Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/227

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JUNIUS.
217

the King's side!—The cause of the country, it seems, in the opinion of Junius, is merely to vex the King; and any rascal is to be supported in any roguery, provided he can only thereby plant a thorn in the King's side.0151This is the very extremity of faction, and the last degree of political wickedness. Because Lord Chatham has been ill treated by the king, and treacherously betrayed by the Duke of Grafton, the latter is to be "the pillow on which Junius will rest his resentment;" and the public are to oppose the measures of government from mere motives of personal enmity to the Sovereign!—These are the avowed principles of the man who, in the same letter, says, "If ever he should be convinced that I had no motive but to destroy Wilkes, he shall then be ready to do justice to my character, and to declare to the world, that he despises me somewhat less than he does at present!" Had I ever acted from personal affection or enmity to Mr. Wilkes, I should justly be despised: but what does he deserve, whose avowed motive is personal enmity to the sovereign? The contempt which I should otherwise feel for the absurdity and glaring inconsistency of