Junius was the pseudonym of a writer who contributed a series of letters to the
Public Advertiser,[1] from January 21 1769 to January 21
1772. The signature had been already used, apparently by him, in a letter of November 21 1768. These and numerous other personal letters were not included
in his Letters of Junius collection, published in 1772.
The name was chosen in all probability because he had already signed Lucius and Brutus, and wished to exhaust
the name of Lucius Junius Brutus the Roman
patriot. It might also be derived from the Roman poet Juvenal, who was thought to also have the nomen Junius. Some
say that he wrote under numerous other pseudonyms before, during and after the period between January 1769 and January 1772. He
may also have written as Philo-Junius, a character who came to the rescue of Junius when it was clear that the public was
misinterpreting his messages. There is weak evidence that he also wrote as Veteran, Nemesis and other anonymous correspondents of
the Public Advertiser.
Objectives, goals and achievements
There is a marked distinction between the main Letters of Junius, intended for
the erudite public, and his miscellaneous letters. The second deal with a variety of subjects, some of a purely personal nature,
such as the alleged injustice of Viscount Barrington, the secretary at war, to the
officials of his department, for instance.
The Letters of Junius had a definite objective:
- to inform the public of their historical and constitutional rights and liberties as Englishmen;
- to highlight where and how the government had infringed upon these rights.
Foremost in his sights was the ministry of Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, a fellow Whig whom Junius viewed as
particularly corrupt. Grafton's administration had been formed in October 1768, when William Pitt the Elder was compelled by ill health to retire from office, and was a
reconstruction of his cabinet of July 1766. Junius fought for the return to power of
Chatham, who had recovered and was not on good terms with his successors.
Junius’ private correspondence has been preserved, written in his usual disguised handwriting. He communicated with Chatham,
with George Grenville, with Wilkes (all opponents
of the Duke of Grafton), and also with Henry
Sampson Woodfall, printer and part owner of the Public Advertiser.
The letters are of interest on three grounds:
- their political significance;
- their style; and
- the mystery which long surrounded their authorship.
The matter of his letters is considered by some to be invective though close inspection of his writings reveals a principled
man centuries ahead of his time, exposing blatant corruption by the only means available (anonymity) in a country struggling with
the idea of freedom of speech.
He began with a general attack on the ministry for their personal immorality. An ill-judged
defence of John Manners, Marquess of Granby, commander-in-chief, by Sir William Draper gave Junius an easy
victory over a vulnerable opponent with weak arguments. It was in this short tussle that Junius' style and wit first developed a
reputation and public audience. Junius realised the potential he had to influence public opinion.
Confidently, Junius then went on to expose the problems at their cause—the ministries of Grafton, Lord North
(Grafton's cousin) and the Duke of Bedford. The core of Junius’ arguments were the
arbitrary appointments made by Grafton, presumably to stay in favour with the Duke of Bedford and his party (also known as
the Bedfordites or Bloomsbury Gang). Most notable was Col. Henry Lawes Luttrell (later 2nd Earl Carhampton), whom Grafton appointed MP for
Middlesex (instead of the duly elected Wilkes), and Richard Rigby, whom Grafton made
Paymaster of the Forces. Junius ended with an assault on Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, who Junius argued had set dangerous legal precedents regarding press
freedom and political libel from the Wilkes affair.
Junius was highly disappointed not to have influenced King George
III in his December 19 1769 letter. He tried to
encourage the King to overcome his resentments towards the petty Wilkes and also to release his trust in corrupt officials.
Junius was not a radical anti-royal Whig, as many texts suggest, though he did trouble himself with explaining to the public the
real constitutional role of the royal prerogative, and (if engaged correctly) how it benefited the country.
Contrary to some opinions, the practical effect of the letters was highly significant—they made Grafton unpopular enough to
end his ministry in January 1770. Junius could only have been disappointed by Grafton's
replacement, Lord North. Junius confessed himself beaten, in his private
letter to Woodfall of January 19,
1773 for not having achieved his goals. Despite this, Junius’ letters were noticed and talked about
for generations afterwards and spread throughout Europe in many languages. His concepts on democratic elections, freedom of the
press, legal history and the constitutional rights of individuals are now common-place. Few in history have influenced so many
and sparked an interest in such real concepts of liberty.
