Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-02-28
WHO WROTE THE
JUNIUS LETTERS?


1t was on January p. 1869. that
the first letter signed ''Junius'' APP
paercd i'm THE Public Advertiser"
edited and printed in London by Henry
Sampson Woodfall. And by u singu-
lar coincidence. the last of these let
terS appeared in the same paper on
january u. 1872. three years later. N"
series ut letters ever written attracted
more attention. We're the subject of
greater discussion. and even to- this
day it has never been exactly deter
mined as to who was the author of
these ~ letters of a character tn 50
thoroughly excite the English nation.
The first of the Junius letters was
am attack on several men in high
places. including Commander-in-Chief
Lord CRANKY. The generals friend.
Sir William Draper, tried to defend
him i'm "A letter to the same periodical.
%wllercupun .JuniuS turned upon Draper
and gave him q drubbing if anything
more severe than the one administered
tn the man Draper had defended. Sir
William tried to defend himself sew
eral times. but every time he was put
T." more discomfort by the charges.
which he seemed unable to reflte.
made by .Junius.
These victories eel a man of rank
and station such as Diapers gave
importance tn the name of Junius.
Hencefortn letters with that signature
were eagerly expected by the public
and carefully prepared by the author.
Nor Was it long before he swOoped
at far higher game than Sir William.
First came Il series of most bitter
pasuuinanes against the Duke of Graf
ton. DR.. Blackstone WAS then assailed
for the unpopular vote which he gave
i'm the case of Wilkes In September
was published Il false and malignant
attack apo the Duke of Bedford--an
ATTACK which WAC fnlf hN- his .6acaap1-
ants for very many years. In Decem-
Der the acme of audacity was reached
by the celebrated letter to the king. =
All this while conjecture was busy
as to who was the author. Names of
well-known statesmen or w~ell-known
writers-Burke or Dunning, Boyd or
Dyer. George Sackville or Gerard
Hamilton-1ew from mouth to mouth.
Such gtleSScs We're for the most part
made at mere lhaphazard, and desti-
tute of my plausible ground. Never
theless the stir and talk which they
created added not "a little to the nat-
ural effects of the writer's wit and
~eloquence.
The most important secret of our
times" cries Wilkes. Junius himself
took care to enhance his own import
ance by arrogant. nay even impious.
boasts of it. In n letter of August,
17T. he goes so FAR as to- declare tina
SiiS plVJi anu JuIlluS VIII De TedU
when the commentaries of the Jesuits
are forgotten
Mystery was one of the greatest in
gradients to the popularity of Junius
Another not less efficacious was sup
piled by persecution. In the year of
100. Mr.. Woodfall was indicted for
publishing and Mr.. Almon with sew
eral others, for reprinting. the letter
from Junius to the king. The verdict
IN Woodfalls case was: Guilty of
printing n publishing only. 1t led to
repeated discussions and to Interior
proceedings. But in the temper of the
public at that period such measures
could end only in virtual defeat to
the government and iii augmented rep
utation to the libeller.
During the years 100 and I'LL the
letters of Junius We're continued with
little abatement of spirit. He renewed
invectives against the Duke of Graf
ton; he began them against Lord
Mansfield: he plunged into the full tide
of city politics. and he engaged in a
keen controversy with the Rev. John
Horne. Besides the letter which
Junius wrote for the press, there were
many Others which he wrote and sent
to various persons, intending them for
those persons only. When defeating
his collected letters to the English peo-
pie. he declares: II am the sole de-
pository OF my OWL secret, and it shall
perish with me-. No less than SO names
of persons to whom the writing of
these letters were attributed Is given
in Cushing's Initials and Pseu-
donyms."