Francis was recommended to him, and, as appears from a speech of Sir Philip's, employed him immediately in his own service, and honoured him with repeated marks of his favour and protection. Through this influence Francis was appointed secretary to General Bligh in 1758; and in 1760, upon the appointment of Lord Kinnoul as ambassador to the Portuguese court, Francis accompanied him to Lisbon as his secretary. The same year he returned to London, and again entered the secretary of state's office; whence in 1763 he was promoted to an important post in the war office, which he resigned in 1772, considering that he had been slighted by Lord Barrington. Being now free from official duty, he left England on an extensive continental tour which occupied him till the spring of the following year, when, on his return to London, he was recommended by Lord Barrington to Lord North, and was, in recognition of his talents and ability, selected as one of the council for the presidency of Bengal, with a salary of £10,000 a year, to control the influence of Warren Hastings, then the governor-general. With his two colleagues, Sir John Clavering the commander-in-chief, and Colonel Monson, he proceeded to his post. The changes which they commenced to effect at once placed them in antagonism to Hastings; and the deaths of Monson in 1776 and of Clavering in the year following, left Francis to wage alone an unequal contest with a man so energetic, bold, and determined as the governor-general. A protracted and bitter official warfare between them was the result, aggravated by personal animosity from the collision of two violent tempers. At length Hastings wrote a letter to Francis in terms of unjustifiable abuse, declaring him to be void of truth and honour. A duel followed, in which Francis was severely wounded, and as soon as he was recovered, he resigned his post, and leaving India in December, 1780, reached London in October, 1781. Francis now lost no time in assailing the administration of Hastings, and did not relax his efforts till he had procured his impeachment. In 1784 he took his seat in parliament for the borough of Yarmouth, and ranged himself in the ranks of the whigs, then in opposition. He at once took an active part in the debates of the house; and his great knowledge and ability made him influential, and insured him the friendship of Fox and Burke. Before long he took occasion to insult the younger Pitt while eulogizing his father, concluding with the pointed remark—"But he is dead, and has left nothing in this world that resembles him"—an offence which the minister never forgave. In April, 1787, Francis moved and carried against the ministry his charge against Hastings. The same year Burke having impeached Hastings, members were nominated by him to conduct the trial, and the name of Francis was included amongst them. This was, however, successfully opposed by the government, notwithstanding the speeches of Burke, Fox, Sheridan, and Dundas in favour of the appointment, and highly eulogizing Francis. Indeed, Francis appeared to consider that in this discussion he was himself upon his trial, and he spoke ably in his own vindication. One cannot but feel that the house consulted its own honour in omitting him. If any slight or disrespect could have been implied in the rejection, it was amply countervailed by the complimentary address to him signed by every member of the committee of management. Though his principal attention was still occupied with the affairs of India, Francis took an active part in the question of parliamentary reform, and was a strong opponent to the war with France. In connection with the former subject he took a leading position in 1792 in the formation of the association called "The Friends of the People." In Francis, too, the abolitionists of the slave-trade found an able and disinterested advocate. In 1796 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of Tewkesbury, and did not sit in parliament till 1802, when he was returned for Appleby. On the death of Lord Cornwallis it was supposed that the man of whom Fox, then in the ministry, had said—"There is no one subject of his majesty, or in all his dominions, whose merit, with regard to the affairs of India, can be put in competition with his," would have been selected to fill the vacancy. Lord Lauderdale was, however, appointed, while Francis received instead, on the 29th October, 1806, the honour of knighthood of the bath, the only recognition his great services ever received. At length even his energetic and persevering spirit was wearied out in the hopeless endeavour to effect a reform in the administration of India. After recounting all that he had suffered and sacrificed in the cause, he declared his resolution of never again assuming an active part, much less taking a lead in any discussion of Indian affairs, concluding with these words—"My spirits are exhausted and my mind subdued by a long, unthankful, and most invidious application to one pursuit, in which I have never been able to do any good." Accordingly in 1814 he retired from parliament, and, with the exception of taking part at a meeting of Middlesex freeholders in June, 1817, to move a petition against the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act, he never again appeared in public life. He was now debilitated by a disease with which he had been for some time afflicted, and died at St. James' Square on the 22nd December, 1818.
Undoubtedly Sir Philip Francis was a man of great ability; and though his temper was violent and his tone acrimonious, he was not without generosity, and his integrity cannot be questioned. As a debater he was not fluent, but he was felicitous and forcible—was a good reasoner, a sound thinker, and conveyed his reasons and his thoughts in simple, vigorous, and accurate language. Invective and sarcasm were his great weapons, and in his hands they were trenchant and dexterously wielded. But his fame has attained its highest elevation by the ascription to him of the celebrated Letters of Junius. The evidence for and against this supposition has been discussed from the period in which they appeared up to the present, and the question is not yet settled. The evidence in the affirmative from all the attendant circumstances—the identity of knowledge, the similarity of style, the coincidences of likings and dislikings, and the agreement of political sentiments—is as strong as can well be imagined. It is true he denied the authorship in public; but whoever was the author must of necessity have shrunk from the avowal, while it is not to be forgotten that in private he gave his wife the strongest reason for her believing that he was Junius. Numerous and plausible essays have been written to fix the authorship on others; but the general belief is still that the weight of evidence preponderates to establish the opinion prevalent in his own day, that the writer of these letters was Sir Philip Francis. Nevertheless, that most diligent of literary investigators. Sir N. H. Nicolas, after years of exploration, comes to the conclusion as to the pseudo-discoverers at both sides of the Atlantic of "having no Junius of our own, and our disbelief of each of theirs," thus verifying the words of the writer himself—"I am the sole depository of my secret, and it shall die with me."—J. F. W.
FRANCIUS, Peter. See Fransz.
FRANCK or FRANK, the name of a family of Flemish painters, some of whom have taken a high place in their particular line of art. The following are the most eminent—they are arranged according to their most probable order of seniority, but there is much confusion as to their respective dates of birth, which must be understood, therefore, as approximations only:—Ambrose Franck appears to have been the eldest of the brothers, Ambrose, Jerome, and Francis, though Descamps, makes him the youngest of the three. He was born at Herrenthal, near Antwerp, about 1540, and was a pupil of Frans de Vriendt, better known as Francis Floris. He painted a large number of historical and religious pictures. Several of his works are in the Dresden gallery. He died in 1619.—Jerome Franck was born at Herrenthal about 1542, and was also a pupil of Francis Floris. He visited Paris and Rome, and on his return to Antwerp presided over an academy of painting, which obtained some celebrity in its day. He painted many portraits as well as historical pictures. He is believed to have died in 1620.—Francis Franck, known as the Elder, was born at Herrenthal about 1544. Like his brothers, he was a pupil of Francis Floris. He early acquired celebrity as a historical painter, and was admitted into the academy of Antwerp in 1581. His principal work is an altarpiece in the Chapel of the Schoolmasters in Antwerp cathedral—"Christ in the midst of the Doctors." Several of Francis Franck's smaller pictures—which are characterized by clever grouping, powerful colour, and freedom from affectation—are in the collections of Antwerp, Dresden, Berlin, and Vienna. He died October 3, 1616.—Sebastian Franck, eldest son of Francis, born at Antwerp in 1575, was a pupil of his father and of Adam van Oort. He acquired great celebrity for his battle-pieces, and subjects in which horses in action play a prominent part. He also painted landscapes very well. His most famous work, the "Acts of Mercy," is in the collection of the Elector Palatine; but his pictures are found in most of the great collections. He died in 1636.—Francis Franck, the Younger, another son of the
