Page:Letters of Junius, volume 2 (Woodfall, 1772).djvu/213

Rh the balance as effectually by lessening the weight in one scale, as by increasing it in the other.

mode of your attack upon Wilkes (though I am far from thinking meanly of your abilities) convinces me that you either want judgment extremely, or that you are blinded by your resentment. You ought to have foreseen that the charges you urged against Wilkes could never do him any mischief. After all, when we expected discoveries highly interesting to the community, what a pitiful detail did it end in!—some old cloathes,—a Welsh poney—a French Footman, and a hamper of claret. Indeed, Mr. Horne, the public should and will forgive him his claret and his footman, and even the ambition of making his brother chamberlain of London, as long as he stands forth against a Ministry and Parliament who are doing every thing they can to enslave the country, and as long as he is a thorn in the King's side. You will not suspect me of setting up Wilkes for a perfect character. The question to the public is, where shall we find a man who, with purer principles, will go the lengths,