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here we are told that Barré, in the true spirit of " Junius" (or " Veteran"), interrupting him, softly said, "and that you would not do.” The Colonel enlarged upon this point in his reply, and evinced a familiarity with his lordship's department :

"I am told that in the War Office no man is more capable of whispering, in a soft, complaisant, and easy manner, No, than his lordship. I wish he would now and then muster up courage to say No, like a man, upon more important occasions. I think he has, with very few intervals, contrived, by an admirable dexterity, known only to himself, to be employed sixteen or seventeen years; and by this time I should suppose he is at least half a soldier. He should feel for the honour of the service, and not devote troops who have served in the war, to destruction, unpitied, in the West Indies. But he acts only ministerially; and he says 'if he refuses he must resign;' and disagreeable as the one may be to his lordship, the other is infinitely more so."-(Hansard's Parl. Hist.)

This identity between the sentiments of Barré and those of Junius confirms the opinions already urged.

It has been stated above, that the Letter of " Nemesis" was the last publication known to have proceeded from the pen of Junius. Woodfall, however, received one private communication of a subsequent date (19th January, 1773), in which Junius positively declined to write again; and expressed his disgust at the want of unanimity which prevailed on the popular side.

I have thus traced briefly the chief points of analogy between the writings of Junius, and the character and conduct of Colonel Barré, during the period when the Letters of the great satirist were in course of publication: and it will be seen that such resemblances are not only strongly marked, but positive, and tend materially to sustain the views which I have ventured to advocate. In the ensuing chapter I shall very shortly notice the career of Barré, from the beginning of the year 1773 until his death; and conclude with some general observations, recapitulatory of the arguments

before advanced.

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CHAPTER IV.

MEMOIR OF Barré, continued-1773. RESIGNS HIS COMMISSION-SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT CONSTANT OPPOSITION TO LORD North anD THE AMERICAN WAR -1782. RESUMES OFFICE WITH LORD SHELBURNE-RECEIVES A PENSIONRESIGNS ON THE FORMATION OF THE COALITION MINISTRY-APPOINTED CLERK OF THE PELLS-BECOMES TOTALLY BLIND, AND RETIRES FROM PUBLIC LIFEDEATH-REMARKS ON HIS CHARACTER-WILLIAM GREATRAKES, HIS PRESUMED CONNECTION WITH THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS-SUMMARY.

JUNIUS finished his literary labours with the attack on Lord Barrington, under the signature of "Nemesis," on the 12th of May, 1772; and, on the 19th of January following, expressed to Woodfall in these remarkable words his resolution to write no more:- "I meant the cause and the public: both are given up. I feel for the honour of this country, when I see that there are not ten men in it who will unite and stand together upon any one question. But it is all alike vile and contemptible."

This is not the language of affectation, but seems to come from the heart; Colonel Barré evinced this feeling and sentiment on many occasions; and therein coincided with Junius, as much as in his opinion of Lord Barrington. I have now to direct the reader's attention to another instance of hostility between Barré and that nobleman, which led to the Colonel's retirement from the army, almost immediately after the date of the letter from Junius to Mr. Woodfall. Barrington, as Secretary at War, had, after the death of Lord

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Granby, monopolised all the patronage usually enjoyed by the Commander-in-chief; and he appears to have exerted that patronage at the beginning of the year 1773, in a manner decidedly hostile to Barré. The senior Lieutenant-Colonel of the year 1761 had been previously promoted to the rank of Colonel, and in a "London Gazette" of January, 1773, Lieutenant-Colonel Gray and Sir Thomas Wilson, the two next in seniority, received the same promotion; but Barré and Sir Hugh Williams, who were next to them, were passed over; whilst their junior, Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, was raised to the rank of Colonel. It cannot be doubted that the King, in conferring these honorary distinctions, acted on the advice of Lord Barrington; it is certain that Barré felt the insult keenly; and, persuaded as I am that he was the writer of the above quoted letter from Junius to Woodfall, it follows that his feelings on the occasion would naturally dictate the expressions of indifference and disgust which that letter contains.

