WILKES, Joirx, a celebrated public character, was b. in London, Oct. 17, 1727. His father, a brewer or distiller at Clerkenwell, sent him when a lad to the university of Ley den, where he received an excellent education. On his return to England in 1749 he married a Miss Mead, an heiress, ten years his senior. His good manners, learning, ready wit, and open table secured him many friends, but extravagance and dissipation soon involved him in difficulties. He and his wife separated, and in a lawsuit which followed, facts came out most damaging to his character. He was neverthelesg named high sheriff of Buckinghamshire, and in 1757 returned to parliament as member for Aylesbury. In the house he joined in the popular clamor against lord Bute; and in June, 1762, founded a paper entitled the North Briton, in which he denounced him with such vigor and success as to drive him from the ministry. He attacked with equal bit terness the next ministry, insinuating that although Mr. Greville was nominally at the head of affairs, lord Bute still had the ear of the king. In the 45th number of the North Briton, he charged the king with having uttered a falsehood from the throne, and in consequence, his house was entered, and his papers were seized. He was himself com mitted to the Toer, on a general warrant. But he was released by chief-justice Pratt, on account of his' privilege as a member of parliament. His paper was burned by order of the house of commons; but a riot ensued, showing that public sympathy went with Wilkes. A prosecution was next instituted against the under-secretary of state by Wilkes for the illegal seizure bf his papers; and he obtained £1000 damages—a declara tion being at the same time made by the chief-justice that general warrants are illegal. Wilkes then went to France, on the plea of bad health, and was expelled from the house of commons. In his absence he was convicted of having printed privately an obscene poem, of which he was one of the authors. It was hoped that evidence of his immoral character would disguSt the public with him. But the copy of the book on which the prosecution had been founded had been obtained surreptitiously from a printer employed; and this fact becoming known, the steps taken by the government, instead of injuring Wilkes, only added to the outcry against ministers. On the formation of a
new ministry under the duke of Grafton Wilkes returned to England, and becoming a candidate for Middlesex, harangued great crowds in London. After his election he was arrested, in consequence of his outlawry; and on the way to prison he was rescued by a mob. He, however, after it had dispersed, voluntarily gave himself up to justice. When parliament met, a crowd assembled to convoy him to the house of commons. A riot took place, and the military were ordered to fire on the mob in St. George's Fields. Many persons were wounded, and one was killed. The coroner's jury who sat on the body returned a verdict of murder against the magistrate who had given the order to fire; and he was tried for that crime, but acquitted. Wilkes secured a copy of a letter from lord Weymouth to the chairman of the Lambeth quarter sessions in which it was recommended that the military should be employed to suppress disturbances in London. It was published with a preface by Wilkes, in which lie charged the secretary of state with having planned " the massacre in St. George's Fields." The house declared the preface to contaiu a seditious libel, and Wilkes was again expelled. He was after this re-elected several times as member for Middlesex; but the elections were declared void. Col. Luttrell, who vacated his seat and opposed him,,obtained only 300 votes; but he was declared to be duly elected, in defiance of a protest from the whole country. Wilkes, still in prisou, was now recognized as the champion of public liberty, and became the most popular man in England. In 1769 he obtained a verdict against lora Halifax in the court of common pleas, with £4,000 damages. He was shorly after dis charged from prison on giving a bond for good behavior during seven years.In 1774 he was chosen lord mayor of London, and again returned for Middlesex, which he con tinued to represent for many years. In 1782 the resolution by which he bad been declared incapable of re-election was expunged from the minutes of the house of com mons, as subversive of constitutional rights. The other resolutions relating to Wilkes were at the same time expunged. Two years later he withdrew from the house of com mons. Eld died Dec. 27, 1797.