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Article FURTHER MEMOIR OF JOHN WILKES. ← Page 2 of 7 →
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Further Memoir Of John Wilkes.
• ipal writer of a periodical paper called The North Briton , the first number of which appeared June 5 , 17 63 . This paper , fn which he Was assisted bv Charles Churchill , the poet , declared hostilities against the existing Ministers and the Scotch nation . It did not fail to attract the attention of the public , from the acrimonious boldness with which it was written , and was read with avidity , because its invectives were directedagainstanunpopularMinisterThough these
nrincipally . papers are now but little read , they had their share in driving Lord Bute from power , and when George Grenville succeeded him , his apprehensions of the North Briton influenced him rather to crush than conciliate the authors of it . The well known Number forty-five soon gave him and his colleagues an opportunity to attempt the former , and the career of prosecuting and persecuting Mr .. Wilkes soon began . He ivas taken into custody by a general warrant , and committed a close prisoner to the Tower , while his house was entered by the Officers
of Government , his bureaus broke open , ancl ins papers seized , to serve as evidence in the prosecution which was to follow . From his imprisonment he was relieved , on a writ of Habeas Corpus , by the Court of Common Pleas ; but the offensive number of Tbe North Briton was ordered by both Houses of Parliament to be burned b y the common hangman ; and soon after Mr . Wilkes was expelled the House of Commons as the author of that paper . At the same time
he was proceeded against by the House of Lords for a breach of privilege in the person of Warburton , Bishop of Gloucester , who had been mentioned in a Judicurous and indecent poem , called An Essay on Woman , which is well known to be a . travestie of Mr . Pope ' s Essay on Man . Of this poem , which was not written by Mr . Wilkes , a few copies only were printed at a private press in his house , and a journeyman printer employed there , had been bribed to purloin one of them for the criminating purpose to ivhich it was now appropriated .
While both Plouses of Parliament were thus letting loose their vengeance against him , Mr . Wilkes was prosecuted in the Courts below as a libeller and a blasphemer ; and having , after his duel with Mr . Martin , then Secretary of the Treasury , retired to France , he was in a short time , to use the cant term of the law , run to an outlawry . The short-lived Administration of the Marquis of Rockingham now
succeeded , but no inclination was manifested to restore Mr . Wilkes to his country . He flattered himself , however , when his former friend , the Duke of Grafton , became Prime Minister , that his expectations , which had been disappointed by that Nobleman ' s predecessor , would now be realized . But it does not appear to have been the destiny of Mr . Wilkes to receive protection or support from the
leaders of any political party , whether in or out of power , and the Noble Duke , who had so approved his conduct , and lamented his sufferings , when at length it was in his power to have relieved him , deceived and deserted him . With that determined spirit , therefore , which seems never to have forsaken him , he returned to England , and , with an outlawry hanging over his head , offered himself as a candidate to represent the city of London in Parliament , with a very encouraging
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Further Memoir Of John Wilkes.
• ipal writer of a periodical paper called The North Briton , the first number of which appeared June 5 , 17 63 . This paper , fn which he Was assisted bv Charles Churchill , the poet , declared hostilities against the existing Ministers and the Scotch nation . It did not fail to attract the attention of the public , from the acrimonious boldness with which it was written , and was read with avidity , because its invectives were directedagainstanunpopularMinisterThough these
nrincipally . papers are now but little read , they had their share in driving Lord Bute from power , and when George Grenville succeeded him , his apprehensions of the North Briton influenced him rather to crush than conciliate the authors of it . The well known Number forty-five soon gave him and his colleagues an opportunity to attempt the former , and the career of prosecuting and persecuting Mr .. Wilkes soon began . He ivas taken into custody by a general warrant , and committed a close prisoner to the Tower , while his house was entered by the Officers
of Government , his bureaus broke open , ancl ins papers seized , to serve as evidence in the prosecution which was to follow . From his imprisonment he was relieved , on a writ of Habeas Corpus , by the Court of Common Pleas ; but the offensive number of Tbe North Briton was ordered by both Houses of Parliament to be burned b y the common hangman ; and soon after Mr . Wilkes was expelled the House of Commons as the author of that paper . At the same time
he was proceeded against by the House of Lords for a breach of privilege in the person of Warburton , Bishop of Gloucester , who had been mentioned in a Judicurous and indecent poem , called An Essay on Woman , which is well known to be a . travestie of Mr . Pope ' s Essay on Man . Of this poem , which was not written by Mr . Wilkes , a few copies only were printed at a private press in his house , and a journeyman printer employed there , had been bribed to purloin one of them for the criminating purpose to ivhich it was now appropriated .
While both Plouses of Parliament were thus letting loose their vengeance against him , Mr . Wilkes was prosecuted in the Courts below as a libeller and a blasphemer ; and having , after his duel with Mr . Martin , then Secretary of the Treasury , retired to France , he was in a short time , to use the cant term of the law , run to an outlawry . The short-lived Administration of the Marquis of Rockingham now
succeeded , but no inclination was manifested to restore Mr . Wilkes to his country . He flattered himself , however , when his former friend , the Duke of Grafton , became Prime Minister , that his expectations , which had been disappointed by that Nobleman ' s predecessor , would now be realized . But it does not appear to have been the destiny of Mr . Wilkes to receive protection or support from the
leaders of any political party , whether in or out of power , and the Noble Duke , who had so approved his conduct , and lamented his sufferings , when at length it was in his power to have relieved him , deceived and deserted him . With that determined spirit , therefore , which seems never to have forsaken him , he returned to England , and , with an outlawry hanging over his head , offered himself as a candidate to represent the city of London in Parliament , with a very encouraging