DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

had been violated in the person of the man who represented their opinions. Greeted on his release with loud cheers by the multitude, he was escorted in triumph to his house. Jlluminations and bonfires blazed all over the town. Considering the comparative mildness of its attacks, we may wonder that the North Briton (No. 45) gave such deep offence in high quarters. But the real cause of the resentment of the King was the use that had been made of the press. It had counteracted the license of the Crown and disparaged its Ministers, an innovation which both the King and his Government were determined to nip in the bud. Wilkes was dismissed from the coloneley of the Bucks Militia, and Lord Temple removed from the Lord-Lieutenancy of Bucks and the Privy Council. At once a counter - demonstration was made on Wilkes’ behalf by his friends in the City of London. From the jury at the Guildhall he received a donation of 1000/.; and his portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first painter of the day, was placed in the Guildhall, with the inscription, ‘In honour of so eminent a man, the assertor of English liberty.’ In the House of Commons, whose venal majority lay at the command of the King and the Ministers, it was decided, on the motion of Lord North, ‘ That the paper, North Briton, Number 45, is a false and