"Be it so." Let us find the feeling which produced this expression. It is peculiar to Junius. See Letters 18, 34, and 44, where the sentence is used. And now let me remark, _that the reader may be led to a just criticism, and not ramble after vague and unmeaning expressions_, the spirit of the writer must be found, the prominent sentiment of the heart must _be felt_, the cause must be seen which shall give utterance to the expression, "Be it so." How trifling it appears to the cursory reader! But let me arrest your attention. Junius uses the expression three times, and every time in connection with the sentiment of _dignity_. So, also, in the Declaration. It is only produced in him by a feeling, and the peculiar and particular feeling of _dignity_, in antithesis to contempt, littleness, disrepute, or meanness. I will now give the context. In Let. 18 he says: "You seem to think the channel of a pamphlet more respectable, and better suited to the _dignity_ of your cause, than a newspaper. Be it so." In Let. 34 he says: "We are told by the highest judicial authority that Mr. Vaughan's offer to purchase the reversion of a patent place in Jamaica amounts to a _high misdemeanor_. Be it so; and if he deserves it, let him be punished. _But_ the learned judge might have had a fairer opportunity of displaying the powers of his eloquence. Having delivered himself with so much energy upon the criminal nature and dangerous consequences of any attempt to corrupt a man in your _grace's station_, what would he have said to the minister himself, to that very privy counselor, to that first commissioner of the treasury, who does not wait for, but impatiently solicits the touch of corruption, who employs the meanest of his creatures in these honorable services, and forgetting the genius and fidelity of the secretary, _descends to_ apply to his housebuilder for assistance?" In Let. 44 he says: "There may be instances of contempt and insult to the House of Commons, which do not fall within my own exceptions, yet, in regard to the _dignity_ of the house, ought not to pass unpunished. Be it so." In the Declaration, paragraph 25, we read: "We might have been a free and a great people together, but a communication of grandeur and freedom, it seems, is below their _dignity_. Be it so, since they will have it." So much for the trifling little trinity of words made up of six letters, when traced to their mental origin. The reader will see an aura of _dignity_ always darting out from the sentence when used by Mr. Paine. It might never have this connection in the soul of any other man. This closes paragraph 25, and I proceed to the conclusion.