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 BURKE 945 acknowledged, the resolution for inserting the name of Luttrell in the returned writ, instead of that of Wilkes, being rescinded by order of the house. This and other events which occurred about the same time, gave rise to - those celebrated letters inserted in the Public Advertiser, under the signature of Junius. These letters have fre- quently been attributed to Burke, but on very insufticient grounds: he declared to Johnson that he was not the author of them; and the internal evidence of style, toge- ther with the very different political opinions of Burke and Junius, prove their characters to have been entirely distinct. Nor did Burke on this important occasion confine him- self to the many excellent speeches which he made in the house. He drew up a petition to the king, from the free- holders of Buckinghamshire (at Beaconsfield, in which county he had now purchased a house), complaining of the conduct of the house of commons in the expulsion of Wilkes, and praying for a dissolution of parliament. Indeed so unpopular at this time was the Grafton ministry, that their continuance in office was principally, if not solely, owing to the divisions among their antagonists. The opposition was composed of two parties, at the head of which were the Marquis of Rockingham and Mr. Gren- ville, which agreed on no other point than to harass the ministry. Mr. Grenville, about this time, published atn Essay on "The present State of the Nation;" to which Burke wrote an answer, under the title of "Observations on the present State of the Nation." Grenville's principal object was to prove that the nation was about to be ruined by a deviation from those principles on which he acted during his administration, and that America was very well able to pay a certain proportion of taxes towards the sup- port of the state. In his "Observations" on this pamphlet, Burke, with great perspicuity, follows Grenville througlh all his details, and proves the insufficiency and inaccuracy of his arguments and calculations-"Grenville," said