Page:Letters of Junius, volume 1 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/51

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JUNIUS, &c.
5

of distress, which, of itself, ought to reduce a great nation to despair. It is not the disorder, but the physician;—it is not a casual concurrence of calamitous circumstances, it is the pernicious hand of government which alone can make a whole people desperate.

Without much political sagacity, or any extraordinary depth of observation, we need only mark how the principal departments of the state are bestowed, and look no farther for the true cause of every mischief that befals us.

[1]The finances of a nation, sinking under its debts and expences, are committed to a young nobleman already ruined by play. Introduced to act under the auspices of Lord Chatham, and left at the head of affairs by that nobleman's retreat, he became minister

  1. The Duke of Grafton took the office of Secretary of State, with an engagement to support the Marquis of Rockingham's administration. He resigned, however, in a little time, under pretence that he could not act without Lord Chatham, nor bear to see Mr. Wilkes abandoned; but that under Lord Chatham he would act in any office. This was the signal of Lord Rockingham's dismission. When Lord Chatham came in, the Duke got possession of the treasury. Reader, mark the consequence!