mained to examine how far Mr. Wilkes's was endangered. Mr. Wilkes ftood accused of writing a libel; a libel in the fenfe of the law was a high misdemeanor, but did not come within the description of treafon, felony, or breach of the peace; at most it had but a tendency to disturb the peace, and confequently could not be fufficient to deftroy the privilege of a member of parliament. Thus was this point of privilege determined, and Mr. Wilkes im mediately difcharged. He had not, however, quitted the court, when a gentleman of eminence in the law ftood up, and told the lord chief justice that he had just received a note from the attorney and folicitor-general, to intreat his lordship not to give Mr. Wilkes leave to depart till their coming, which would be inftant, as they had fomething to offer against his plea of privilege. The motion was, however, rejected; upon which Mr. Wilkes ftood up and said : My Lords, "Great as my joy muft naturally be at the decifion which this court, with a true fpirit of liberty, has been pleased to make concerning the unwarrantable feizure of my perfon, and all the other confequential grievances, allow me to affure you that I feel it far lefs fenfibly on my own account, than I do for the public. The fufferings of an individual are a trifling object, when compared with the whole, and I fhould blufn to feel for myself in comparison with confiderations of a nature fo tranfcendently fuperior. I will not trouble you with my poor thanks.-Thanks are due to you from the whole English na tion, and from all the fubjects of the English crown. They will be paid you together with every teftimony of zeal and affection to the learned ferjeant, who has fo ably and conftitutionally pleaded my caufe, and in mine (with pleasure I fay it) the caufe of liberty. Every teftimony of my gratitude is justly due to you, and I take my leave of this court with a veneration and refpect, which no time can obliterate, nor can the moit grateful heart fufficiently exprefs.' When Mr. Wilkes had ended, the audience expreffed their fatisfaction by an univerfal fhout, which was often repeated. Mr. Wilkes ftaid fome little time in a room adjoining to the court, in expectation that the crowd would disperse; but finding it to no purpose, he walked out of the back door of the Common Pleas, and was received by a prodigious multitude of people, who attended him to his houfe in Great George-ftreet, Weftminfter, where being entered, he went into his dining room fronting the ftreet, and throwing open his windows, paid his compliments to the populace. The next day the following letter was printed, and fome thoufands of it difperfed: Great George-ftreet, May 6, 1763. "On my return here from Weftminfter-hall, where I have been discharged from my commitinent to the tower, under your 19 warrant, I find that my houfe has been robbed, and am informed that the ftolen goods are in the poffeffion of one or both of your Ips. * Serjeant Glynn. I there Sir, In anfwer to your letter of yefterday, in which you took upon you to make use of the indecent and fcurrilous expreflions of your having found your houfe had been robb'd, and that the stolen goods are in our poffeffion; we acquaint you that your papers were feized in confequence of the heavy charge brought against you, for being the author of an infamous and feditious libel, tending to inflame the minds, and alienate the affections of the people from his majefty, and excite them to traiterous infurrections against the government; for which libel, notwithstanding your discharge from your commitment to the tower, his majefty has ordered you to be profecuted by his attorney-general. We are at a lofs to guess what you mean by folen goods; but fuch of your papers as do no lead to a proof of your guilt, fhall be reftored to you fuch as are neceffary for that purpose, it was our duty to deliver over to those whofe of fice it is to collect the evidence, and manage the profecution against his what an Englishman has a right to, property taken from him, and faid to be in your lordships poffeflion, that I fhould have received, in anfwer, from perfons in your high ftation, the expreffions of indecent and fcurrilous applied to my legal demand. The refpect I bear to his majesty, whofe fervants, it feems, you ftill are, though you ftand legally convicted of having in me violated, in the highest and moft offenfive manner, the liberties of all the commons of England, prevents my returning you an anfwer in the fame Billing/gate language. If I confidered you only in your private capacities, I fhould treat you both according to your deferts; but where is the wonder that men, who have attacked the facred liberty of the subject, and have iffued an illegal warrant to feize his property, fhould proceed to fuch libellous expreflions? You say, that such of my papers shall be restored to me as do not lead to a proof of my guilt. I owe this to your apprehenfion of an action, not to your love of justice; and in that light, if I can believe your lordships affurances, the whole will be returned to me. I fear neither your profecution nor your perfecution, and I will affert the fecurity