferery Amherst was fighting the battles of this ntry, while you, my lord, the darling child of fu.en eandu banity, were practifing the gener

247

ous arts of a courtier, and fecuring an honourable interest in the antichamber of a favourite.

As a man of abilities for public bufinefs, your firft experiment has been unfortunate. Your circular letter to the American governors, both for matter and compofition, is a performance, which a fchool-boy ought to blush for. The importance and difficulty of the occafion gave you a fair opportunity of fhewing by what talents you were qualified for the ftation of a Minifter. The affembly of Maffachufets bay, not contented with their own efforts to throw off their allegiance, folicit the other colonies to unite with them in measures of the fame tendency and fpirit. A refolution of this extraordinary nature demanded the whole attention of government, and yours in particular. Let us fee how you have treated it. Instead of a clear precife inftruction to each governor; ftead of feparate inftructions adapted to the temper, circumftances, and interests of the feveral provinces, wherein you might have fhewn your political abilities as well as your knowledge of that country; what have you done? In a circular letter of twenty or thirty lines (conceived in the fame terms to all the governors) you tell them,

In

"That this meafure is of a dangerous and factious tendency" A most wonderful difcovery.

"That it is calculated to inflame the minds of his majesty's fubjects" What eife do you think was meant by it?

"An unwarrantable combination" That's the question with THEM, and why did you not prove it fo?

"That it excites an oppofition to perliament" What other defign, in the name of folly, could be proDofed by it?

"That it fubverts the true principles of the conftitution" which they utterly deny.

of office, which make no impreffion, because they What are thefe but the loofe hackneyed terms convey no argument, and hardly a determinate meaning. You have not fuggefted a fingle motive to any one of the colonies, why they should not unite with the affembly at Boiton. This talk you leave to the governors, and if they find it an eafy one, fo much the better. Your conclufion however is a master-piece. You defire the governors to prevail with their affemblies to take no notice of the requifition from Bofton, which will be treating it with the contempt it deferves. What, my lord, do you feriously think that a formal attempt to unite the whole continent of America in rethe filent indifference of contempt ? bellion against this country deferves nothing but Is this the language of business and attention? Your letter, enterprizes of the colonics are of other importance my lord, does indeed deferve contempt, but the They call for other meafures and other minifters, and be affured that, when parliament meets, unlefs you intend to goverz without one, neither you nor your companions will be permitted to ruin this country with impunity,

LUCIUS.

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2. Worthlefs fellow.

3. Vile incendiary.

4. Falfe liar, in oppofition to a true one. 5. Snarler.

6. Contemptible thing

Political Barometer.

badnefs of my heart to acknowledge it) to quash the indictment against you. You are convicted of having done a bafe and foolish action, in a manner most despicable and abfurd. Your punishment attends you in the contempt and deteftation

7. Abandoned tool of oppofition, and diaboli- of mankind. cal mifcreant.

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To the Earl of H----------、 My LORD,

PERMIT me to have the honour of introducing you to a very amiable and valuable acquaintance. Mr.is the gentleman I mean. Your lordship will forgive the timidity and bafhfulness of his first addrefs, and, confidering your quality, condefcend

to make him fome advances. There is a fimi

liarity in your circumstances, to fay nothing of your virtues and understanding, which may lay the foundation of a folid friendship between you for the rest of your lives. Undoubtedly you are not quite unacquainted with a character, on which you appear to have formed your own. His cafe was fingular, my lord, and cannot fail of exciting fome emotions of fympathy in your lordship's breaft. This worthy man found himself expofed to a moft malicious perfecution for perjury. A profligate jury found him guilty, and a cruel judge pronounced his fentence of imprisonment, pillory, and tranfportation. His mind was a good deal diftreffed in the courfe of this affair (for he too is a man of delicate feelings) but his character, like yours, was above the reach of malice. Not to keep your lordship any longer in pain, I have the pleasure of telling you that, when law and juftice had done their worst, a lady, in whom he feldom places any confidence at cards, was generous enough to ftand his friend. Fortune difcover-, ed a flaw in the indictment; and now, my in fpite of an iniquitous profecution, in spite of conviction and fentence, he ftands as fair in his reputation as ever he did. Your lordship will naturally be ftruck with the refemblance between your cafe and his. Facts were fo particularly ftated against you, that they could not be denied ; the order, in which they happened, was demon#trated, and fentence pronounced by the public. The affair was over, when up gets Tommy Ford, and discovers that the whole tranfaction palled in the last week of July inftead of the first in Auguft. This mistake, as it brought the object nearer to us, I called advancing. In your lordship's country I prefume it may be properly called a retreat. Here however the comparifon ends. Your friend escaped by a form of law. But you, my Lord, have been tried at a tribunal of honour and equity. The public, who are your judges, will ot luffer miftake (however it may prove the my

