"LETTER TO A BRIGADIER-GENERAL."

37

Mr. Simons, in his remarks upon the pamphlet, observes that, "it was written, if not by a soldier, at all events by a person well skilled in military affairs. In style, phraseology, and matter; in sarcastic irony, bold interrogation, stinging sarcasm, and severe personalities; in frequent taunts of treachery,' 'desertion,' and 'cowardice;' it so closely resembles the compositions of Junius, that the identity of their authorship scarcely admits of a doubt."

The "Refutation" of this letter, stated on its title-page to be the production of an Officer, requires no particular notice, unless the following passage may be regarded as corroborating the opinion that Major Barré was the author of the "Letter;"—

"Where has this Pamphleteer been to find himself under the necessity of quoting this letter? He must not have been in England, surely; or must not have read the public papers, in which a little time after the news of the taking of Quebec, appeared the annexed funeral eulogium (a nobler or a more generous has never been penned), taken from a letter written by G-1 T―d to a friend in London ;-'I am not ashamed to own to you that my heart does not exult in the midst of this success. I have lost but a friend in General Wolfe. Our country has lost a sure support and a perpetual honour. If the world were sensible at how dear a price we have purchased Quebec in his death, it would damp the general joy. Our best consolation is that Providence seemed not to promise that he should remain long among us. He was himself sensible of the weakness of his constitution, and determined to crowd into a few years actions that would have adorned length of life." "

The reader will remember Walpole's assertion that Townshend's friends "composed and published in his name" a letter in praise of Wolfe; no doubt it was the one which is here cited: but the above paragraph is merely referred to on account of the writer's inference that Townshend's assailant was absent from England.

Under these circumstances, there seems every reason to believe that BARRE wrote the "Letter to a Brigadier-General,” and if that conclusion be adopted, it necessarily follows that he was JUNIUS.*

* Sir David Brewster has been engaged for some years past in investigating the authorship of Junius, and is inclined to ascribe it to Lachlan Maclean, whom he also regards as the author of the Quebec pamphlet. Maclean was certainly with the army in America, but there is no proof and

In resuming the narrative of Barré's proceedings from the time of his return to England (5th of October, 1760) with the Montreal despatches, it will be obvious that he then obtained ready access, and, at least, a courteous reception from the powerful statesman who ruled the destinies of England. He had, in fact, through the patronage of Sir Jeffery Amherst, an indisputable claim to that promotion which he had before solicited in vain. In a letter which he addressed to Mr. Pitt, on the 8th of October, (three days after his return), he expressed himself as "bound in the highest gratitude to him for the attention he had received;" and, although such language appears strong, yet, considering the relative position of the parties, it may be considered only as a compliment. The death of George the Second in the same month, and, perhaps still more, the dilatoriness of Lord Barrington, the Secretary at War (which furnished afterwards a theme for Junius), combined probably, with other causes, to defer his promotion till the 29th of January, 1761, when he obtained his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel.

It was about this time that Barré formed an intimate connection with the Earl of Shelburne, which continued to the close of his life; and as this intimacy forms an important element in the present inquiry, it will be necessary to trace its rise and progress as clearly as can now be done; although it unfortunately happens that we are not able to ascertain its origin, or the reasons for that close political and personal union between the nobleman and the military officer at that time and afterwards which produced so great an effect in the state of parties and of the nation.

very little probability of his having written the anonymous pamphlet. Sir David has frankly and fully communicated to me his views upon the subject, and although admiring the zeal and ingenuity with which he has pursued his inquiries, I am compelled to say that I cannot agree in his conclusions. The late George Chalmers, in an appendix to his "Supplemental Apology to the Believers in the Shakspeare Papers," has examined and confuted Maclean's pretensions to the authorship of the mystic Letters.

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CHAPTER III.

WILLIAM, EARL OF SHELBURNE, THE FRIEND AND PATRON of Barré-1761. PLACES THE LATTER IN PARLIAMENT-BARRÉ ATTACKS MR. PITT-1763. LORD SHELBURNE IN OFFICE WITH GEORGE GRENVILLE-BARRÉ ATTAINS HIGH RANK AND DISTINCTION-SUPPORTS THE MINISTRY - UNPUBLISHED LETTERS BY JUNIUS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE GRENVILLE FAMILY-LORD SHELBURNE RESIGNS— BARRÉ JOINS THE OPPOSITION-WILKES AND THE "NORTH BRITON," No. 45BARRÉ'S VOTE AGAINST GENERAL WARRANTS-DEPRIVED OF HIS MILITARY APPOINTMENTS, AT THE INSTIGATION OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD-1765. HIS SPEECH ON THE AMERICAN STAMP ACT-1766. ACCEPTS OFFICE UNDER PITT WITH LORD SHELBURNE-1767. JUNIUS BEGINS TO WRITE IN THE "PUBLIC ADVERTISER"-1768. PITT, SHELBURNE, and BarrÉ RESIGN OFFICE-1769-1772. THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS CONTINUED-THE PUBLIC CONDUCT AND SPEECHES OF BARRÉ COMPARED WITH THE OPINIONS AND LANGUAGE of Junius.

