Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/78

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LETTERS OF

I believe, my Lord, I may now take my leave of you for ever. You are no longer that resolute Minister, who had spirit to support the most violent measures; who compensated for the want of good and great qualities, by a brave determination, (which some people admired and relied on) to maintain himself without them. The reputation of obstinacy and perseverance might have supplied the place of all the absent virtues. You have now added the last negative to your character, and meanly confessed that you are destitute of the common spirit of a man. Retire, then, my Lord, and hide your blushes from the world; for, with such a load of shame, even black may change its colour. A mind, such as yours, in the solitary hours of domestic enjoyment, may still find topics of consolation. You may find it in the memory of violated friendship; in the afflictions of an accomplished prince, whom you have disgraced and deserted; and in the agitations of a great country, driven, by your counsels, to the brink of destruction.

The palm of ministerial firmness is now transferred to Lord North. He tells us so