Chapter VI

John Wilkes, the _pseudo_ “Champion of Liberty”--W.
Hogarth as a partisan--His attack on Wilkes and Churchill,
the _North Briton_, 45--Hogarth’s unfortunate political
satires--“The Times,” Plate I., 1762--Lord Bute as Hogarth’s
patron--“The Epistle to Hogarth,” by Churchill--“The
Times,” Plate II., withheld from publication; given to
the public in 1790--The demagogue tried in court at
Westminster--Hogarth’s print of “John Wilkes, a patriot”--The
_North Briton_, No. 45--Severe animadversions on Hogarth by
Wilkes and Churchill--The “Bruiser,” Charles Churchill, by
Hogarth--His reprisal--Hogarth, Wilkes, and Churchill: “A
Bear Leader”--Wilkes’s illegal imprisonment on “a general
warrant”--Wilkes in the Tower--“A Safe Place,” 1763--“Daniel
cast into the Den of Lions; or, True Blue will never stain,”
1763--Wilkes set at liberty--His appearance in parliament,
and duel--Wilkes absconds to Paris--Is outlawed for contempt
of court--Returns from Paris, and contests the City of London
at the general election, 1768--The City candidates--The
nomination--The poll--Wilkes at the bottom of the poll--The
adulation of the mob--Wilkes’s letter to the king--His
submission to the Treasury--Wilkes a candidate for the
county of Middlesex--“The Return of Liberty,” and “Liberty
revived”--The Brentford election--Violent conduct of the
“Wilkes and Liberty” mob--Candidates for Middlesex--“No.
45 N.B.”--Wilkes returned for Middlesex--Dr. Franklin on
“Wilkes and the Brentford election”--“John Wilkes elected
Knight of the Shire for Middlesex, March 28, 1768, by the
Free Voice of the People”--More of the “Wilkes and Liberty”
riots--The mob in London--Universal turbulence--The attack on
the Mansion House--“The Laird of the Boot”--“The Rape of the
Petticoat”--Lord Bute and the Princess of Wales--The _Oxford
Magazine_ on the valour of the Lord Mayor--The view taken by
the _Political Register_--Ballad on Lord Mayor Harley’s seizure
of the “Boot and Petticoat”--Surrender of Wilkes--Released
by the rabble--His second surrender--“The Scot’s Triumph; or,
a Peep behind the Curtain”--Wilkes a prisoner in the King’s
Bench--The Wilkes riots in St. George’s Fields--Southwark in
a state of siege--The military under arms--Wilkes’s address
from the King’s Bench Prison, “To the Gentlemen, Clergy, and
Freeholders of the County of Middlesex”--The mob demonstration
outside the King’s Bench on the opening of parliament--The
Riot Act read--The massacre of St. George’s Fields--The case
of William Allen, deliberately assassinated--“The Scotch
Victory; murder of Allen by a Grenadier.--St. George’s Fields,
1768”--The ministerial approval of the butcheries by the
soldiers--Justice Gillam--The circumstances of the riot--The
soldiers tried--The murderer shielded from justice; his escape,
and subsequent pension--Horne Tooke as a witness--He brings
the guilty to justice--The defence by the Government--“The
Operation,” 1768--“Murder screened and rewarded” 157