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