WILLIAM, second EARL OF SHELBURNE, was born in 1737, (eleven years after Barré). He had served in the army at Campen and at Minden; and returning to England at the close of the campaign, he was, on the 4th of December, 1760, appointed aid-de-camp to the young king, George the Third, with the rank of Colonel. His father being then alive, he sat in the House of Commons as Colonel Fitzmaurice, Member of Parliament for the borough of High, or Chipping Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, his family being proprietors of a great part of that parish.

In the month of May, 1761, John, first Earl of Shelburne, died, and Colonel Fitzmaurice, as his eldest son and heir, took his seat in the House of Lords. A few months later Mr. Pitt resigned; and the

young Lord Shelburne, who had been graciously received by the King, was readily induced to adopt the politics of the Court, and to join the party of the Earl of Bute.

It appears to have been owing to Lord Shelburne's influence that on the 17th of October Lieutenant-Colonel Barré received a "letter of service" to raise as "Colonel proprietor" the 106th regiment of foot. Parliament assembled in November, and on the 28th of that month a new writ was issued for Chipping Wycombe, under which Lieutenant-Colonel Barré was elected in the place of his new patron, the Earl of Shelburne. It might be more accurate to say that he was nominated to sit in Parliament by his lordship, whose family had long controlled the representation of the Borough.

This is the first known event of importance in the history of Lord Shelburne's long friendship for and connection with Colonel Barré. Beyond the fact that they were both born in Ireland, and both officers in the army, the origin of their connection may possibly be found in the circumstances mentioned in the "Political Magazine" for 1776. In a notice of Colonel Barré, in that periodical, which is evidently written by one well acquainted with him, it is said, that he was a practised and skilful debater at the Court of Proprietors of the East India House; and that Lord Shelburne, who took much interest in that important branch of government affairs, hearing of his abilities, selected him as his nominee in Parliament, "purposely" to encounter Mr. Pitt, who was then in opposition to the ministry which his Lordship had engaged to support. There is every probability that this statement is correct. Barré was certainly a proprietor in the East India Company, and his attendance at their meetings in the year which had elapsed after his return from America, had doubtless sufficed to bring him into notice as an able and ready debater. A proprietorship in that distinguished company was then attainable at the price of 500l.; and as Barré himself had risen rapidly in his profession between 1759 and 1761, whilst his father had advanced himself to opulence by trade, that sum of money was small, in proportion to the prospects which its

BARRE'S ATTACK ON MR. PITT.

41

investment in the Company necessarily afforded to the young and ambitious aspirant for fame. When Barré acquired celebrity in the House of Commons, he became the champion of Sullivan and other East India Directors; and Walpole says that it was even contemplated to send him to India instead of Lord Clive.*

Whatever may have been the reasons which induced the Earl of Shelburne to place the Colonel in Parliament, the immediate result justifies the notion that one of his objects was a direct and violent opposition to the views of Mr. Pitt; for within two days after taking his seat, Barré, in a speech in the House of Commons, vehemently abused that illustrious individual. The Earl of Bath, in a letter to George Colman, the elder, dated the 18th of December, 1761, thus alludes to his language on the occasion referred to.

"You have no doubt heard of the rude and foul-mouthed attack made on Mr. Pitt in the House of Commons, by one Colonel Barré, whom all the world blames most extremely; so that I suppose the gentleman will be muzzled for the future."+

The speech in question has not been fully reported; but it evidently excited considerable attention, as we find it referred to in another private letter, dated 29th January, 1762, written by Sir Andrew Mitchell.

"Would you know a little of Parliament, and particularly with regard to Mr. Pitt? I must then tell you that Colonel Barré, a soldier of fortune, a young man, born in Dublin, of parents of a mean condition, his father and mother from France, and established in a little grocer's shop, by the patronage of the Bishop of Clogher, a child of whom the mother nursed (these particulars I have from Mr. Millar upon his own certain knowledge): this young man (a man of address and parts), found out, pushed, and brought into Parliament by Lord Shelburne, had not sat two days in the House before he attacked Mr. Pitt. I shall give you a specimen of his philippics. Talking of the manner of Mr. Pitt's speaking, he said, 'There he would stand, turning up his eyes to Heaven, that

* "Letters to the Earl of Hertford," p. 112.

† Peake's "Memoirs of the Colman Family," vol. i.