contributed, had greatly involved his circumstances. His profligate disregard of every thing that was sacred, virtuous, or decent, had ruined his character. In this situation, he had applied to Lord Bute for some employment which might enable him to extricate himself from his difficulties. His character was so notorious, that Bute, who professed a great regard for religion, and especially for the established church, could not with any decency patronize him, though a man who, from his principles and desperate fortunes, might have easily been rendered the willing tool of any designs, how. ever arbitrary. Disappointed, Wilkes, in revenge, resolved to pour out invectives against ministry, and established the North Briton for that purpose. The observations were so trite, vague, and superficial, that Lord Bute did not appear, for a considerable time, to pay any attention to the work. After his resignation, No. 45 was so audacious as to pour out the most false, and scurrilous abuse against the Sovereign himself. Silent contempt would have suffered this paper speedily to pass into merited oblivion; but the imprudent eagerness of ministry to punish its author, raised both the paper and him to a notice which, probably, neither would have otherwise attained. Wilkes had before been little known, except for his profligacy: the ministers raised him to eminence. His fortune had been entirely ruined by vice and extrava.

gance: the prosecution paved the way to opulence. Discontent was already very great; the proceedings against him made it spread with astonishing rapidity.

Lord Mansfield, by far the ablest of those members who generally supported Government, was averse to the prosecution of Wilkes. “I am," said he, " decidedly against the prosecu, tion: his consequence will die away, if you let him alone; but by public notice of him, you will increase that consequence-the very thing he covets, and has in full view."

The resentment, however, of the court overcame sound policy. The ministers, by apprehending him on a general warrant, overstepped the boundaries of law. This deviation from legal precision (though frequently precedented, according to Blackstone, in extraordinary cases), was construed, by the popular leaders and their followers, to be a flagrant invasion of constitutional rights, and a justification of their fears respecting the arbitrary designs of the Court. Indeed, not the popular leaders only, but one of the first sages of the law, Lord Chief Justice Pratt (afterwards Camden), considered the apprehension as illegal. Even many of those, who, before, had been well disposed towards Government, were seized with the contagion, and joined with its most violent opponents, in associating the ideas of WILKES AND LIBERTY. Wilkes took advantage of this de

lusion. It was a remark often made by him to his intimates, "That the public was a goose, and that a man was a great fool not to pluck a feather." He set up a printing press, published the proceedings against him at one guinea a copy, and considerably bettered his finances. Many men, of real talents and virtue, thought it a duty of patriotism to support, when oppressed, a man, whose private profligacy they abhorred. Perhaps they might reason on the principle so ably maintained by Cæsar, in his speech on the discovery of Catiline's conspiracy, that deviations from established law are more dangerous when they regard worthless, than worthy characters, as the wickedness of the individual may draw away the attention of men from the arbitrariness of the measure; and thus the illegal act more easily steal into a precedent. The persecution of Wilkes was one of the principal causes of the internal discontents, which marked the early part of the present reign. The infamous Essay on Woman,* his expulsion from the House of Commons, the prosecution

Accompanied by notes, stated in the title-page to be the production of Bishop Warburton; for which the Lords prosecuted Wilkes, as guilty of a breach of their privileges. The pretended imputation of obscene writing to a Bishop of high character had not even the merit of originality. The Latin poems, intituled MEURSIUS, as obscene and profane as the Essa on Woman (with infinitely more wit, in fine language, and very elegant verse), were so called from a German Bishop, of very great sanctity and virtue.

of the Lords, the indictments for blasphemy from the inferior courts, and the demands of his creditors, concurred in driving him to exile. He might himself have been forgotten, had not subsequent injustice, at the instance of another ministry, rekindled the popular flame. But, though Wilkes was descending to oblivion, the dissatisfaction was by no means subsiding. The proceedings respecting the infamous Essay were not attributed to a laudable zeal in favour of piety and morality, but to resentment against a person who had exposed the measures of ministry, and was likely to receive, from the laws of his country, satisfaction for their illegal conduct. The Essay had not been published: a nobleman, once the intimate companion of Wilkes, and not more distinguished than he for virtue and holiness, procured a copy, from the confidence of friendship, and was the discoverer.* Many of the most important measures of the legislature and executive government, many of the most important questions discussed in the courts of justice, were either derived from the proceedings of Wilkes and his abettors, or with them and their consequences intimately connected. These, there

Happy (says the witty Earl of Chesterfield, in one of his letters to his son) is it for this nation, that God hath been pleased to raise up, in Mr. Wilkes, a patriotic defender of our rights and liberties; and, in the Earl of Sandwich, so zealous a defender of our religion and morals!

fore, must be held in view, by all who would judge impartially of the great political actors.

While discontent was spreading in England, disaffection much more formidable was fast increasing in America, which, if party at home did not engender, it certainly nourished. The discontent of America had its origin in a new system adopted by Government. This was, to raise, by authority of Parliament, a revenue from the colonies, which had hitherto taxed themselves. The system may be traced back to the administration of Lord Bute; an administration, which, combined with his subse. quent influence, and the influence of those who imbibed his sentiments, has been the source of very momentous consequences to this country. One branch of the policy by which Bute thought his plans of government likely to be most effectually carried into execution, was to keep up a much larger peace establishment of the army than formerly. To support this additional army, an additional revenue was necessary; the more difficult, as Britain was very much exhausted by the war recently concluded. Mr. George Grenville, the ostensible Prime Minister, had devoted much of his time and attention to finance, and was esteemed a very skilful financier. His skill, however, was directed more to the productiveness of the duty than the policy of the taxation. In devising various schemes of revenue, it appeared to him that