Manuscript essay on the Identity of Junius meant for publication in the Providence Gazette

[Providence, 1805. Folio, 18 pages in ink (approx. 13" x 8"), docketed "Adelphiad" for the Providence Gazette on the verso of the last leaf; browned, edge curling, but legible. A lengthy essay by William Sheldon of North Providence who was a contributing writer to the Providence Gazette. In this essay he posits that Junius was a pseudonym for William "Gerrard" Hamilton. A note in contemporary script on the verso notes that the manuscript never appeared in the newspaper. William Gerard Hamilton (1729-1796), English statesman, was popularly known as "Single Speech Hamilton". He was born in London in 1729, the son of a Scottish bencher of Lincoln's Inn. (truncated) He was educated at Winchester and at Oriel College, Oxford. Inheriting his father's fortune he entered political life and became M.P. for Petersfield, Hampshire. William Sheldon proceeds to produce many arguments as to why Hamilton appears to be the best candidate to be Junius. Sheldon also discusses other possibilities as to the identity of Junius, including Edmund Burke, Hugh Boyd, and the lawyer Dunning. William Sheldon (1762-1822) was an Englishman educated at Oxford University who came to the United States in 1785 and resided for a time in Norwich, Connecticut. While there he apparently lost a great deal of money due to his ignorance of the operation of the usury law of the state. His loss led him to publish, in 1798, a pamphlet on the subject entitled, Cursory Remarks on the Laws Concerning Usury. Afterwards, he lived in North Providence, Rhode Island where he was the principal writer for John Carter's Providence Gazette and the author of several essays ascribed to "Moralist" and "Adelphiad" published in that paper. From March 1809 to October 1810 he was the editor of the Massachusetts Spy and during that time assisted Isaiah Thomas in preparing his History of Printing. In 1809 he published in Worcester a History of the Heathen Gods, and Heroes of Antiquity to which he added a new translation of the "Battle of the Gods and Giants." In 1812 he went to Jamaica, where he was for some time a private instructor and afterwards returned to England. Junius was the pseudonym of a writer who contributed a series of political letters to the Public Advertiser, from 1769 to 1772 as well as several other London newspapers such as the London Evening Post. "The secret of the authorship of these letters which puzzled the men of the last century still remains unsolved, and it may be added that with our present information it is practically insoluble" (Halkett & Laing III. 327), although current scholarship seems to suggest that they are the work of Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818). "The first of the letters of Junius appeared in Woodfall's Public Advertiser in London, Jan. 21, 1769. Further letters appeared irregularly until 21 Jan. 1772. The series attracted enough attention to make it profitable for various booksellers to bring out editions of the letters before the series was concluded. At least 16 of these unauthorized partial editions were published before the end of 1771. In addition, individual letters were published in other political collections" (NCBEL, II, 1178). Politically motivated, his erudite letters strove to inform the public of their historical and constitutional rights and liberties as Englishmen and to highlight where and how the government had infringed upon these rights. (Inventory #: 55747)