The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-08-02
IbtDndy Crssrsnt.

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OFFICIAL JOUKNAL
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Ppbiished Every Day-tsundss Except sds-'
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H. r. sas. 81 a 1:: vi vi.
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The Authorship Of Junius.
OF all party political productions none have ever
kept their place firmly in the public estimation,
excited such fierce controversy AZ totheir suthor
ship, as the far.famed letters Of Junius. sidce
therfnt appearance. nearly three generations have
passed away, but Junius is sill the admired Of all
critics, the model Of all young writers. Effort
after effort, inquiry after inquiry has been made 10
discover the author. the result Of all being the same
--disnppoiutment The letters have been in fact
attributed 10 every statesman and every writer of
any public eminence, who WAS in existence at the
time Of their publication. There havs not been
wanting some to claim openly the credit Of writing
them, and ons man even attempted se pass with
Lord North a. their author! Shoals Of booka,
oceans Of pamphlets. and articles and reviews with
out number have been written and published in
behalf Of the various canlida,es for the honor,
but hitherto, the partisans Of one and all have
failed in placing the claims of their respective
favories beyond cavil or dispute. 81 doubt much
(wrote the author to WoodfalI) whether shall
ever have the pleasure of.kno~ing you" And
again in his preface to the frat edition OF the letters
he says: 8" II am a vain man, my gratification
lies " within narrow circle. am the sole deposi
tory Of my own secret, and il shall perish with me-
And truly it would seem the words thus written
stood every chance Of being confirmed, for until
within short time the mystery was as deep as
ever That it at last Is penetrated is not the fault
of Junius, HE took every possible precaution 10
prevent his secret beng discovered, and so far
succeeded, as to render his mctto 81 stat noas.nis
uuubrd" appropriate until after his deah. 4Cotem-
porary writers were baffl-d, their successor pux.
xled after the construction OF q case apparently
clear and decisive, behold some unexpected objsc.
tlon made, which destroying the foundation. over.
threw the supesuuctup and left but mass Of
ruins behind. Z.
Bur Junius, shrewd and careful a. he was, could
not measure the curiosity or the perseverance, of
those who were to follow him, The critcs and re-.
TO those Of the preceding. They are scarcely ever
TO be baffisd, are never wholly defeated. Casting
aside all iofegone prejudces and preconceived
opinions they set Themselves to the task of discov-
enns this protean author, this greatest of all the
great unknown.
The result of their endeavors is in the volumes
before US, and though il cannot be said the author
Is therein positively proved, he is yet so circum.
stan,iay So as al least in our opinion to negative
the claims Of all others. In the. whole chain Of
evldencs offered, there seems not one lux wanting
Handwriting, sr lie, occupation, sources OF informa-
ilon, Time OF commencement and cessation Of let
ters are fully accounted for; aud finally, new
proois' amounting almost TO confession on the part
OF the au'ho,, arc Tor The first time offered u.s.
Who then lit will be asked was Junius % Sir
Philip Francis! = -
The evidences of the authorshipare Of ftw kinds.
external and internal; in Francs's case both coin
eide, IN fact dovetaii while in all Others there
have been discrepancies impossible to be recon.
ciied Let US glance al a few Of Them.
VI those to whom the letters were ascribed dur
ing and since the period of their appearance, at
once the most prominent and the most general
favorite was Burke. One publisher went SO far as
10 assume the question settled, and published
pamphlet entitled " Anecdotes of the author of
Jnnius, in which Burke figured as the hero
Only few days since, even the editor of the Pi-
caynne, referring to the subject said, Nothing
but Barkes own positive denial would have per.
shaded me he was not the author" But these
volumes show conclusively Burke was not could
not be the writer. The only wonder is how the
suppositIon could ever have been seriously enter.
Ialned BnIke's style of writing and speaking was
entirely different. Burke was diff.ise, ornate.
snowy, and oftimes bombastic; Junus was te rse,
epigrammatlc, sententious, and ALWAYS FIERcryv
eloquent. Burke was the lover of ROYALTY. the
TREND Of the king, and the pansgyrisi of Marie
Antoi0ette; Junius only tolerated the first. iDces
sanity attacked the second, and fidicued ths aat-
terers OF the last. Burke dsliked Woedfall Drose.
cu'ed him for libel, and mulcted him in flOO dam.
ages Junius was the school fellow Of Woodfall.
anu hishly esteemed him, refused to receive pay
ment Tor his letter. when offered it, and insisted on
paying the expenses of his defence when prose.
the king, ETC., etc. ~ ~
Ia short. no one who has studied Burke could
nationally suppose him to be Junins. Imagine the
author OF the French Revolution addressing the
King thus: ''' ~
Do justice to yourself Withdraw your conf.
aence equally from all parties-from ministers,
Iavorites and relations; and let there bs one mo.
ment IN your life in which yon have consulted
your own understanding .!!"-Vol. 1, D. 258.
Why Burke would have cut off his right hand
rather 'han have Addressed his royal master thus
Hear what he said in the House of Commons, hen
spsak,ng ofthis very letter to the King
How comes this Junius to have broke tbrop,b
the coowe6s OF the law, and to range uncontrolled
unpnnished, through the land! No sooner hss hp
wounded one than he lays another dead at his
feet. For my part, when saw his attack upon the
king, own my blood ran cold."-Vol. I,p4.
Besides the foregoing, there are other proofs tha,
burke was not Junius, and likewise many reasons
for believing that he cognizant who the author
was, though not till after the publication of the
lstters had ceased The extract from Sir p.
Franciss letter to Burke on the publication Of his
celebrated Reflections" is exceedingly curious,
and . In the very highest style of Juni1s no man
put Francis would have written to such cor.
Once for all, wish you would let me teach
You to write English. To me who am 10 read
every THU e You write, it would be a great com.
Tort, and 70 you no sort Of dspaFagement. Why
will you mol allow yourself to be persuaded tha,
polish is material to preservation !''-Vol 2. n. "a
So much for Burke. Among the crowd of other
for whom the authorship has been claimed. ,he
principal are Lords Camden, Shelburne. and Chat.
ham; Lloyd. Hamilton, Flood, Bishop Butler.
General Lee, Dunning, RosenhaRen, Wilkes
Maclean and Lord George Sackvis. The claims
OF all these are examined and dismissed y are also
those Of an n6niiy of smaller fry, of men who were
no more able to draw the bow Of Junus than they
were to carry one of the Pyramids on their shoul-
ders. The three last in the above list have, how.
ever, been so ofen buried and again resuscitated
that it may be as well to finally dssect their pre-
tensions. set their wandering spirits at rest and the
minds Of their friends at case. fs ft1Y
VI the three Wilkes was the man of the mos
mark and possessed tha greatest ability. still i,
had mol the calibfe requisite Moreover. II is mn
generally knownthat Junius privately corresnonde,
with Wilkes for some months, and even reouesIer
him Through Wo0dfalI) 10 revise the proo3 shes,
o1 the hrst edition of his lettar.i vol o !,