Page:Letters of Junius, volume 1 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/44

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xxx
PREFACE.

—And if You are in reality, that public man, that King, that magistrate, which these questions suppose You to be, is it any answer to your people, to say, that, among your domestics, You are good-humoured,—that to one lady, You are faithful;—that to your children, You are indulgent?—Sir, the man who addresses You in these terms, is your best friend. He would willingly hazard his life in defence of your title to the crown; and, if power be your object, will still show you how possible it is for a King of England, by the noblest means, to be the most absolute prince in Europe. You have no enemies, Sir, but those who persuade You to aim at power without right, and who think it flattery to tell You, that the character of King dissolves the natural relation between guilt and punishment."

I cannot conceive that there is a heart so callous, or an understanding so depraved, as to attend to a discourse of this nature, and not to feel the force of it. But where is the man, among those who have access to the closet, resolute and honest enough to deliver it. The liberty of the press is our only resource. It will command an audience, when every