P. S. I did not expect to fee my laft letter adorned with fo many typographical beauties; had I been aware of this, I fhould not have employed quite fo many dashes, as I am not an admirer of that fpecies of beauty in writings. By printing the word This inftead of Thro' in the fentence begining, "The Difpaffionate and Impartial, &c." you have made fomething like nonfenfe of it. I inention this merely as an error of the prefs, not as intentional on your part.

How to give Præcurfor that perfect fatisfaction which he seems to require, refpecting our difinteréfted nefs, we really do not know, nor are we very anxious to learn. When, without hefitation, and certainly without either proof or information, that could warrant the affertion, he boldly taxed us with corrupt motives, we did that which we are perfuaded he, or any other honourable man, would have done, if fo accused; we gave the most flat and unqualified contradiction to the charge, More the circumftances did not demand; and the nature of the cafe did not admit of lefs. If our language be liable to the cenfure of intemperance, his muft incur the guilt of falsehood. Without deigning to notice his inferential arguments; we fhall, for the fatisfaction of our readers, declare, in the most folemn and unequivocal manner, that neither on this, nor on any other occasion, did we ever expect, require, or accept, directly or indirectly, any "remuneration" whatever, for our "trouble or hazard," or any "fecurity against the pains and penalties attached to the publication" of our fentiments. Here, then, Precurfor muft fubmit to be told that he has again accufed us moft falfely, and moft unwarrantably. Our readers are already apprized of the circumftances which firft led us to take cognizance of the Pictonian Profecution; and we again affure them that, at that time, we had not the fmalleft acquaintance with any one of the parties implicated in the bufinefs. Having begun the inveftigation, it was our duty to pursue it; and if, in the courfe of our animadverfions on fome of the perfons who have made a confpicuous figure in the tranfaction, we have been induced to make ufe of language which to Præcurfor may have appeared too fevere, the ftrength or feverity of that language, we fhall ever contend, was fully fanctioned by the circumftances which called for its application. A regard for truth and juftice alone engaged us to take a part in this controverfy; and a rooted abhorrence of ingratitude and perfecution extorted from us, as we proceeded with the inquiry, terms of afperity, which we are, by no means, difpofed to retract, and which we fhall ever be prompt to juftify. If Precurfor acknowledge that he felt and expreffed "a confiderable degree of indignation" at "the repeated attempts to blacken the character" of one man, of whom he thinks highly, and evidently from a perfonal acquaintance with him, with what propriety can he arraign the expreffion of our indignation at witneffing the moft infamous attempts, that malice and flander combined ever conceived, or, with the aid of fraud, deception, artifice, and hypoerify, ever executed, to blacken and to destroy the fair fame of an officer of character, which, till then, the peftilential breath of calumny had never dared to affail; 'of an officer whose fervices to his country had been repeatedly acknowledged by his Majefty's minifters, and whofe public and private virtues had endeared him to all who had the opportunity and the happinefs to know him? If Præcurfor

really

really believe that we could not poffibly be led, by other than corrupt motives, to defend fuch a man fo attacked, although we had no perfonal acquaintance with him, and to ftem that torrent of popular prejudice which had, by the most bafe and infamous arts, been brought down against him, in order to overwhelm him with its fury; what ground for impeachment of the purity of his own motives does he not afford? Nor could he complain if we were to mete out to him the fame meafure which he has meted out to us. It is not our intention, however, fo to retort upon him; we are by no means difpleased with his zeal, and only with that it had been better tempered by judgment.

We must fay a word or two more to Præcurfer on the subject of pains and penalties, the only arguments to which fome of the parties in this extraordinary business have found it expedient to recur. However fe

vere the obfervations of Valerius may have been on the gentleman for whom Præcurfor has, with fuch generous warmth, ftood forward, as an advocate and an eulogift; they were strictly limited to his public conduct, as a public character. If any attempt had been made to attack the private character of Mr. Sullivan, it would have been refifted with indignation and fcorn. He may be, and we have no doubt is, as estimable and praife-worthy in private life, as Precurfor has reprefented him; but ftill this confideration could not exempt his public conduct from that fcrutiny and from thofe comments, which the freedom of the prefs, in Britain, admits and authorizes. Could we have thought that the publication of the Letters of Valerius Publicola required an indemnity, they, moft certainly, would never have been published by us. But we were,

