in ready money.  He had also relieved the finances of Bengal from military expenditure, amounting to near a quarter of a million a year, and had thrown that charge on the Nabob of Oude.  There can be no doubt that this was a result which, if it had been obtained by honest means, would have entitled him to the warmest gratitude of his country, and which, by whatever means obtained, proved that he possessed great talents for administration.

In the meantime, Parliament had been engaged in long and grave discussions on Asiatic affairs.  The ministry of Lord North, in the session of 1773, introduced a measure which mode a considerable change in the constitution of the Indian Government.  This law, known by the name of the Regulating Act, provided that the presidency of Bengal should exercise a control over the other possessions of the Company; that the chief of that presidency should be styled Governor-General; that he should be assisted by four Councillors; and that a supreme court of judicature, consisting of a chief justice and three inferior judges, should be established at Calcutta.  This court was made independent of the Governor-General and Council, and was intrusted with a civil and criminal jurisdiction of immense and, at the same time, of undefined extent.

The Governor-General and Councillors were named in the Act, and were to hold their situations for five years.  Hastings was to be the first Governor-General.  One of the four new Councillors, Mr. Barwell, an experienced servant of the Company, was then in India.  The other three, General Clavering, Mr. Monson, and Mr. Francis, were sent out from England.

The ablest of the new Councillors was, beyond all doubt, Philip Francis.  His acknowledged compositions prove that he possessed considerable eloquence and information.  Several years passed in the public offices had formed him to habits of business.  His enemies have never denied that he had a fearless and manly spirit; and his friends, we are afraid, must acknowledge that his estimate of himself was extravagantly high, that his temper was irritable, that his deportment was often rude and petulant, and that his hatred was of intense bitterness and long duration.

It is scarcely possible to mention this eminent man without adverting for a moment to the question which his name at once suggests to every mind.  Was he the author of the Letters Of Junius?  Our own firm belief is that he was.  The evidence is, we think, such as would support a verdict in a civil, nay, in a criminal proceeding.  The handwriting of Junius is the very peculiar handwriting of Francis, slightly disguised.  As to the position, pursuits, and connections of Junius, the following are the most important facts which can be considered as clearly proved:  first, that he was acquainted with the technical forms of the Secretary of State’s office; secondly, that he was intimately acquainted with the business of the War Office; thirdly, that