Junius Unmasked: Or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of IndependenceMoody, Joel
History
Junius Unmasked: Or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of Independence
Moody, Joel
Francis, Philip, 1740-1818; Junius, active 18th century; Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809; United States. Declaration of Independence
1. His acquaintance, friendship, intimacy, and peculiar political
views would give a ready access to Woodfall's office.
2. The handwriting of Junius could not be kept a secret for it
went to the compositors. Nor did Woodfall keep it from the public;
nor did he even keep the secrets of Junius as he ought to have
done, for it was from Woodfall himself that Garrick obtained the
fact that Junius would write no more, after he had compiled his
work.
3. After getting a specimen of the disguised hand of Junius,
Francis could easily forge it. As evidence of this I quote from
Taylor, p. 278, as follows: "It has been observed of him [Francis]
that he possessed so perfect a command of his pen that he could
write every kind of hand." Taylor acknowledges this extraordinary
power of Francis.
Now take with the above three facts the internal evidence of forgery,
both in the spirit and on the face of the letters, and we have a strong
case in favor of Francis forging the hand of Junius, but assuming the
name of _Veteran_.
But again, private notes may be forged as well as letters for
publication, which injures them as evidence. And who shall decide at
this late day on forgeries? I have herein adduced enough evidence to
throw great doubt on the Miscellaneous Letters, and if any thing can be
proven from internal evidence, which is acknowledged by all to be the
best in the world; then two letters and two private notes accompanying
them, I have shown in the language of Junius to be _spurious_. The truth
is, there is nothing absolutely safe outside of the _genuine_ edition,
for this alone has the plain and positive approval of Junius. Moreover,
it was compiled for the purpose of sifting the cheat from the pure
grain, and as Junius had assumed one other signature besides his own, he
thought it necessary to cast out other publications falsely attributed
to him, and unqualifiedly states in reference to Philo Junius, "The
fraud was innocent, and I always intended to explain it." Why was he
thus explicit if he had been writing continually over other signatures?
Besides the above, the letters of Junius are finished productions, which
took much time and care to write, and Junius could not therefore be the
author of all those miscellaneous letters attributed to him in
Woodfall's edition, for the time is too short to produce them. But it is
preposterous to assume that Francis could attend to his clerical duties,
and often take down speeches in Parliament, and at the same time write
all those letters, both genuine and miscellaneous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account