THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 97 



Poland and Turkey at the very dates when " Junius " 

 was publishing letters exhibiting such minute and 

 detailed acquaintance with affairs every day occurring 

 in London as could only have been possessed by an 

 eye-witness living on the spot. This fact makes it 

 impossible that he should have written the " Letters 

 of Junius " ; and Mr. Rodney's statement only goes to 

 show that, in other than military matters, the soldier 

 of fortune was willing to claim what did not belong to 

 him. 



Such was the man to whom some of our great- 

 grandfathers were at times almost ready to intrust the 

 destinies of their country rather than to George 

 Washington ! When we consider how narrowly the 

 cause of American independence escaped total 

 wreck at the hands of this unprincipled adventurer, 

 the thought is enough to make us shudder after 

 the hundred years that have passed. In judging the 

 character of the man, there may be found some who 

 would urge that his eccentricities were so marked as 

 perhaps to afford some ground for the plea of insanity 

 whereby to palliate his misdemeanours. One will not 

 grudge him the benefit of such a plea, in so far as it 

 may have any value. His mind was no doubt ill 

 balanced, or, to use one of his own favourite words, it 

 was " unhinged " by colossal vanity and ravening self- 

 ishness ; and accordingly, what chiefly strikes us now 

 in reviewing his career is the contrast between his 

 enormous pretensions and his unparalleled feebleness. 

 We shall have to search the field of modern history 

 far and wide to find his equal as a charlatan. In 

 comparison with such a man even the figure of 

 Benedict Arnold acquires dignity. We can imagine 