and fill are, fully perfuaded that no pains or penalties can attach upon obfervations, founded on authentic documents drawn from the records, of the East India Company, or on Mr. Sullivan's own admiffions. It only remains for us to add, that the refult of this profecution has fully justified every opinion which we have delivered refpecting it; COLONEL PICTON having been honourably acquitted by the Privy Council of all the charges preferred against him, notwithstanding the unexampled weight of malignity and calumny, with which an attempt was made to fupport them; and notwithstanding the unprecedented measure of feparating one charge from the reft, in order to make that the subject of a diftinct trial, before another tribunal, while the whole together were the fubject of inquiry by the Privy Council. This extraordinary proceeding had a direct tendency, whatever the intention might be, to excite the popular odium against a man who was under trial by a different court; and would, in all probability, have produced an unfair impreffion on, and have given an undue bias to, the decifions of a tribunal lefs. enlightened and lefs honourably compofed, than that before which it was his good fortune to appear. By this, alfo, the ftrange effect has been occafioned, of fetting the decifion of one court in oppofition to the decisions of another. For while the Court of King's Bench have pronounced him guilty of one charge, the Privy Council have acquitted him of the whole!

This profecution, however, has happily illuftrated the obfervation of Cicero; Nihil effe homini tam timendum, quam invidiam: nihil innocenti fufcepta invidia, tam optandum, quam æquum judicium, quod in hoc uno denique falfæ infamiæ finis aliquis atque exitus reperiatur.

ΤΟ

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN REVIEW.
Sir,

AS I wish this Letter to appear, if poffible, in your Appendix, I fhall not intrude much on your time. I was certainly difappointed in not seeing my fecond letter in your last number; nor can I help fufpecting that you have not been altogether impartial. On this, however, I fhall not dwell, as I wish to be brief. Valerius commences his letter by faying, "I fhall not condefcend to reply to Præcurfor." I think his determination prudent; as it will fave him the mortification of being treated with the most marked contempt. He proceeds to fay; "His menaces I defpife."-Be it fo: of that, perhaps, more hereafter. Again, "His fcurrility it is foreign to my habits and manners to retort." Excellent I'faith. This "out Herods Herod." The man who, for two years, has inundated the prefs, and abufed the public ear, with the most unbridled fcurrility, prefumes to fay, that it is foreign to his habits and manners. Tun' Sanus? "And as to argument," continues Valerius, "he has given me none to anfwer." Argument for what? Does Valerius mean argument in defence of Mr. Sullivan? Mr. Sullivan requires no defence. His conduct, in every tranfaction of his life, will dare the minuteft fcrutiny, of bo nourable and impartial investigation. I come not forward to defend Mr. Sullivan; mistake me not; my motives for addreffing you were, and are, to fet the public opinion right; to ftate facts as they really exifted; and to expofe the infamy of Valerius. The affertion, that Mr. Sullivan has been recently applying for the government of Madras, is not true. The tranfactions of the fhip Elizabeth are an eternal theme for the venomous illiberality of Valerius; but if the actions of men are to be judged by the will and the intention, Mr. Sullivan's conduct in the whole of that bufinefs was moft ftrialy honourable. What Valerius fays of his intended " appeal to those who guided the affairs of ftate;" and his friendly remark that, "Mr. Sullivan may find fhelter in obfcurity," can excite nothing but ridicule. It may perhaps be well for Valerius, fhould he endeavour to draw the veil of obfcurity round himfelf. Quid tu? nulla ne habes vitia? But, I am at a loss which most to admire, the ingenuity of the difcovery, or the ingenuoufnefs of Valerius, in the confeffion, that he has "animadverted on Mr. Sullivan as a public character, not as a private individual!!! Poor Valerius! I pity you. I hardly thought you could have defcended to this. It is, however, according to the nature of things: one meannefs generates another. Let me recommend this paffage from the pro found Hume to your attention: "In men of more ordinary talent and capacity, the focial virtues become ftill more effentially requifite, there being nothing eminent in that cafe to compenfate for the want of them, or preserve the perfon from our fevereft hatred and contempt."

PRÆCURSOR.

* Our Printer can inform Præcurfor that his letter was omitted in our laft number folely on account of the press of matter.

INDEX.

ABSENCE of mind, a well-drawn cha- Authors, dramatic, their planey to the ca-