DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

C10 ing electors and corrupting the returned members, that although he had succeeded to a well-stocked treasury, he left at his demise debts, which were chiefly incurred in these nefarious practices, to the amount of almost three millions and a half sterling. These arbitrary proceedings were facilitated by the restriction under which the Press still laboured, and by the limited proportions of the Press itself. Reporters were rigorously excluded from the Houses of Parliament; consequently the journals lacked interest for the public, and the country at large knew comparatively nothing of the actions of its representatives. It was in this early period of George the Third’s reign that the movement first began which ultimately led to the Liberty of the Press. This was indirectly brought about by John Wilkes, the member for Aylesbury, who by his attacks in the Press on Lord Bute, and the unwarrantable persecution he suffered in consequence at the hands of the King and his Ministers, rose to be a political martyr and hero. Expelled four times from Parliament, but always re-elected by the undaunted constituency of Middle- sex, outlawed and imprisoned, the injustice of his treatment attracted the attention and called forth the sympathy of the masses to such an extent that, for the first time, public meetings were held to express the indignation of the country, which eventually led