lord

Your lordship has been pleafed to publish a long letter inthe Gazetteer, to prove that all Sir Jeffery Amherst's military services are a mere fiction. You not fign it indeed, because you had lately figned did another, containing the most exprefs and authentic acknowledgement of thofe fervices, in a stile of applaufe, not very diftant from flattery. You will not now it seems allow him any fhare in the reduction of Louisbourg, or the conqueft of Canada. Perhaps after all he never was in America. I am not a foldier, my lord, nor will I pretend to determine, what fhare of honour a general is entitled to for fuccefs, who must have borne the whole blame and difgrace, if he had failed. Had the event been unfavourable, his officers, I dare fay, would have been willing enough to yield their concern in it to their commander in chief. As to the reft, I have heard from military men, that the judgment and capacity, which make refistance than even the refolution which overcomes it. When afelefs or impracticable, is rated much higher are forgotten, this you, my lord, and Mr. country will remember with gratitude, that Sir Jeffery Amherst had the honour of making fixteen French battalions prifoners of war; that he carried on the whole war in America at an exviduals had acquired by contract and management in Germany; and that he did not put the favings into his own pocket.

pence

lefs than the fortunes, which fome indi

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thefe fervices, at leaft do him juftice. Do not af If a British peerage be too high a reward for fure the public that he was not contented with a know that the income of his government and two revenue of four thousand pounds a year, when you regiments, did not exceed two thousand three hundred, and that, until he was pofitively outraged, he never complained. As I profess dealing in facts, take the account.

Government of Virginia
Fifteenth regiment
Commandant of the both

1500

600

200

2300

As to a peerage, you would have done well to confider upon what fort of people this honour ha been conferred for ten years paft. Among the reft, we should be glad to know what were your lordhip's fervices or merits, when you were created baron of Harwich. I take for granted that they were of a different complexion from thofe of Sir J. A. fince they have been fo differently rewarded.

Here I fhall conclude. You have fent Sir Jeffery Amherst to the plough. You have left him poor in every article of which a falfe fawning Mileit him rich in the cfteem, the love and veneranifter could deprive him; but you have tion of his country. You cannot now recall him by any offer of wealth or honours. Yet I toretd that time will come, when you yourself will be the caufe of his return. Proceed, my lord, as you' have began, and you will foon reduce this country to an extremity, in which the wifeft and beit fubjects must be called upon, and must be employed. Till then enjoy your triumph.

LUCIUS

AN

IMPARTIAL

REVIEW

OF NEW BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, &c.

Letters concerning confessions of faith, and subscriptions to articles of religion in proteftant churches; occafioned by the perusal of the Confeffional. 8vo. 25. White.

A

N animated and ingenious anfwer to the confeffional and equal to any that has appeared in oppofition to it. It feems the mode of the prefent times to cry up every work written against the established religion as irrefragable; but we will venture to establish it as a maxim, which our author has ftrengthened, that whoever attacks the church of England, will find himself in the cafe of Horace's antagonist;

"Fragili quærens illidere dentem,

Offendet folido." HOR. ferm. lib. 2. fat. 1.

The invalidity of fchifmatical and heretical baptifm, proved from reafon, fcripture, councils, and fathers. By Orthodoxus. 8vo. 6d. Steare.

W

E may bear the fame record concerning this author, as the apostle Paul does in his address to the Romans: "I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God; but not according to knowledge." Rom. 10. 2..

A dialogue between Ifaac Walton, and Homologiftes; in which the character of bishop Sanderson is defended against the author of the Confeffional. 8vo. 1s. Fletcher.

A

Candid, ingenious, and learned defence of the worthy prelate.

