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thor of this paper, whoever he may be, has, upon conftitutional principles, done directly the reverfe, and is therefore in me, the fuppofed author, meant to be perfecuted accordingly; the particular cruelties of my treatment, worse than if I had been a Scots rebel, this court will hear, and I dare fay, from your juftice, in due time redress.

I may, perhaps, ftill have the means left me to fhew that I have been fuperior to every temptation of corruption. They may, indeed, have flattered themselves, that when they found corruption could not prevail, perfecution might intimidate. I will fhew myfelf fuperior to both. My papers have been feized, perhaps with a hope the better to deprive me of that proof of their meannefs and corrupt prodigality, which it may poffibiy, in a proper place, be yet in my power to give."

The cafe was then learnedly argued by eminent lawyers on both fides, and when they had finished, the court, after making a polite excufe to Mr. Wilkes for the delay, took time to confider the cafe, and to give their opinion; therefore they remanded him prifoner to the tower till Friday the 6th of May, at which time he was ordered to be brought up, that the affair might be finally determined; but directions were given, that, in the mean time, both his friends and lawyers fhould have free access to him.

the militia for the county of Buckingham, I am commanded to fignify his majesty's pleasure to your lordfhip, that you do forthwith give the neceffary orders for difplacing Mr. Wilkes, as an officer in the militia for the faid county of Buckingham. I am, my lord, &c. EGREMONT.

In confequence of which letter, his lordship immediately wrote the following to Mr. Wilkes:

Sir, Pall-Mall, May 5, 1763. the tower, I received the inclosed "At my return laft night from letter from the earl of Egremont: in confequence of his majesty's commands therein fignified, you will please to obferve, that you tia for the county of Buckingham. longer continue colonel of the mili

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I cannot, at the fame time, help expreffing the concern I feel in the lofs of an officer, by his deportment in command endeared to the whole corps. I am, Sir, &c.

TEMPLE.

To which Mr. Wilkes made the following return:

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My Lord, Tower, May 5, 1763. "I have this moment the ho'nour of your lordship's letter, fignifying his majefty's commands, that I should no longer continue colonel of the militia for the county of Buckingbam. I have only to return your lordship my warmeft thanks for the fpirit and zeal you have fhewn in the fupport of that conftitutional measure from the very beginning. Your lordship will pleafe to rememWhitehall, May 4, 1763. moft who offered their fervices to ber, that I was among the fore

Next day lord Temple received the following letter:

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their country at that crifis.

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My Lord, "The king having judged it im-inghamshire is fenfible, and has alproper that John Wilkes, Efq; fhould ways acknowledged, that no man any longer continue to be colonel of but your lordship could have given

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even of high treason itself, no less induftriously than falfely circulated by my cruel and implacable enemies, together with all the various infolence of office, form but a part of my unexampled ill-treatment, Such inhuman principles of far chamber tyranny will, I truft, by this court, upon this folemn occafion, be finally extirpated; and henceforth every innocent man,, however poor and unfupported, may hope to fleep in peace and fecurity in his own house, unviolated by king's meffengers, and the arbitrary mandates of an over-bearing fecretary of state.

I will no longer delay your juf tice. The nation is impatient to hear, nor can be fafe or happy till that is obtained. If. the fame perfecution is after all to carry me before another court, I hope I fhall find that the genuine fpirit of Magna Charta, that glorious inheritance, that diftinguishing cha racteristic of Englishinen, is as religiously revered there, as I know it is bere, by the great perfonages before whom I have now the happinefs to ftand; and (as in the evermemorable cafe of the imprisoned bifhops) that an independent jury of free-born Englishmen will perfift to determine my fate, as in confcience bound, upon conftitutional principles, by a verdict of guilty or not guilty. I ask no more at the hands of my countrymen."

"Far, be it from me to regret that I have paffed fo many more days in captivity, as it will have afforded you an opportunity of doing, upon mature reflection and repeated examination, the more fignal justice to my country. The liberty of all peers and gentlemen, and what touches me more fenfibly, that of all the middling and inferior clafs of people, who stand most in need of protection, is in my cafe this day to be finally decided upon a question of fuch importance as to determine at once, whether English liberty be a reality or a fhadow. Your own free-born hearts will feel with indignation and compaffion all that load of oppreffion. When Mr. Wilkes had made an under which I have fo long labour- end, lord chief juftice Pratt flood ed. Clofe imprisonment, the ef- up, and delivered the opinion of the fect of premeditated malice, all court on the three following heads, accefs for more than two days which were chiefly infifted on by denied to me, my houfe ranfacked council: and plundered, my moft private and fecret concerns divulged, every vile and malignant infinuation,

First, The legality of Mr. Wilkes's commitment.