of my own houfe, the liberty of my perfon, and every right of the people, not fo much for my own fake, as for the fake of every one of my English fellow fubjects. I am, my lords, &c. J. WILKES. Soon after this, Mr. Wilkes This was foon fucceeded by the having caufed a printing prefs to following reply: My Lords, "Little did I expect, when I was requiring from your lordships be fet up, under his own direction, at his houfe in Great Georgeftreet, Weftminster, advertised the proceedings of the adminiftra tion, tion, with all the original papers, at the price of a guinea; and the North Briton again made its appearance. But this fhaft feemed to make little impreffion on those it was aimed at; for an information was filed against him in the court of King's Bench, at his majefty's fuit, as author of the aforefaid North Briton, No. XLV. And, as ufual in such cases, on the meeting of parliament a message was fent to acquaint the lower house with the informations his majefty had received, that John Wilkes, Efq; a member of that house, was the author of a moft feditious and dangerous libel; and with the measures that had been taken thereupon; and the examinations and proofs of faid libel were likewife laid before the houfe, and the North Briton, No. XLV, was adjudged "a falfe, fcandalous, and feditious libel, containing expreffions of the most unexampled infolence and contumely towards his majefty, the groffeft afperfions upon both houfes of parliament, and the moft audacious defiance of the authority of the whole legislature, and most manifeftly tending to alienate the affections of the people from his majesty, to withdraw them from their obedience to the laws of the realm, and to excite them to traiterous infurrections against his majefty's government; and ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman." On the fame day Mr. Wilkes complained of breach of privilege, by the imprisonment of his perfon, the plundering of his houfe, the feizing of his papers, and the ferving him with a fubpoena upon an information in the court of King's Bench, &c. But Samuel Martin, Efq; member for Camelford, and late fecretary of the treasury, having been grofsly affronted in the North Briton, and prefuming, by what had paffed, and other informations received, that Mr. Wilkes was the author of that abuse, took an opportunity of demanding fatisfaction; on which a duel enfued, and Mr. Wilkes received a dangerous wound in the belly with a piftol-bullet. This occafioned various fpeculations, and men of moderate principles were willing to hope, that the divifions, by which the nation in general was agitated, would immediately fubfide by his death, which they looked upon as certain, and that all parties and difputes would ceafe, within doors and without, when that event happened. However, his indifpofition made no other alteration in the courfe of proceedings, than to difable him, if it had been fo determined, to answer to a complaint exhibited against him in the upper house for affixing the name of a member of that houfe to a moft infamous, wicked, and blafphemous book, intituled An Effay on Woman'; which book was pub licly produced, to the eternal dif grace of every perfon concerned in writing and printing it. As to publifhing this extraordinary performance, it did not appear that there was any intention to expofe it to fale. But about a dozen copies of it were printed for the use, it was faid, of a select club, to which Mr. Wilkes had the honour to belong; and this, too, with fo much fecrecy, that it was by mere chance fome fcraps of it got out of the printer's houfe, and with the greatest difficulty a compleat copy of it was procured. But to return. In the course of bufinefs, his majesty's meffage con3 tinued tinued to be confidered, and the important queftion, whether privilege of parliament extends to the writing and publishing feditious libels, or ought to be allowed to obftruct the ordinary courfe of the laws in the Speedy and effectual profecution of fo heinous and dangerous an offence, was finally determined in the negative; by which the authority of warrants from his majesty's principal fecretaries of ftate, and the commitments thereupon, feem, on all fimilar occafions, to be eftablished. So folemn a decifion concerning privilege will, it is hoped, be attended with this good effect, that the ordinary employers of the prefs will be more cautious in their publications, when they perceive that even the great fenators of the realm are not permitted to patronize feditious writings. When the fentence, paffed on the North Briton, came to be executed at the Royal Exchange, a great mob affembled there, who not only pelted the executioner, the conftables, and the inferior officers, with filth and dirt, but infulted the chief officers prefent in the groffeft manner; the fore-glafs of the chariot of Mr. Harley, one of the high fheriffs, and a member of parliament for the city of London, was broken by a billet thrown at his perfon, which was taken from the fire that was kindled to confume the North Briton. Harley being flightly wounded, and obferving the spirit of licentioufnefs that prevailed among