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During the seven years that Lord Germain was secretary of state, he had principally Charles Fox to contend with, and throughout this long and arduous period it is admitted that he displayed signal ability, particularly in his replies.

"Lord

"In business," says Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, George Germain was clear and accurate, rather negligent in his style, which was that of a gentleman and a man of the world, unstudied and frequently careless, even in his official despatches. But there was no

obscurity or ambiguity in his compositions."

Sir Egerton Brydges, in his notes on Wraxall's Memoirs, observes that, "there was one man who always moved with an impenetrable cloud around him-Lord George Germain; but he was an able man, industrious, sagacious, and wise. His extreme gravity and melancholy were a contrast to the lightness and wit of Lord North. Misfortunes sunk deeper into his heart, and he thought of future consequences with more fear and regret; but, I believe, that he had the good of his country in his conscience, and executed his duties with fidelity and skill."

VISCOUNT SACKVILLE'S

CONNEXION WITH

MR. RICHARD

CUMBERLAND

EXAMINED,

WITH ANECDOTES OF HIS LORDSHIP, AND AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH.

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.

Gray's Elegy.

Where now's the Trifler? where the child of Pride?

These are the moments when the heart is tried!

Nor lives the man, with conscience e'er so clear,
But feels a solemn, reverential fear.

Bloomfield.

Can volume, pillar, pile, preserve thee great?
Or must thou trust tradition's simple tongue,

When flattery sleeps with thee, and history does thee wrong?

Byron.

CHAPTER XII.

Remarks on Mr. Richard Cumberland's zealous attachment to Lord Germain.-His situation when Lord Germain became head of the Board of Trade.-His introduction to his new chief.-Extraordinary intimacy between Lord Germain and Mr. Cumberland.-Cumberland's account of his unexpected appointment to the Secretaryship of the Board of Trade.— His character of Lord Germain as a man of business.Remarkable agreement between this account and Junius's description of his own mental operations.-Surprise of Lord Germain's friends at his intimacy with Mr. Cumberland.— Lord Sackville's mode of life in retirement, with anecdotes of his Lordship.-Proofs of his haughty disposition.-His condescension to inferiors shewn not to be inconsistent with his real character. - Mr. Cumberland's gratitude to his patron. His disbelief that he had any connexion with Junius.-The suspicion mentioned by his Lordship in his last illness. Probable motives for making the communication. The real bond of union between Lord Sackville and Mr. Cumberland explained.—His Lordship's last conversation with Mr. Cumberland on the affair of Minden.-Instances of Junius's extraordinary malignity against Lord Mansfield. -Mr. Cumberland's account of the mysterious interview between Lord Mansfield and Lord Sackville, when the latter was at the point of death.-The conduct of the parties inexplicable on any other assumption than that of Lord Sackville's being Junius.-Mr. Cumberland's description of his last hours.-His death.—His Lordship's personal appearance and character.—The objections to the hypothesis of Lord Sackville's being Junius stated, and answered.Proofs that his handwriting was similar to that of Junius.— Lord Sackville proved to have all the characteristics of Junius enumerated by Mr. Butler and Dr. Good.

VISCOUNT SACKVILLE.

Even now they tell you, that life is no more than a dramatic scene, in which THE HERO should preserve his consistency to the last. Junius to the Duke of Bedford.

We now approach the last stage of Lord Sackville's eventful life, and find in the Memoirs of Mr. Richard Cumberland another torch, whose clear light will guide us through the remainder of his gloomy career. Even those who do not concur with Mr. Cumberland in thinking his patron was "an ill-used and much-injured man,” must admire the honest zeal with which he defends and vindicates the memory of his benefactor. He has eminently succeeded in investing his narrative of the transactions that took place during the last days of Lord Sackville with a deep and melancholy interest, by the touching nature of the incidents described, the sympathy shewn for the sufferings of his friend, and the heartfelt gratitude expressed for favours received at his hand-all this proves the sincerity of Mr. Cumberland's attachment to Lord Sackville, and imparts additional value to his testimony-indeed, so tenacious is Mr. Cumberland of his Lordship's honour, that we much doubt whether his narrative would ever have been published, if the writer could have foreseen, that it would furnish evidence to

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identify his Lordship with the Author of the Letters of Junius; such however is the contracted ken of mortals, that we often become the unconscious instruments of effecting what we least desire; and by such unexpected means (for we deem it improper to term them accidents) are crimes, and deviations from the path of rectitude, frequently brought to light.

It appears that Mr. Cumberland, to use his own words, "was a subaltern in the Board of Trade, uncomfortably executing the office of Clerk of the Reports, when by the accession of Lord George Germain to the seals of the colonial department, he had a new principal to look up to." Before this period, he was an entire stranger to Lord Germain, and thus describes his introduction to his Lordship: "When Lord George had taken the seals, I asked my friend Colonel James Cunningham to take me with him to Pall Mall; which he did, and the ceremony of paying my respects was soon dismissed. I confess I thought my new chief was quite as cold in manner as a minister need be, and rather more so than my intermediate friend had given me reason to expect."

Here we have to note, that Colonel James Cunningham, to whom Mr. Cumberland was indebted for his formal introduction to Lord Germain, was not only one of his Lordship's intimate friends; but is the same officer mentioned by Junius in his account of the "infamous transaction" about appointing Colonel Luttrell adjutantgeneral in Ireland, which we have before cited (p. 75). And as Colonel Cunningham alone appears to advantage in that obscure and complicated military intrigue, and Junius was fully acquainted with all its ramifications, the probability is, that he derived his information from

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