turned so vastly to your honour, I hope to be the more easily forgiven. Shall I own it, sir? my hopes go still farther; you disdained me under the feigned character which I assumed; from the same principle of honour, from the same consciousness of merit, you will, nay, you must afford me some share of your esteem, when I appear, as I intend to do for the future, under my own. These papers shall breathe nothing but zeal to promote the honour of his majesty, the security of our present happy establishment, and in one word, the good of our country. The same spirit, which animates you and me, shall animate them: and I cannot doubt of your approbation, when I cooperate with you to these purposes, which were certainly the sole inducements you had to enter into business; as it is manifest that you continue at the head of affairs for no other reasons.

The truth is, however, (for I think it becoming a friendship, which is likely to grow as intimate as ours, that I should disguise nothing from you) two things have lately happened, which gave some little shock to my good opinion of you. The first is an unwillingness you manifested, that the true state of the national debts should be known by the nation; and the severe censure you passed on such persons, as were desirous to give their countrymen a fair account of their condition in a part so essential, that our being a nation, or not a nation, depends almost entirely, in this crisis, on our running or not running farther into debt

The other is the publication of a pamphlet supposed to be written by your direction, which is evidently designed to keep us no less in the dark as to all our affairs abroad.

As to the first, that matter has been taken up already; and will, I doubt not, in all places, and in all manners, be so thoroughly sifted, that we shall no longer be at a loss, either as to the revenue, and the real charges upon it, or as to the whole management of it. In which examination, sir, let me advise you, as a friend, to act an ingenuous part, that suspicions may not increase, and that I may not be obliged to write to you in a style, to which I shall turn my pen with reluctancy.

As to the latter, I hope, it will be likewise examined; and if I was able to take such a task on myself, I should, I am persuaded, in doing so, but make a second trial of you to your glory, and knit the bands of our friendship the closer, by answering a pamphlet of so pernicious consequence, and writ with so ill a design. But I know my own unfitness to inform, to instruct, and to rouse our countrymen, some from their lethargy, and some from their golden dreams. I

may to the alarm-bell, but persons of greater strength and skill must be called upon to raise it, and to ring it out in the cars of the nation.

We are grown more easy, nay, more willing than ever, to be imposed upon; and we do more than half the work of those who find their account

in

in deluding us. Almost every man considers himself as a single person; those few, who extend their considerations farther, seklom or never carry them beyond the narrow system of a family, or a party. And thus it happens, that private interest is become the criterion, by which judgments are formed upon publick affairs. The man, whoever he be, who is at any time in fashion, has nothing to do but to hold out that purse, which the more he empties it, the surer he is to fill. After which let him declaim imperiously, and assert boldly, without regarding proof, or condescending to argue; let one of his tools write a pamphlet in much the same strain, and the work is done, the opinion of mankind is settled, the crowd repeats what the orator has said, and the author writ; the clamour is echoed back on all sides, and these echoes, the reverse of all others, strengthen by repetition. Thus the corrupt lead the blind, and the blind lead one another; the still voice of reason is drowned in popular clamour, and truth is overwhelmed by prejudice.

This is a true account of what happens frequently; it is so far from being a description drawn from imagination, that I could give several instances, and perhaps shall have occasion to quote some, of such gross impositions on the common sense of mankind, offered in this manner, and offered with success, as no one would be bold enough to attempt putting on the weakest man in Britain in private conversation.

There are therefore, God knows, but too many reasons for him to despond, who entertains a thought of prevailing on the generality of people, to lay aside their prejudices, to check their passions, and to consider the state of the nation in a due extent, and in a true light; and yet such is our condition, such a crisis are we in, that if we do not take and execute this resolution now, it may very probably be out of our power to do it hereafter to any good purpose.

In our senate we hear of great dangers, which we have to apprehend from abroad; and if we believe what is said in a foreign state*, we are exposed to very great ones at home. I am willing to hope, that both one and the other are magnified; but they may grow to be such in reality as they are represented to be, if we do not take more than ordinary care, first, to weigh in a just balance each of the many evils which threaten the nation; and secondly, if we do not penetrate into every one of the causes, which have combined to bring them upon us. Should we fail in the first point, we may increase our dangers from abroad; by overrating those at home, and by applying ourselves solely to prevent the latter. But I believe no one thinks us disposed to run into this extreme; we are much more. likely to run into the other, and to increase our dangers at home, by overrating those which we apprehend from abroad. Should we fail in the second point, and neglect to penetrate into all

See Letter from Stockholm.

the

the causes, which combine to bring our present distress upon us, palliative remedies alone will be applied, in the use of which we may very probably expire after a tedious languor, but from which we cannot expect a radical cure.

Convinced therefore, that if we neglect the present moment, if every man does not think, and write, and speak, and act for his country at this time, according to his best talents, and according to the opportunities which he has of exerting them, we shall soon be in every sense a ruined nation.

ac

I confess, that I am impatient, however low my hopes of success run, till some abler pen cepts the invitation, which "the Inquirer into the Reasons of the Conduct of Great Britain" gives to every member of this community, till an in quiry is made, according to the right which he is pleased to allow, into our present state, and into the measures which have led to it. But then this inquiry must be made upon better principles, and with an honester view than he has, who made this, which lies before me: the person, who accepts his invitation, should be one who would blush to follow his example; for he acts the part of an apologist, where he professes to act that of an impartial inquirer: he seems very zealous for the success of the cause which he pleads, and very indifferent what means he employs to procure this success; many things are disguised, many are concealed, and hardly any are represented in their natural and proper light. Fallacy, sophism,