Nothing could more amply justify the proceedings of the Queen and her ministers, for two years past, than that famous Representation above at large recited, the unbiassed wisdom of the nation, after the strictest inquiry, confirming those facts upon which Her Majesty's counsels were grounded and many persons, who were before inclined to believe that the allies and the late ministry had been too much loaded by the malice, misrepresentations, or ignorance of writers, were now fully convinced of their mistake by so great an authority. Upon this occasion I cannot forbear doing justice to Mr. St. John,[31] who had been secretary of war, for several years, under the former administration, where he had the advantage of observing how affairs were managed both at home and abroad. He was one of those who shared in the present treasurer's fortune, resigning his employment at the same time; and upon that minister's being again taken into favour, this gentleman was some time after made secretary of state. There he began afresh, by the opportunities of his station, to look into past miscarriages; and, by the force of an extraordinary genius, and application to public affairs, joined with an invincible eloquence, laid open the scene of miscarriages and corruptions through the whole course of the war, in so evident a manner, that the House of Commons seemed principally directed in their resolutions, upon this inquiry, by his information and advice. In a short time after the Representation was published, there appeared a memorial in the Dutch "Gazette," as by order of the States, reflecting very much upon the said Representation, as well as the resolutions on which it was founded, pretending to deny some of the facts, and to extenuate others. This memorial, translated into English, a common writer of news had the boldness to insert in one of his papers. A complaint being made thereof to the House of Commons, they voted the pretended memorial to be a false, scandalous, malicious libel, and ordered the printer to be taken into custody.[32] [Footnote 31: See his character in Swift's "Enquiry," vol. v., pp. 430-431, of this edition. [W.S.J.]] [Footnote 32: The memorial appeared in the "Daily Courant" of 7th and 8th April, for which Samuel Buckley, the writer and printer, was ordered by the House of Commons to be taken into custody on April 11th. [W.S.J.]]