and especially the Duke of Grafton. If ‘C.’ be always his signature, he also attacked Wilkes at his first appearance, apparently because he first thought that ministers could be best assailed for want of energy, though he afterwards assails them for their arbitrary measures. He alludes disrespectfully to Chatham (‘Lucius’ 29 Aug. and ‘Atticus’ 19 Oct.), for Chatham's fame was still of use to ministers. He especially insists at length upon the dismissal of Amherst, which was regarded as a personal slight to Chatham, and therefore served to detach him from office.
The signature ‘Junius’ first appeared on 21 Nov. 1768, when Grafton and Camden were attacked for their behaviour to Wilkes. The first Junius of the collected edition appeared 21 Jan. 1769. It led to the sharp controversy with Sir William Draper [q. v.], which made the letters famous. The signature was afterwards used by Junius for his most careful writings, though he used many others. Junius now appeared as the advocate of Wilkes during the contest produced by his expulsions, and assailed the Duke of Bedford, whose influence was now on the government side, with singular ferocity. He culminated with the famous letter to the king on 19 Dec. 1769, which produced more sensation than any other letter.
At the beginning of 1770 Chatham came to the front with restored health. His friends Camden and Granby retired; Yorke committed suicide from remorse after taking Camden's place; Grafton himself resigned in January, and was succeeded by North. While Junius carried on the attack in his letters, Francis endeavoured to get Chatham's speeches diffused through the press. He claimed long afterwards, in a private note in Belsham's ‘History’ (ed. 1805), to have reported the speeches of Mansfield and Chatham on 9 Jan. 1770, and ‘all Chatham's speeches on the Middlesex election,’ &c., in this year (Chatham Corr. iv. 194). On the publication in the ‘Parliamentary History’ in 1813 he claimed to have reported Chatham's speeches of 9 and 22 Jan. and of 22 Nov., the only fully reported speeches of this period (Parl. Hist. xvi. 647, 741, 1091, and preface to vol. xxxiv.). He stated in pamphlets of 1811 that he had heard Chatham's speeches of January (see Junius Identified, 1816, pp. 289, 325). The speeches of January had appeared, as given for the first time by a ‘gentleman of strong memory,’ in Almon's ‘Anecdotes of Chatham,’ 1792, to which Francis made other contributions (Parkes, i. 160; Taylor's Appendix, p. 28). Notes taken from a speech of Chatham's on 2 Feb. 1770 are given from Francis's papers in Parkes and Merivale (i. 390–393). Francis's claim has at least a prima facie justification. Taylor in his ‘Junius Identified’ pointed out a number of coincidences, some of them very remarkable, between the reports of the January speeches, the writings of Junius both before and after, and some of Francis's own writings. Dilke (Papers of a Critic, vol. ii.) endeavoured to meet this by stating that extracts from the speech of 9 Jan. had appeared at the time in the papers. The document to which Dilke apparently refers contains only a few brief fragments, in different language and without the specific phrases. He could find no report of the speech of 22 Jan. which contains, besides other coincidences, a sentence, quoted verbatim by Junius, in a private letter to Wilkes (7 Sept. 1771). This proves that Junius had seen the report, which, so far as we know, was still in Francis's desk. The nature of the brief and disguised reports of the time makes it highly improbable that any other report than that mentioned was published, and Almon's statement that he was the first publisher seems to be justified.
When parliament met in November 1770, the opposition dwelt chiefly upon the Falkland Islands difficulty, and upon the conduct of Mansfield in the trials of Woodfall and others for publishing Junius's letter to the king. On 22 Nov. Chatham delivered a great speech upon the Falkland Islands difficulty. Francis says in his autobiography (Parkes, i. 363) that he took it down from memory and had it published ‘in a few days.’ It appeared accordingly (Papers of a Critic) as an extra ‘North Briton’ on 1 Dec.; it was reprinted in the ‘Middlesex Journal,’ again in the ‘Museum’ by Almon, and was claimed by Francis in 1813.
A debate upon Mansfield followed on 5 Dec. A report was published at the time in several papers. On 10 Dec. Junius and Francis came into remarkable conjunction. On 21 Nov. Junius had written privately to Woodfall, hoping for information to be used against Mansfield, whom he is resolved to ‘destroy.’ On 1 Dec. Francis wrote a letter to Calcraft to be laid before Chatham, suggesting that Mansfield should be assailed by other methods, but not formally attacked in the house, where he was certain of a majority. Francis next got a hint of an argument against Mansfield from a friend at a tavern, reduced it to form, and sent it through Calcraft to Chatham. The paper, dated 9 Dec., is printed in the ‘Chatham Correspondence’ (iv. 48–9). Three days later Francis was flattered by hearing Chatham adopt his very words, and the next day the speech ‘flamed in the newspapers and ran through the kingdom.’
