Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/182

 There is a close general coincidence of opinion, with such slight divergences as are naturally explained by the changes of Francis's position in later life. Francis never wrote anything equal to Junius, though occasional passages suggest the same authorship. Upon this head, however, it is only safe to say that the identification presents no great difficulty, though the resemblance by itself affords scarcely any presumption. (8) Francis's conduct when challenged is on the whole confirmative. He seems (see afterwards) to have desired that the claim should be accepted, but to have been unwilling to make it himself. He appears to have denied the fact at times, though some alleged denials read like equivocations. To have claimed the authorship openly would have been to admit that he had been guilty of libelling his patron, Barrington, whose brother, the Bishop of Durham, was still alive, to say nothing of other admissions. Had he been conscious of innocence, an explicit denial would certainly have been called for. His actual course may be explained by such motives struggling with vanity, and confirmed by long habits of secretiveness and a probably exaggerated view of the importance of the facts. But other explanations are of course possible. (9) The moral resemblance is undoubtedly so close that it would be impossible to describe the character of Junius except in terms strikingly applicable to Francis. The chief arguments against Francis are that his authorship would imply an underhand malignity, which is not improbable in the author of Junius, whoever he may have been, and only too probable in Francis, whether he was or was not the author of Junius. It is also said that Woodfall, the printer of the letters, and Pitt stated that they knew Francis not to be the author. Both Pitt and Woodfall died, however, before the authorship had been publicly, if at all, attributed to Francis; and such second-hand reports are of little value (see, on the other side, Mr. Fraser Rae in the ‘Athenæum,’ 1888, ii. 192). On the whole, it may be said that Taylor established a prima facie presumption, which has been considerably strengthened by the publication of Francis's papers, and which is turned into something like proof, unless the coincidences of handwriting stated by Chabot and Netherclift can be upset. Nor is there any real difficulty in the assumption. The personal indications thrown out by Junius in his private letters to Woodfall and Wilkes are so indefinite and so probably mere blinds, that no inference can be drawn from them.

Francis made a short journey to the Hague two months after his father's death (5 March 1772). He there obtained permission from a M. de Pinto to translate his ‘Essay on Circulation.’ The translation was published under the name of his cousin, Stephen Baggs. Lord North had just passed his ‘Regulating Act’ for India, under which the governor of Bengal was to become governor-general of India, and to be controlled by a council of four. Francis had been thinking of retiring to Pennsylvania, where he had purchased a thousand acres through his brother-in-law, Alexander Macrabie. Hearing that one of the places in the council was not filled, Francis applied to Barrington, who recommended him to North in ‘the handsomest and strongest letter imaginable,’ and on North's advice was approved by the king and named in the bill, his colleagues being Warren Hastings, the new governor-general, Clavering, Monson, and Barwell. The appointment of a retired clerk to a place of 10,000l. a year has suggested the hypothesis that he was receiving hush-money as Junius. The post had already been refused by Burke and Cholwell at least, and was apparently going begging ( and, i. 327). For obvious reasons the Junius hypothesis is improbable, though no further explanation can be given. The vague gossip reported by Lady Francis and the family, and given in Wade's ‘ Junius,’ is inconsistent and incredible. After this Francis was on friendly terms with Barrington (ib. p. 329). He visited Clive, with whose son and widow he kept up an intimacy. After various difficulties with the court of directors, whose instructions to the new council were offensive to Francis, he finally sailed from Portsmouth 31 March 1774, leaving, it seems, a liberal allowance for his wife and her family.

Francis reached Calcutta 19 Oct. 1774. He came, according to Merivale (ii. 9, 239), strongly prejudiced against Hastings, although in 1787 he declared in the House of Commons that he and his colleagues had left England with the ‘highest opinion’ of Hastings. In any case Francis soon came to regard Hastings with sentiments resembling strongly the sentiments expressed towards Mansfield by Junius. In his earliest letters he denounced with great bitterness the corruption and rapacity which, as he declared, pervaded the whole Indian administration. Francis, Clavering, and Monson were the majority of the council, opposed by Hastings and Barwell. They reversed Hastings's policy and recalled his agents [see under ]. Francis was singularly energetic. He had four secretaries, his private secretary being his brother-in-law, Macrabie, and sometimes dictated to them all at once. He kept up a large correspondence,