Page:Letters of Junius, volume 1 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/85

Rh and to assert the rights of my brave companions. I glory likewise, that I have never taken up my pen, but to vindicate the injured. Junius asks by what accident did it happen, that, in the midst of all this bustle, and all the clamours for justice to the injured troops, the Manilla ransom was suddenly buried in a profound, and, since that time, an uninterrupted silence? I will explain the cause to the public. The several ministers, who have been employed since that time have been very desirous to do justice from two most landable motives, a strong inclination to assist injured bravery, and to acquire a well-deserved popularity to themselves. Their efforts have been in vain. Some were ingenuous enough to own, that they could not think of involving this distressed nation into another war for our private concerns. In short, our rights for the present, are sacrificed to national convenience; and I must confess, that, although I may lose five-and-twenty thousand pounds by their acquiescence to this breach of faith in the Spaniards, I think they are in the right to temporize, considering the critical situation of this country, convulsed in every part by poison infused by anonymous, wicked, and incendiary writers.