A letter to a young gentleman under fentence of death. 8vo. 3d. Nicoll.

THE meaning may be good, but the arguments are weak, though worked up with the warm ingredients of metho

difm.

VOL. III.

K k

The

view.

The principles of infidelity and faith confidered, in a comparative Two dijourfes preached before the university of Oxford, at St. Mary's in the morning, at St. Peter's in the afternoon, on the first Sunday in lent; March 21, 1768. By John Rawlins, M. A. of Chrift-church. 8vo. 1s. Fletcher and Co.

A

Learned attempt, worthy of a learned audience, ex

of this piece, in the words of the Mantuan bard,

"Tale tuum carmen nobis divine poeta quale fopor feffis." Letters to the author of a free enquiry into the origin of evil. To which are added three difcourfes; ft. On confcience; 2d. Ont infpiration; 3d. On a paradifiacal state. By the rev. R. Shepherd, of C. C. C. Oxford. 8vo. 3s. Flexney.

A

Senfible defence of the origin of evil, as revealed in fcripture; and a fatisfactory reply to all the reafons and fallies of the free enquiry; the author deferves the claffic compliment,

Sume fuperbiam quæfitam meritis?

Philofophia vera, or a new fyftem of philofophy, natura?, moral, and divine; very concife, but comprehenfive, much defired by, and very interefling to mankind in general. By Elias Newman, Efq; 8vo. 1 s.

SOM

OME of the obfervations are indeed new; but what could we expect lefs from Mr. New-man? So much muft be faid, that they have no other recommendation but their novelty; and notwithstanding we are told they are much defired by mankind; yet we will venture to fay, that unless the author was more defirous to publifh them, than the world will be found ready to adopt them, they would never have stained the virgin whiteness of paper.

The creed of eternal generationifts, compiled from the writings of Some of thofe fenfible, confiflent, and orthodox gentlemen. By Ifaac Harman, 8vo. 6d. Johnson.

TH

HIS is a weak endeavour to turn the opinion of Dr. Gill, Mr. Brine, and others, into ridicule; and if we confider the importance of the doctrine which the writer. undertakes to explode, we are at a lofs to determine which is greateft, his want of fenfe, or want of decency.

Reflections

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Reflections on inland navigations: and a new method proposed for executing the intended navigation betwixt the Forth and the Clyde, in a complete manner, at an expence a third less than what that work has hitherto been estimated at. The fame method applied to almost all rivers and rivulets, by which GreatBritain and Ireland might have, at a very easy expence, above 5000 miles of new inland navigation. 8vo. Is. Cadel.

I

NLAND navigations are certainly of great, utility; but like other useful things may be carried to excefs, and then be productive of dangerous confequences: we could wish that this hint would serve to put a stop to the rage, which the prefent age feems to have, for works of this kind. What our author has offered on this head is very plaufible; whether his method be as fafe as that of Mr Smeaton's, is not yet clear; and if experience fhould prove it otherwife, it would be fatal perhaps to the nation in general; and the author's observation would have little effect to remove the evil. The obfervation hinted at is to this effect; "The great rapidity, and violence of rivers during a flood, has, no doubt, been the reason that deterred the conftructors of canals from rifking any communication with them. But though a body of water running down a declivity, be a furious giant overturning every thing before him, yet, if this faid giant be laid flat on his back, he lofes all his force, and becomes intirely paffive, whatever be his fize." Well done Gray the giantkiller!

One thousand feven-hundred fixty eight: or past 12 o'clock, and a cloudy morning. Canto I. 4to. Is. Bingley.

A

N attempt to be fatyrical, but the author's mufe seems
to be loft in his own cloudy morning.

The groans of Old England: By a plain dealer. 8vo. Is,
Steare.

A

Republication of the invectives made against continental connections, and especially the electorate of Hanover, But who can forbear groaning with the author, when he finds him concluding his rhapfody, with a propofal for putting the college of phyficians, and the liberties of the prefs, under the regulation of licencers?

A letter to his grace the duke of Grafton, on the prefent fituation of public ffairs. 8vo. Is.

A

Almon.

Senfible and judicious performance! wherein the au-
thor difplays an extrao: dinary knowledge of the prefent
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