The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-26
THE JUNIUS LETTERS.
Their Authorship Traced TO Sir
Philip Francis.
Identified by Handwriting Expert.
An American Figures in the Great
Conspiracy Which Attacked En-
glish Public Men Anonymously.

An American Figures in the Great
Conspiracy Which Attacked En-
glish Public Men Anonymously.
From the New York World
Who wrote the Junius letters2
That is a question which has agitated
the literary and historical worlds for
more than century The authorship of
these famous letters has been regarded
as one Of the great unsOlvable mysteries
like the personality of the Man in the
Iron Mask and the fate of Louis XVII.
1t seems now, however, after the lapse of
more than 1913 years, that discoveries
made in England within the. past few
weeks, together with the work of an ex-
pert in handwriting, have settled the
matter beyond doubt.
Curously enough, an American is
brought into the plot whereby the author
ship of the letters was concealed, and it
seems by no means impossible that some
of the letters were written in this country
and sent across the Atlantic, although
their real author, while employing an
American kinsman as an amenuensis, re-
manned in England.
The first letter bearing the signature of
Junius made it's appearance in the Public
Advertiser in England for Nov. p, 1868,
but it was not until the following January
that the regular series of political attacks
over this signature commenced with an as
sault on the characters of the
Duke of Grafton and Lord
North. Junius boosted that his
identity would never be discovered. The
letters. from the vigor and clearness of
their style and the bitterness with which
they attacked eminent public men, at
tracted instant attention. Junius, in his
opening letter in January, 1869, said of the
Duke of Grafton that THE finances of a
nation sinking under it's debts have been
committed to young nobleman already
ruined by play" while Lord North was
characterized as IAN object of derision to
his enemies and of melancholy pity to his
friends" Hardly any name connected
with the government escaped without
Irony or abuse.
This attack drew out reply from Sir
William Draper, in which he called upon
JunluS 10 ask pardon of Lord CRANKY
and the whole kingdom for his abomina-
bic scandal" Letter followed letter be-
tween the two combatants until one ap-
peared addressed directly to the prime
minister, of whom it said:
'"Ihere is something which distin-
gulshes you, not only from all other min
listers, but from all other men. 1t is not
that you do wrong by design, but that
you should never do right by mistake"
BY the end of May the Duke of Bedford
was brought upon the scene to share in
the prime minister's abuse and toward
the end Of July Blackstone was directly
attacked for his reflections on Gren-
vile. 1t is the original proof
sheet of this letter, addressed to DR..
Blackstone, and corrected in the hand
writing of Juuius, which has now con-
triouted in large part to clear up the mys-
terry surrounding the authorship of the
famous letters. Toward the middle of
September, 1853, Junius addressed his
first letter to the Duke of Bedford, the
inheritor of name GLORIOUS till it was
yours" BY this time the Junius letters
were the talk of the kingdom, and emf
nent men in the government had been
carefully watching them as they appeared
for chance to inaugurate legal proceed
ings which should reveal their author and
put him in their power.
This chance arose Dec. 49, 1859, when
the famous letter to the king appeared.
1t was addressed directly to his majesty
The printers and publishers of
the paper were instantly arrested.
Upon the trial, however, they
were unable to tell who wrote
the letters, which came to them anony-
mously, and the jury brought in verdict
of guilty of publishing only" The con-
duct of Lord Mansfield on this occasion
laid him open to the attacks of the anony-
nous writer and in November ITO,
Junius opened on him with peculiar
bitterness, saying: mo learned man,
even among your own tribe, thinks you
qualified to preside in a court of common
law" A year later he attacked Lord
Mansfield again for having bailed one
Jane Eyre, and on Jan. 81, 1772. Junius'
last letter appeared, in proof of his asser-
ton that on this occasion Lord Mansfield
had done that which by law he was not
warranted to do"
The letter to Blackstone, with the addi-
tions and corrections, appeared in this
form when il was first published There
was no possible way, judging from the
testimony of printers and publishers at
the trial, in which Sir Philip Francis
could have possessed himself of a proof
sheet of one of the letters before its pub
licatIoh unless he was in fact Juuius The
Eact.of his undoubted handwriting being
upon this proof-sheet along with the cor
rections of the author stamps him, in the
mind of Mr.. lnglis, England's greatest
expert, as Junius. But MIR. Inglis has es-
tablished this in another manner. He
has shown that the note which accom-
panied the verses sent to Belinda at
Bath was in the handwriting of Junius
He las shown that the verses iuclosed
at that time were in disguised hand
writing of lilghman, who he proved to
have acted as the amanueusis of Sir
Philip Francis, and he has also shown
that Francis was the author Of the verses
and kept the original copy, which was
written ON paper identical in texture and
watermark with that upon which the
note and the verses were written.
The manner in which E'ranciso couy of
these verses came to be preserved is
peculiar. Some years subsequent to their
authorship, Sir Philip F'rancis, who seems
TO have been great admirer of the fair
sex, married Miss Emma Watkins as his
second wife. During their courtship she
asked Sir Philip in a friendly letter
whether he had any specimens of his
youthful poetry. In reply he sent her
three sets Of verses one of which was the
poetry inspired at Bath by Miss Giles, or
Belinda" s'Ghis is the copy which Lady
Francis gave before her death to II. r.
Francis, and by means of which Mr. In
glis has now been able to directly connect
Junius with Sir Philip Francis.
H. Il. Francis, the author Of the work,
is a surviving grandson Of Sir Philip
Francis, and in "Junius Revealed he at
tempted TO prove that Sir Philip Francis
was Junius, In this he only succeeded in
making it seem more probable than ever
that Sir Philip Francis was Junius, but as
TO absolute proof there was none The in
controyertible evidence which alone could
settle DISPUTE so long standing and in