“There’s a scene for an Englishman! Patriots ill-us’d,
Magna Charta despised, and poor Freedom abus’d;
Once the love of our country brought profit and pow’r,
But it now, tho’ with glory, sends Wilkes to the Tow’r.”
In the version of “Daniel cast into the Den of Lions; or, True Blue will never stain” (April 29, 1763), Wilkes is shown the centre of a highly elaborate allegorical combination, which deals with the incidents of his arrest, associated with the North Briton, and his obnoxious writings. One of the scenes exhibits the king’s messengers violently breaking into Wilkes’s house, Great George Street, Westminster, and ransacking his receptacles for papers. On the other side, the messengers are shown conducting Wilkes to the Tower, the title “Den of Lions” not being wide of the mark, since it, at that time, was the abiding place of the royal menagerie. Wilkes is made to declare: “Corruption I detest, and Persecution I despise,”—sentiments befitting the patriotic martyr, as he was then believed to be, a “goodly repute” with which he was only too desirous of parting in exchange for such bribes as were weighty enough for his acceptance. In the symbolic view of this new “Daniel,” the goddess Fame hovers over her whilom favourite, with a wreath to crown his brow; she is publishing, through her trumpet, “Magnus est Veritas;” the door of the den which confines the lions is a prominent feature. Below appears the Lieutenant of the Tower; he has a written “counsel’s opinion” in his hand, and is replying to a demand for admittance made by Wilkes’s brother, “Consider, sir, my Lord Temple was not suffered to see him.” When Wilkes was committed to the Tower, both his brother and Earl Temple applied to be admitted to see him, and were refused.
The “general warrant” on which Wilkes was arrested was proved illegal, and on a writ of Habeas Corpus, he was set at liberty on the ground of his privilege as a member of Parliament. After his release from the Tower, Wilkes was involved in a duel, and severely wounded; he then fled to Paris, January, 1764, and was, in his absence, expelled from parliament and outlawed for contempt of court. On the issue of writs for the general election, after the dissolution of parliament, March 12, 1768, Wilkes, who had made several vain attempts to get the sentence reversed, suddenly presented himself as a candidate to represent the city of London, in the interval addressing to the king a submissive letter imploring pardon and the reversal of the sentence of outlawry which had been passed upon him. This petition the king rejected with decision. Although Alderman Sir William Baker was the only citizen of note or influence who supported him, Wilkes persisted in his candidature, the lower people embracing his cause with ardour; but he polled the minimum of votes, and was signally defeated, the successful members being the Hon. Thomas Harley, lord mayor, with 3,729 votes; Sir R. Ladbroke, 3,678; William Beckford, 3,402; Barlow Trecothwick, 2,957. The unsuccessful candidates were Sir Richard Glyn, 2,823; John Patterson, 1,769; and Wilkes, at the bottom of the poll, who contrived to secure 1,247 votes.
On Wilkes’s return from the Guildhall at the close of the poll, March 23, 1768, where, as seen, he obtained the lowest number of votes, the people displayed their fervour for spurious patriotism by removing the horses from his carriage, and drawing it themselves; other extravagancies of a like nature showed the spirit of the multitude, by whom Wilkes was regarded as the tribune of the people, a situation very much to his taste. Considering his mob-popularity assured, he now proposed to conciliate his opponents; the first step was to make a pretence of submission. On the 22nd of March, he wrote to the solicitor of the treasury: “I take the liberty of acquainting you, that in the beginning of the ensuing term I shall present myself to the court of King’s Bench. I pledge my honour as a gentleman, that on the very first day I will there make my personal appearance.” The letter sent by Wilkes to the king was certainly a plausible composition, but the fervid assurances there given being in direct antagonism with the conduct of the writer at that very time, it may be held that George III. was justified in treating the applicant with indignant contempt.
“Sire,
“I beg thus to throw myself at your Majesty’s feet, and supplicate the mercy and clemency which shine with such lustre among your princely virtues. Some former ministers, whom your Majesty, in condescension to the wishes of your people, thought proper to remove, employed every wicked and deceitful act to oppress your subject, and to avenge their own personal cause on him, whom they imagined to be the principal author of bringing to public view their ignorance, insufficiency, and treachery to your Majesty and the nation.
“I have been the innocent and unhappy victim of revenge. I was forced by their injustice and violence into exile, which I have never ceased to consider, for many years, as the most cruel oppression; because I could not longer be under the benign influence of your Majesty in this land of liberty.
“With a heart full of zeal for the service of your Majesty and my country, I implore, Sire, your clemency. My only hopes of pardon are founded in the great goodness and benevolence of your Majesty; and every day of freedom you may be graciously pleased to permit me the enjoyment of, in my dear native land, shall give proofs of my zeal and attachment to your service.”
This letter was judiciously ignored, but meanwhile fresh publicity was awaiting Wilkes—on the 27th, he was carried by a writ of capias ut legatum to the King’s Bench.
The return of Wilkes from Paris, his failure for the city, and election for Middlesex are figuratively shadowed forth in “The Flight of Liberty,” a broadside consisting of two engraved designs, “The Return of Liberty,” and “Liberty Revived,” with verses in praise of Wilkes and reflecting adversely upon his antagonists. In the upper compartment is shown the Court, or administrative faction, destroying the Temple of Liberty (an allusion to Earl Temple), raised above the statue of Wilkes, with the cap of liberty, as usual, elevated on the staff of maintenance. Lord Bute trampling on Magna Charta, is foremost of the destroyers who are wrecking the whole edifice, the very foundations of which are being razed; the “Laird of Boot” is exclaiming, “Well said, guid friends, down with the mighty Temple,” in allusion to the protection and patronage that nobleman had already extended to Wilkes; the Duke of Bedford, Lord North, and other ministers are aiding. The second design shows “the Temple of Liberty built by John Wilkes, A.D. 1762,” reinstated, “never to fall again.”
Nothing daunted by his defeat for the city of London, Wilkes at once offered himself for the county of Middlesex. In his “Memoirs of the Reign of George III.,” Walpole gives certain glimpses of the election proceedings, which are as descriptive as a more detailed account:—
“On the 23rd of March the Election began at Brentford; and while the irresolution of the Court and the carelessness of the Prime Minister, Grafton, caused a neglect of all precautions, the zeal of the populace had heated itself to a pitch of fury.”
The other candidates were Sir W. Beauchamp Proctor and Mr. Cooke, the former members. Cooke, who had sat from 1750, was confined with the gout; a relation, who appeared for him, was roughly handled. Amidst the wrecking of carriages which ensued, that of Proctor did not escape the attention of the roughs; it “was demolished by the mob.”