Style
Latin literature was not only studied but imitated at that time but also supplied
the inspiration for numerous writings (such as the satires of Juvenal, and the
speeches of Cicero against Verres and Catiline). If Junius was
doing what others did, he did it better than anybody else; a fact which sufficiently explains his rapid popularity. His
superiority lay in his style. Here also he was by no means original, and he was uneven. There are passages in his writings which
can be best described in the words which Burke applied to another writer: A mere mixture of
vinegar and water, at once vapid and sour. But at his best Junius attains to a high degree of artificial elegance and vigour. He
shows the influence of Bolingbroke, of Swift, and above all of Tacitus, who appears to have been his favourite
author. The imitation is never slavish. Junius adapts, and does not only repeat. No single sentence will show the quality of a
style which produces its effect by persistence and repetition, but such a typical passage as follows displays at once the method
and the spirit. It is taken from Letter XLIX to the duke of Grafton, June 22, 1771:
"The profound respect I bear to the gracious prince who governs this country with no less honour to himself than
satisfaction to his subjects, and who restores you to your rank under his standard, will save you from a multitude of reproaches.
The attention I should have paid to your failings is involuntarily attracted to the hand which rewards them; and though I am not
so partial to the royal judgment as to affirm that the favor of a king can remove mountains of infamy, it serves to lessen at
least, for undoubtedly it divides, the burden. While I remember how much is due to his sacred character, I cannot, with any
decent appearance of propriety, call you the meanest and the basest fellow in the kingdom. I protest, my Lord, I do not think you
so. You will have a dangerous rival in that kind of fame to which you have hitherto so happily directed your ambition, as long as
there is one man living who thinks you worthy of his confidence, and fit to be trusted with any share in his government ... With
any other prince, the shameful desertion of him in the midst of that distress, which you alone had created, in the very crisis of
danger, when he fancied he saw the throne already surrounded by men of virtue and abilities, would have outweighed the memory of
your former services. But his majesty is full of justice, and understands the doctrine of compensations; he remembers with
gratitude how soon you had accommodated your morals to the necessities of his service, how cheerfully you had abandoned the
engagements of private friendship, and renounced the most solemn professions to the public. The sacrifice of Lord Chatham was not
lost on him. Even the cowardice and perfidy of deserting him may have done you no disservice in his esteem. The instance was
painful, but the principle might please."
What is artificial and stilted in this style did not offend the would-be classic taste of the eighteenth century, and does not
now conceal the fact that the laboriously arranged words, and artfully counterbalanced clauses, convey a venomous hate and
scorn.
Readership
The pre-established harmony between Junius and his readers accounts for the rapidity of his success, and for the importance
attributed to him by Burke and Johnson, far better
writers than himself. Before 1772 there appeared at least twelve unauthorized republications of his letters, made by speculative
printers. In that year he revised the collection named Junius: Stat nominis umbra, with a dedication to the English people
and a preface. Other independent editions followed in quick succession. In 1801 one was published with annotations by Robert
Heron. In 1806 another appeared with notes by John Almon. The
first new edition of real importance was issued by the Woodfall family in 1812. It contained the
correspondence of Junius with HS Woodfall, a selection of the miscellaneous letters attributed to Junius, facsimiles of his
handwriting, and notes by Dr Mason Good. Curiosity as to the mystery of the authorship
began to replace political and literary interest in the writings. Junius himself had been early aware of the advantage he secured
by concealment. The mystery of Junius increases his importance is his confession in a letter to Wilkes dated September 18 1771.
Woodfall felt assured that
when kings and ministers are forgotten, when the force and direction of ersonal satire is no longer understood, and when
measures are only fet in their remotest consequences; this book will, I believe, be found to contain principles worthy to be
transmitted to posterity.
Identity of Junius
-
The identity of Junius is open to question and debate, and may never be resolved unless documents are found which establish
his identity.
Fictional use of Junius
Robert Goddard's 2005 suspense novel,
Sight Unseen, is set in the present day; however, the identity of Junius is a major theme in the novel.
References
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia
Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public
domain.
- Ellegård, Alvar: Who was Junius? Almquist and Wiksell, Stockholm, (1962);
discussed by [1]
- Katritzky, Linde: Johnson and The Letters of Junius; New Perspectives on an Old Enigma Peter Lang Publishing, New York
(1996)
- Cordasco, Francesco: A Bibliography of
the Letters of Junius with a Checklist of Juniuan Scholarship and Related Studies, Junius-Vaughen Press, Fairview, N.J.
(1986)
Notes
- ^ The Public Advertiser was a political newspaper run by
Henry Sampson Woodfall, based in London. His brother William Woodfall later
established the Daily, a paper that reported on parliamentary debates.
See also
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