-
Articles/Ads
Article FURTHER MEMOIR OF JOHN WILKES. ← Page 5 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Further Memoir Of John Wilkes.
the Serjeants Glynn and Adair to be their successive Recorders . It also _ associated a considerable number of wealthy and res ^ eftable men , in order to relieve Mr . Wilkes from his pecuniary difficulties , and to secure an handsome independence for his future life . Such were the effeifls which this spirit produced ; but it was a flame that must be continuall y fed to preserve its activity , and the art of supplying it with fuel Mr . Wilkes possessed in a pre-eminent
degree . He . well knew that he must deceive or instigate Govern- ; mentto new persecutions of him , or contrive to keep the former ones alive in the mind of the public , in order to preserve the popular enthusiasm in his favour in a due ssate of vigour and energy . It seems indeed , that in the early , as well as in the succeeding parts of his political career , Mr . Wilkes , whatever his views mi ght be , was determined to acquire tlie resentment of Ministers ; or how are we to
reconcile Ins conduct to our own understanding on the several lmporr tant occasions which I shall proceed to mention ? Mr . Charles Churchill the poet , on seeing No . Forty-five of ¦ the North Briton in manuscri pt , in the most earnest manner intreated Mr . Wilkes to withhold that paper from the press , and pointed cut the obvious ^ and certain consequences of its publication . It was never-, tlieless immediately printed .
_ Earl Temple , with all the authority . which he derived from his rank , his understanding and . approved friendshi p , urged Mr . Wilkes to give up his design of employing a printing press in his own house 5 but that Nobleman's reiterated counsels were disregarded ; and it was . from that press that the copies-of the North Briton and tbe Eisay or . Woman , Sec . were procured , which caused his first expulsion from the House of Commons , and the several concomitant prosecutions in the Courts below .
Serjeant Glynn also implored him again and again to lay aside his intention of publishing the Remarks on Lord Weymouth ' s Letter to the Chairman of the Surry Quarter Sessions , respecting the Riots in St George ' s Fields , and at the same time stated , with the zeal of friendship and his professional experience , the very alarming consequences of such a measure . But Mr . Wilkes disdained the advice even of such a friendand ' met the which the sagacious
, consequences lawyer had foreseen and foretold . < It is also well known , that he mi ght have prevented his second expulsion from the House of Commons , and' have been delivered from fine and imprisonment on terms by no means disgraceful or oppressive to him . Mr . Fitzherbert , one of his ; most intimate friends , was the embassador on this occasion ; nevertheless the embassy was
treated with contempt . Mr . Wilkes acted all this time on the narrow principles of private policy , and not on the broad basis of public good . We have never been induced to believe that genuine patriotism was among his virtues . Nor does it appear that the leading persons of the party which had assumed his-name , and there were many-real constitutional patriots among them , ever a & ed from a personal-regard to him . Indeed , long before its ardour had abated , many of his supporters had separated personally from him ; and Parson Plorne , the Saint Errant of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Further Memoir Of John Wilkes.
the Serjeants Glynn and Adair to be their successive Recorders . It also _ associated a considerable number of wealthy and res ^ eftable men , in order to relieve Mr . Wilkes from his pecuniary difficulties , and to secure an handsome independence for his future life . Such were the effeifls which this spirit produced ; but it was a flame that must be continuall y fed to preserve its activity , and the art of supplying it with fuel Mr . Wilkes possessed in a pre-eminent
degree . He . well knew that he must deceive or instigate Govern- ; mentto new persecutions of him , or contrive to keep the former ones alive in the mind of the public , in order to preserve the popular enthusiasm in his favour in a due ssate of vigour and energy . It seems indeed , that in the early , as well as in the succeeding parts of his political career , Mr . Wilkes , whatever his views mi ght be , was determined to acquire tlie resentment of Ministers ; or how are we to
reconcile Ins conduct to our own understanding on the several lmporr tant occasions which I shall proceed to mention ? Mr . Charles Churchill the poet , on seeing No . Forty-five of ¦ the North Briton in manuscri pt , in the most earnest manner intreated Mr . Wilkes to withhold that paper from the press , and pointed cut the obvious ^ and certain consequences of its publication . It was never-, tlieless immediately printed .
_ Earl Temple , with all the authority . which he derived from his rank , his understanding and . approved friendshi p , urged Mr . Wilkes to give up his design of employing a printing press in his own house 5 but that Nobleman's reiterated counsels were disregarded ; and it was . from that press that the copies-of the North Briton and tbe Eisay or . Woman , Sec . were procured , which caused his first expulsion from the House of Commons , and the several concomitant prosecutions in the Courts below .
Serjeant Glynn also implored him again and again to lay aside his intention of publishing the Remarks on Lord Weymouth ' s Letter to the Chairman of the Surry Quarter Sessions , respecting the Riots in St George ' s Fields , and at the same time stated , with the zeal of friendship and his professional experience , the very alarming consequences of such a measure . But Mr . Wilkes disdained the advice even of such a friendand ' met the which the sagacious
, consequences lawyer had foreseen and foretold . < It is also well known , that he mi ght have prevented his second expulsion from the House of Commons , and' have been delivered from fine and imprisonment on terms by no means disgraceful or oppressive to him . Mr . Fitzherbert , one of his ; most intimate friends , was the embassador on this occasion ; nevertheless the embassy was
treated with contempt . Mr . Wilkes acted all this time on the narrow principles of private policy , and not on the broad basis of public good . We have never been induced to believe that genuine patriotism was among his virtues . Nor does it appear that the leading persons of the party which had assumed his-name , and there were many-real constitutional patriots among them , ever a & ed from a personal-regard to him . Indeed , long before its ardour had abated , many of his supporters had separated personally from him ; and Parson Plorne , the Saint Errant of