FRANCIS first rudiments of an excellent education at a free school in Dublin, and aftervvards^spent a year or two (1751-2) under his father s roof at Skeyton rectory, Norfolk, with Edward Gibbon as a fellow-pupil. In March 1753 he entered St Paul s school, London, where he remained for three years and a half, and became head boy. Here Henry Sampson Woodfall and Philip Kosenhagen were for some time his companions. In 175G, immediately on his leaving school, lie was appointed to a junior clerkship in the secretary of state s office by Mr Henry Fox (afterwards Lord Holland), with whose family Dr Francis was at that time on intimate terms ; and this post he retained under the succeeding administration. In 1758 he was employed as secretary to General Bligh in the expedition against Cherbourg ; and in the same capacit)^ he accompanied the earl of Kinnoul on his special embassy to the court of Portugal in 17GO. In 17G1 ho became personally known to Pitt, who, recognizing his ability and discretion, once and again made use of his services as private amanuensis. In 17G2 he was appointed to a principal clerkship in the war office, and in the same year he married Miss Macrabie, the daughter of a retired London merchant. The union was not approved by his f ither, and led to some estrangement ; but it does not appear to have been on the whole unhappy. The ten yeirs which followed are very obscure, and a long-continued and close scrutiny by numerous and skilful investigators has led to few definite results, beyond the certain conclusion that the events of this period in the life of Francis must have been such as to have wielded a singularly commanding influence over all his subsequent conduct and career. Com paratively humble in position, and somewhat straitened in means, he had few opportunities of mingling familiarly in the society of the great ; but his official duties brought him into direct relations with many who were well versed in the politics of the time, while he all along enjoyed a peculiar intimacy with Calcraft, the rich army agent, who has been described as having been Chatham s " wire-puller and poli tical agent as well as informant." Public events of great interest took place during these years. It was in 17G3, for example, that the great constitutional questions arising out of the arrest of Wilkes began to be so sharply canvassed. It was natural that Francis, who from a very early age had been in the habit of writing occasionally to the newspapers, should be eager to take an active part in the discussion, though his position as a Government official made it neces sity that his intervention should be carefully disguised. He is known to have written to the Public Ledycr and Public Advertiser, as an advocate of the popular cause on many occasions about and after the year 17G3; 1 he frequently attended debates in both Houses of Parliament, especially when American questions were being discussed; and between 17G9 and 1771 he is also known to have been favourable to the scheme in which Calcraft and others were engaged for the overturn of the Graf ton Government and afterwards of that of Lord North, and for persuading or forcing Lord Chatham 1 A letter in the Public Ledger (March 1763) signed " One of the People," in which the popular cause is supported in a contest that hail arisen between the public and the proprietors of Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres, is among the earliest known productions of his pen. There is strong evidence that he was the author of the "Candor" pamphlet (September 1764), in which the verdicts obtained by the Government against the printers of the North Briton for libel in "No. 45" are condemned. With regard to the " Anti-Sejanus " letters (January and February 1766), written in condemnation of the American policy of the Rockingham ministry, Parkes affirms that "the most sceptical cannot doubt that they emanated from his pen;" but Merivale brings evidence to show that, if so, he must at least have had colleagues in writing them. The communication in the Public Advertiser (June 1768), signed " A Friend to Public Credit," is undoubtedly attributable to him. There is some likelihood also that sundry letters to the North Briton and other periodicals (17(58-70), copies of which have been found among his papers corrected and punctuated by himself, may have been his contributions. into power. In January 1769 the first of the Letters of Junius appeared, and the series was continued till January 21, 1772. They had been preceded by others under various signatures, which, however, are all attributed to one and the same hand. The authorship of these letters has been assigned to Francis on a variety of grounds , but it must be said that the evidence is still only of the circumstantial kind, and far from conclusive (see JUNIUS). It ought to be mentioned here that, so far as can be ascertained, no one of his intimate friends suspected him at the time to be Junius, and also that he himself in after life energetically denied the charge. There was, however, it must be added, every motive for concealment on his part, both at the time and afterwards, if he was indeed the writer of the Letters. In January 1772 the office of deputy secretary in the war office became vacant, and the post was offered by Lord Barrington to Francis, who declined it. By a curious coincidence the last letter of Junius appeared on the very day in which Anthony Chamier was gazetted deputy sec retary (January 21st). Two months afterwards Francis finally left the war office. " It is my own act," he wrote to an intimate friend. " Be not alarmed for me. Every thing is secure and as it should be !" In July of the same year he left England for a tour through France, Germany, and Italy, which lasted until the following December. On his return he was, according to an autobiographical frag ment which has been preserved, contemplating emigration to New England, when, in June 1773, Lord North, on the recommendation of Lord Barrington, appointed him a mem ber of the newly constituted supreme council of Bengal, at a salary of 10,000 per annum. Along with his colleagues Monson and Clavering he reached Calcutta in October 1 774, and a long struggle with Warren Hastings immediately began. That struggle passed through three phases, during the first of which, until the death of Monson in 177G, Francis had the majority of votes in the council ; after wards, until the arrival of Wheler in December 1777, he was continually overborne ; while, during the remaining three years, forces were more evenly balanced, Hastings having on the whole the preponderance. A dispute, more than usually embittered, led in August 1780 to a minute being delivered to the council board by Hastings, in which lie stated that "he judged of the public conduct of Mr Francis by his experience of his private, which he had found to be void of truth and honour." A duel was the consequence, in which Francis received a dangerous wound. Though his recovery was rapid and complete, he did not choose to prolong his stay abroad. He arrived in England in October 1781, and was received with little favour. Little is known of the nature of his occupations during the next two years, except that he was untiring in his efforts to procure first the recall and afterwards the impeachment of liis hitherto triumphant adversary. It may be mentioned, as a curious coincidence at least, if nothing more, that the "bookseller s edition" of Junius, described on the title page as more complete than any yet published, appeared in 1783. In the same year Fox produced his India Bill, which led to the overthrow of the coalition Government. In the general election of April 1 784 Francis was returned by the borough of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, and his first appearance in the house was made in the following July, when the financial affairs of the East India Company were under discussion. On this occasion he took an opportunity to disclaim every feeling of personal animosity towards Hastings. This did not prevent him, however," on the return of the latter, in 1785, from doing all in his power to bring forward and support the charges which ultimately led to the impeachment resolutions of 1 787. Although excluded by a majority of the House from the list of the managers of that impeachment, Francis was IX. - 88
