DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 15) by the first speech delivered by George II. from the Throne, in which he made use of the words, ‘I glory in the name of Briton.’ Up to that time the’ press, in the modern sense of the word, had scarcely begun to exist. One of the principal causes of its inactivity was, that by the rules of Parliament reporters were ex- cluded from the debates, and the publication of the speeches strictly forbidden. Vague and im- perfect reports of speeches, committed to paper from memory, occasionally found their way into the papers, but the names of the speakers were either omitted or only indicated by initials. Thus public opinion could not be formed, as the outside world only knew of parliamentary discussions and their results, from what members of the House allowed to transpire. There being no public opinion, there was no control over the proceedings in Par- liament. All the jobs and abuses, all the political machinations, the whole system of corruption, all the encroachments of power, were kept out of the newspapers, and by being withheld from the public, constituted obstructions to political education and dangers to national liberty. In opposition to Bute, Wilkes founded a journal, the North Briton. He strikes its keynote in the opening sentence: ‘ Liberty of the press is the birth-