WILKES, JOHN, an English political agitator; born in London, England, Oct. 17, 1727; was educated for some time at Leyden; was elected to Parliament as member for Aylesbury (1757), and at tained considerable notoriety by the pub lication of a paper entitled the "North Briton," in No. 45 of which (1763) he commented severely on the king's speech to Parliament. The home secretary in consequence issued a general warrant, on which Wilkes, with others, was ap prehended and committed to the Tower, but released by Chief-Justice Pratt, who declared the prosecution illegal. On the next meeting of Parliament, however, a special law was passed to sanction his prosecution, and in 1764 he was expelled from the House of Commons. As he had by this time withdrawn to France and did not appear to receive sentence, he was outlawed. He returned, however, to England at the election of 1768, and was sent to Parliament as representative of Middlesex, but was expelled from the House and committed to prison. Three times after this he was re-elected within a few months by the same constituency, but the House of Commons persisted in keeping him out, giving rise to a formid able agitation in favor of "Wilkes and liberty." He was released from prison in 1770, having been elected alderman of London, and he was next appointed sheriff of Middlesex, lord-mayor of Lon don, and again (1774) member of Parlia ment for Middlesex. On this occasion he was allowed to take his seat, and in 1782 the resolutions respecting the disputed Middlesex election were expunged from the journals of the House of Commons. He published many speeches and pam phlets, and two collections of his corre spondence were published after his death, in London, Dec. 27, 1797.
a city of Pennsyl vania, the county-seat of Luzerne co. It
is on the Susquehanna river, and on the Lehigh Valley, the Pennsylvania, the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley, the Delaware and Hudson, and the Central of New Jersey railroads. Wilkes-Barre is the center of the largest anthracite coal center in the world. It has, in addi tion, other important industries, includ ing the largest axle and spring factory in the world; one of the largest wire and rope mills; and large locomotive and steel works. There are also 22 silk mills, a large lace mill, and manufactories of hosiery, shirts, mattresses, etc. There are 25 miles of paved streets and 52 miles of sewers. The parks have an area of over 300 acres, and there are over 200 churches of all denominations. The hos pitals include four free hospitals, one private, and one contagious disease hos pital. The city has excellent educational advantages. There are 25 public schools, 2 parochial schools, 3 business schools, and 3 private schools, with a total enroll ment of over 15,000. There are exten sion schools of the University of Penn sylvania and of Pennsylvania State Col lege. In the city are 26 banks and trust companies, and total combined savings deposits of $66,978,400 in 1919. The total clearings in that year were $133, 507,744. There are many wholesale es tablishments, dealing in over 125 classes of articles. The assessed valuation of the city in 1919 was $79,000,000. The valuation of the products of the manu facturing industries in the same year was $75,000,000. The city was founded in 1769 and incorporated in 1806. It became a city in 1871. Coal has been mined in the vicinity since the Revolu tionary period. Pop. (1910) 67,105; (1920) 73,833.