PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE

BETWEEN

JUNIUS AND MR. WILKES.

*

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE

BETWEEN

JUNIUS AND MR. WILKES.

No. 65.

TO JOHN WILKES, ESQ.

London, 21st August, 17711.

I PRESUME, Sir, you are satisfied that I mean you well, and that is not necessary to assure you that while you adhere to the resolution of depending only upon the public favour, (which, if you have half the understanding I attribute to you, you never can depart from) you may rely upon my utmost assistance. Whatever imaginary views may be ascribed to the author, it must always make part of JUNIUs's plan to support Mr. Wilkes while he makes common cause with the people. I would engage your favourable attention to what I am going to say to you; and I intreat you not to be too hasty in concluding, from the apparent tendency of this letter, to any possible interests or connexions of my own. It is a very common mistake in judgment, and a very dangerous one in conduct, first to look for nothing in the argument proposed to us, but the motive of the man who uses it, and then to measure the truth of his argument by the motive we have assigned to him. With regard to me, Sir, any refinement in this way would assuredly mislead you; and though I do not disclaim the idea of some personal views to future honour and advantage, (you would not believe me if I did) yet I can truly affirm, that neither are they little in themselves, nor can they by any possible conjecture be collected from my writings.

Mr. Horne, after doing much mischief, is now, I think, completely defeated and disarmed. The author of the late unhappy divisions in the city is removed.-Why should we suffer his works to live after him? In this view, I confess, I am vindictive, and would visit his sins upon his children. I would punish him in his offspring, by repairing the breaches he has made.Convinced that I am speaking to a man who has spirit enough to act if his judgment be satisfied, I will not scruple to declare at once, that Mr. Sawbridge ought to be Lord Mayor, and that he ought to owe it to your first motion, and to the exertion of all your credit in the city.I affirm, without a doubt, that political prudence, the benefit of the cause, your public reputation and personal interest, do all equally demand this conduct of you.-I do not deny that a stroke like this is above the level of vulgar policy, or that if you were a much less considerable man than you are, it would not suit you. But you will recollect, Sir, that the public opinion of you rises every day, and that you must enlarge your plan as you proceed, since you have every day a new acquisition of credit to maintain. I offer you the sincere opinion of a man, who, perhaps, has more leisure to make reflections than you have, and who, though he stands clear of all business and intrigue, mixes sufficiently for the purposes of intelligence in the conversation of the world.

Whatever language you in prudence assume to the pub. lic, you cannot but be sensible that the separation of those gentlemen who withdrew from the Bill of Rights was of considerable disservice to you. It required, in my opinion, your utmost dexterity and resolution, and not a little of your good fortune, to get the better of it. But are you now really upon the best ground on which Mr. Wilkes might stand in the city? Will you say, that to separate Mr. Sawbridge from a connexion every way hostile to you, and to secure him against the insidious arts of Mr. Horne, and the fury of Mr. Townshend, (if it could be done without embarrassing your leading measures, and much more if it promoted them) would not give you a considerable personal gratification?-Will you say, that a public declaration of Mr. Sawbridge in your favour, and the appearance of your acting together, (I do not speak at present of a hearty coalition or confidence) would not contribute to give you a more secure, a more permanent, and without offence to any man, a more honourable hold upon the city than you have at present? What sensations do you conceive a union between you and Mr. Sawbridge would excite in the breast of Mr. Horne? Would it not amount to a decisive refutation of all the invidious arguments he has drawn from your being deserted by so many of the considerable figures of the party? The answer to these questions is too obvious to be mistaken. But you will say to yourself what you would not confess to JUNIUS.- Mr. Sawbridge is a man of unquestionable probity, and the concurrence of his reputation would undoubtedly be of service to me; but he has not pliancy enough to yield to persuasion, and I, Wilkes, am determined not to suffer another to reap the harvest of my labours: that is, to take the lead of me in the city.'-Sir, I do not mean or expect that you should make such a sacrifice to any man. But besides difference in point of conduct between leading and going foremost, I answer your thoughts when I say, that although Mr. Sawbridge is not to be directed (and even this perhaps is not so literally and completely true as he himself imagines) on the other hand he does not mean to direct. His disposition, as you well know, is not fitted for that active management and intrigue which acquire an operating popularity, and direct the people by their passions. I attribute to you both the most honourable intentions for the public, but you travel different roads, and never can be rivals. It is not that Mr. Sawbridge does not wish to be popular; but, if I am not greatly mistaken, his virtues have