Barré's proceedings on being thus neglected were characteristic. He wrote on the 21st of January to the Earl of Chatham, with whom he had been for some time on friendly terms, as follows: "The particular manner in which his Majesty has been advised to make a late promotion in the army, has so much the appearance of a premeditated affront to me, that I feel myself under an absolute necessity of retiring from a profession in which I have served six-and-twenty years." After stating the circumstances, and explaining his peculiar claims as superior to those of Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, Barré observes:-"This new discipline, my Lord, is surely not calculated to cherish the spirit of an army, which your Lordship has taught to conquer in every climate. Directed as it has been lately, I am proud of renouncing the profession. To enable me to take this step with propriety to myself, and with decent respect to the King, I feel that I stand in need of the long experience and sound judgment of much abler men than myself." Instead of an immediate resignation of his commission, Lord Chatham advised a memorial from Barré to the King, praying to be promoted according to his seniority of rank.

The Colonel adopted this recommendation, and had some correspondence with Lord Barrington upon the subject; but his application meeting with no encouragement, he requested to be allowed to retire from the service; and on the 21st of February acquainted the Earl of Chatham that he had received a letter from Barrington to the following effect:-"I have laid before the King your letter of the 8th instant to me; and I am commanded to acquaint you that in consequence of your request therein expressed, you have his Majesty's permission to retire from the service."-(Chatham Correspondence, vol. iv.)

Thus coolly deprived of his half pay and his military rank, Colonel Barré (as he continued to be called) retained his seat in Parliament, and indeed became more active than ever in the legislative debates. At the general election in 1774 Lord Fitzmaurice, the brother of Earl Shelburne, became member for Wycombe, whilst Barré was returned for Calne, as the colleague of Dunning. A writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine" (August, 1817) thus refers to Barré's habits and circumstances about this period:-"He lived in Manchester Buildings, the last house on the right side towards the bridge, where he had a handsome, though not a large establishment, and received dinner company not unfrequently. I do not know what his funds then were, excepting that from a native property in Ireland, I think in Dublin, he received about 300l. a year."

The growing dissensions between Great Britain and her American colonies afforded Barré an ample field for oratorical display and patriotic exertion in Parliament. Lord North, as premier, weakly and wickedly involved this country in a long and disastrous conflict with America, throughout the whole of which, from 1773 to the resignation of Lord North in 1782, Barré distinguished himself as one of the ablest and most intrepid speakers on the opposition side of the House of Commons. He boldly and repeatedly encountered the minister* with fervid eloquence and animation, mingled

* See particularly the debate on the 22nd February, 1782, when Lord North,

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with a degree of sarcasm and humour, which, even in the scanty reports of his speeches, stamp him as a highly successful and accomplished debater. It would be an easy and a gratifying task to select numerous passages in proof of this assertion, but the limits of our present Essay forbid the attempt.

On the dissolution of Lord North's ministry (March 20, 1782), the Marquess of Rockingham became premier; but his lordship found it necessary to combine with his own influence that of Lord Shelburne, who accordingly accepted office, as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a post for which he was peculiarly qualified. Colonel Barré accompanied his friend and patron in his resumption of place, and became Treasurer of the Navy.

Though holding a subordinate office to that of the Marquess of Rockingham, the Earl of Shelburne had equal influence with the King; and events which quickly followed showed that he freely exercised it. About three months after the Marquess of Rockingham became premier, he died suddenly: Lord Shelburne immediately succeeded him, and Barré was removed from the Treasurership of the Navy to the more lucrative post of Paymaster of the Forces. The personal adherents of Rockingham were displeased with these changes, as increasing the influence of Lord Shelburne ; and though for a time they appeared to act amicably with that nobleman and his friends, their union was by no means sincere or cordial. In April, 1783, his lordship was forced to resign, by the extraordinary coalition between Fox, the leader of what had been the Rockingham party, and the former premier, Lord North. Against this unexpected combination Lord Shelburne was unable to contend

and in this, his final retirement from office, Barré

goaded by the remarks of Barré, applied to him the epithets "insolent and brutal;" language which the unanimous feeling of the House of Commons compelled him to retract and apologise for.