the multitude, haftened to the manfion houfe to apprife the lord mayor of the danger. The hangman thinking it his duty to follow the high fheriff, made his retreat too as foon after as he could; and the conftables, moft of their ftaves being broken Mr. by the furious refiftance they had made, mixed among the crowd, and marched off without further oppofition. However, one of the rioters was taken, and the North Briton was partly confumed by means of a lighted link on which it was placed, by the zeal of the proper officers. The fcraps of it refcued from the flames by the violence of the affailants, were, it is faid, carried off in triumph, and in the evening difplayed at Temple Bar, where a bonfire was made, and a large jack boot committed to the flames in the room of them, amidst the acclamations of a vast concourse of people. The houfe of commons having taken cognizance of this riot, thanked the fheriffs of London for their fpirited behaviour on the occafion, and addreffed his majesty that he might order the offenders to be brought to juftice. In confequence of this addrefs, a warrant was fent from the secretary of ftate's office to the lord mayor, directing diligent fearch to be made after the rioters; but it does not appear that any have yet been difcovered in confequence of this warrant. The city of London did not appear to confider the affront thus offered to their officers in as heinous a light, as the houfe of commons did that offered to their order; for when, fome days after, at a court of common council, a motion was made, "That the thanks of this court be given to the hon. Thomas Harley, and Richard Blunt, Efq; fheriffs of this city, for their fpirited conduct in executing the order of both houfes of parliament, and vindicat. ing the honour and authority of the magiftracy of this city, in the late dangerous riot in Cornhill on Saturday laft; and that Mr. William Huffey, Huffey, the city's follicitor, do profecute John Franklin, now a prifoner in Newgate, for the infolent a fault committed by him upon the faid fheriffs in the execution of their duty; it paffed in the negative. Mr. Wilkes, not content with the complaint, which he had made to the houfe of commons, of a breach of their privilege in his perfon, commenced an action in the court of Common Pleas against Robert Wood, Efq; the under fecretary of state, for feizing his papers; and, on the 6th of December, this caufe was tried before lord chief justice Pratt, and a fpecial jury at the defendant's defire, when, after a hearing of near 15 hours, a verdict was given for Mr. Wilkes with 1000 1. damages; and full cofts of fuit. The counsel for Mr. Wilkes were Mr. Serjeant Glynn, the recorder of London, Mr. Stow, Mr. Dunning, Mr. Wallace, and Mr. Gardiner. For Mr. Wood, Sir Fletcher Norton, Mr. Serjeant Nares, Mr. Serjeant Davy, and M. Yates. It is faid the following words clofed the charge to the jury on this important occafion : "This warrant is unconftitutional, illegal, and abfolutely void: it is a general warrant, directed to four meffengers, to take up any perfons, without naming or defcribing them with any certainty, and to bring them, together with their papers. If it be good, a fecretary of late can delegate and depute any one of the meffengers, or any even from the lowest of the people, to take examinations, to commit or releafe, and, in fine, to do every at which the highest judical officers the law knows can do or order. There is no authority in our law books that mention thefe kinds of warrants, VOL. VI. but in exprefs terms condemn them. Upon the matureft confideration I am bold to fay, that this warrant is illegal; but I am far from wishing a matter of this confequence fhould reft folely on my opinion; I am only one of twelve, whofe opinions I am defirous fhould be taken in this matter, and I am very willing to allow myself the meaneit of the twelve. There is alfo a ftill higher court, before which this matter may be canvaffed, and whofe de termination is final; and here I cannot help obferving the happiness of our conftitution in admitting these appeals, in confequence of which material points are determined on the most mature confideration, and with the greatest folemnity. To this admirable delay of the law (for in this cafe the law's delay may be ftiled admirable) I believe it is chiefly owing that we poffefs the best digested and most excellent body of laws which any nation on the face of the globe, whether ancient or modern, could ever boast of. If thefe higher jurifdictions should declare my opinion erroneous, I fubmit as will become me, and kifs the rod; but I must say, I fhall always confider it as a rod of iron for the chattifement of the people of Great Britain." man Soon after this verdi was given for Mr. Wilkes, a knocked at his door, defiing to speak with him on particular bufinefs; but it appearing by his dialect, that he was a Scotchman, and being befides an entire franger, he was refuf-d admittance; on which he went away to a coffee hoale, near Parliament-freet, where a perfon made an affidavit that he overheard him declare, that himlelf and ten more men were dete.mined to [1] cut |