Secondly, The neceflity for a

fpecification of thofe particular paffages in the 45th number of the North Briton, which had been deemed a libel. And,

Thirdly, Mr. Wilkes's privilege as a member of parliament. In regard to the first, his lordfhip remarked, that he would confider a fecretary of state's warrant, through the whole affair, as nothing fuperior to the warrant of a common juftice of the peace and that no magiftrate had, in reality, a right ex officio, to apprehend any perfon, without ftating the particular crime of which he was accufed; but at the fame time he obferved there were many precedents where a nice combination of circumftances gave fo ftrong a fufpicion of facts, that though the magiftrate could not be juftified ex officio, he was, nevertheless, fupported in the commitment, even without receiving any particular information for the foundation of his charge. The word charge, his lordship took notice, was in general much mifunderstood, and did not mean the accufation brought against any perfon taken up, but his commitment by the magiftrate before whom he might be brought. Upon the whole of this point, according to the customary rule which had been for a feries of years obferved by the fages of the law, even in the reign of Charles the fecond, when this matter was fo frequently contested, his lordship v of opinion, that Mr. Wilkes's commitment was not illegal. dan In relation to the next article, which required a specification of the particular paffages in the North Briton which were deemed a libel, his lordship took notice that the infertion of these paffages, fo far as

they related to the point in queftion, was not at all neceffary; for even fuppofing the whole of the 45th North Briton had been inferted in the body of the warrant, yet it by no means came under his lordship's cognizance at that time; for the matter in confideration then was, not the nature of the of fence, but the legality of the commitment; the nature of the of fence not refting in the bofom of a judge without the affiftance of a jury, and not being a proper fubject of enquiry, till regularly brought on to be tried in the curtomary way of proceeding.

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With refpect to the third and laft point, how far Mr. Wilkes had a right to plead his privilege as a member of parliament, his lordfhip remarked, that there but three cafes which could poffibly affect the privilege of a mem ber of parliament, and these were treafon, felony, and the peace. The peace, as it is written in the inftitutes of the law, his lordship explained to fignify a breach of the peace. He remarked, that when the feven bishops were fent to the tower, the plea which was used when the fpiritual lords contended for their privilege, was, that they had endeavoured to disturb the peace, This, at that arbitrary time, was judged fufficient to forfeit their privilege; but his lordship took notice, that, out of the four judges then upon the bench, there was but one honeft man, Powel, and he declined giving any opinion. His lordship then obferved, that the privilege of parliament fhould be held facred and inviolable, and as there were but three particular cafes in which that privilege was forfeited, it only re

mained to examine how far Mr. Wilkes's was endangered. Mr. Wilkes flood accufed of writing a libel; a libel in the fenfe of the law was a high misdemeanor, but did not come within the defcription of treafon, felony, or breach of the peace; at moft it had but a tendency to difturb 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 discharged. He had not, however, quitted the court, when a gentleman of eminence in the law stood up, and told the lord chief juftice 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 tood up and faid:

My Lords,

"Great as my joy muft naturally be at the decifion which this court, with a true fpirit of liberty, has been pleafed 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 myfelf 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 nation, and from all the fubjects of the English crown. They will be paid you together with every teftimony of zeal and affe&tion to the learned ferjeant*, who has fo ably and conftitutionally pleaded my caufe, and in mine (with pleafure I fay it) the caufe of liberty. Eve ry teftimony of my gratitude is justly due to you, and I take my leave of this court with a venera tion and refpect, which no time can obliterate, nor can the most grateful heart fufficiently exprefs."

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When Mr. Wilkes had ended, the audience expreffed their fatisfaction by an universal shout, which was often repeated. Mr. Wilkes ftaid fome little time in a room adjoining to the court, in expectation that the crowd would difperfe; but finding it to no purpofe, 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 Westminfter-hall, where I have been difcharged from my commitment to the tower, under your 13 warrant, I find that, my houfe has been robbed, and am informed that the ftolen goods are in the poffef fion of one or both of your l ps.. I there

Serjeant Glynn.

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Sir,

In answer to your letter of yesterday, in which you took upon you to make ufe 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 majesty, 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 stolen goods; but fuch of your papers as do not lead to a proof of your guilt, fhall be reftored to you fuch as are neceffary for that purpofe, it was our duty to deliver over to thofe whofe of fice it is to collect the evidence, and manage the profecution against

you.

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We are your

humble fervants, EGREMONT. DUNK HALIFAX.”

what an Englishman has a right to, his property taken from him, and faid to be in your lordships poffeflion, that I fhould have received, in anfwer, from perfons in your decent and fcurrilous applied to my high ftation, the expreffions of inlegal 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 higheft and most offenfive manner, the liberties of all the commons of England, prevents my returning you an answer in the fame Billingfgate 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 fubject, and have issued an illegal warrant to feize his property, fhould proceed to fuch libellous expreffions? You fay, that such of my papers fhall 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 juftice; and in that light, if I can believe your lord fhips affurances, the whole will be returned to me. I fear neither your profecution nor your perfecu tion, 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 lordfhips

be fet up, under his own direction, at his houfe in Great Georgeftreet, Welminfter, advertised the proceedings of the adminiftra

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