Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/134

480 This was the more remarkable," continues Gordon, "and did me the greater honour, as he was naturally as shy in making friendships, as he was eminently constant to those which he had already made." The Independent Whig, which seems to have been their first joint production, was continued for a year, stopping in January, 1721. Before its conclusion, namely in November, 1720, the two writers had begun a series of letters signed "Cato", in the London, and afterwards in the British Journal, which was continued almost to the death of Mr Trenchard, an event that happened in December, 1723. A new edition of the Independent Whig, including a renewed series published by Gordon, after Mr Trenchard's death, appeared in two volumes, 12mo. A similar collection of Cato's Letters, appeared in four volumes, and went into a fourth edition in 1737.

Of the Independent Whig, Dr Murray thus speaks in his Literary History of Galloway. "It is a fortunate circumstance, that this work is known only by name; for it is disfigured by sentiments which are deserving of great reprobation. It was more immediately directed against the hierarchy of the church of England; but it was also meant, or at least has a direct tendency to undermine the very foundation of a national religion, under any circumstances, and to bring the sacred profession, if not religion itself, into contempt. The sacerdotal office, according to this book, is not only not recommended in scripture, but is unnecessary and dangerous; ministers of the gospel have ever been the promoters of corruption and ignorance, and distinguished by a degree of arrogance, immorality, and a thirst after secular power, that have rendered them destructive of the public and private welfare of a nation. 'One drop of priestcraft,' say they, ' is enough to contaminate the ocean.'

"The object of Cato's Letters" continues Dr Murray, "is nearly the same with that of the Independent Whig with this difference, that its theological and ecclesiastical discussions are much blended with political disquisitions. It was, indeed, directed particularly against the South Sea scheme; the knavery and absurdity of which our authors had the merit of exposing, at a time when almost the whole nation was intoxicated with dreams of wealth and independence, which it artfully cherished, and by which so many were ruined and betrayed.

"Notwithstanding the insuperable objections we have stated to the most of the principles of these works, they are characterized, we must confess, by no mean portion of talents and learning. The authors seem always masters of the subjects of which they treat, and their discussions are clear, close, and vigorous.

"Like every person who, in any way, attempts to undermine the welfare and interests of society, Gordon and Trenchard laid claim to great purity of intention. According to their own statement, they formed the only two wise, patriotic, and independent men of the age in which they lived. 'As these letters,' says Gordon, in his preface, 'were the work of no faction or cabal, nor calculated for any lucrative or ambitious ends, or to serve the purposes of any party whatsoever; but attacked falsehood and dishonesty, in all shapes and parties, without temporizing with any, but doing justice to all, even to the weakest and most unfashionable, and maintaining the principles of liberty against the practices of most parties: so they were dropped without any sordid composition, and without any consideration, save that it was judged that the public, after its terrible convulsions, was again become calm and safe.'"

After the death of Mr Trenchard, his widow, after the manner of ladies in a more expressly commercial rank of life, became the second wife of her husband's journeyman and partner, Mr Gordon, apparently induced to take this step by the usefulness of Gordon in managing her affairs. By this lady, who survived him, and was living in 1766, he had several children. His circumstances were now very easy and agreeable, and he appears to have contemplated