King, ordered to profecute the perfons compofing the junto of this Club, and who had distinguished themselves as the peculiar agents of infamy on this occafion. The Nation, angry and difgufted as they were, could not avoid applauding the spirit and conftitutional tendency of this Bill, which fhewed that the Houfe was neither inattentive nor infenfible to the preservation of its own dignity or the national honor.

Unfortunately about the fame time an incident occurred, which revived in an alarming degree the indignation and refentment of the people against their representatives. Though nothing can appear more reasonable than that the public at large fhould be furnished with all fuch means of information respecting the conduct of their representatives in Parliament as may confist with the order and dignity of the House, it had been long a subject of complaint, that the fpeeches of the Members were, in contempt of the refolutions of the House, regularly printed in the public papers; and feveral Members of the Houfe having formally ftated that their speeches had been misrepresented in the report, although fuch mifreprefentation, if of any real importance, might doubtless have been eafily corrected, a motion was made and carried, not indeed unanimously, that the printers Wheble and Thompson should appear to answer this complaint at the bar of the Houfe. The printers

taking no notice of this general fummons, a fecond order was iffued, and declared to be final. No more regard being paid to the fecond order than to the first, a motion was made, that Wheble and Thompson fhould be taken into the cuftody of the Serjeant at Arms. The minority, who had objected to the original motion, now ftrongly urged that the prefent irritable temper of the public rendered it very improper for the Houfe to commit itfelf by engaging in a doubtful and invidious conteft-that the executive authority of the House was restrained within very narrow limits-and that the prefent moment was by no means favorable to the full exertion, and much less to the extenfion of it. The majority nevertheless vehemently in fifted upon the neceffity of supporting the DIGNITY of the Houfe, which, whenever paffion in any degree influences the determination, is generally facrificed by the very means adopted to pre

ferve it.

In confequence of information from the Serjeant at Arms that the parties had abfconded, a royal proclamation was iffued, offering a reward of 50l, for apprehending the two printers. In the mean time fix other printers were for fimilar offences ordered to the bar of the Houfe, five of whom obeying the fummons were reprimanded and dif charged; and the remaining delinquent, Miller, was ordered to be taken into cuftody for contempt

of

:

of the Houfe. Wheble being apprehended in confequence of the proclamation, and carried before Mr. Wilkes, recently chofen an Alderman of London, he was discharged by that Magiftrate, and bound over to profecute the perfon who apprehended him and in a letter addressed to the Earl of Halifax, Secretary of State, Mr. Wilkes declared, "that Wheble had been apprehended in violation of the rights of an Englishman, as well as of the chartered privileges of a citizen of London." Thompfon alfo was apprehended, and difcharged in the fame manner. Miller being taken into cuftody by the meffenger of the Houfe of Commons, at his own dwelling, was carried before the Lord Mayor (Crosby), and the Aldermen Wilkes and Oliver, at the Manfion Houfe, The Serjeant at Arms attending to demand the prisoner, the legality of the warrant was denied, and the printer not only dif charged, but the meffenger of the House, on pretext of a falfe arreft, ordered to be committed to prifon in default of bail, which was at the first refused, but at length reluctantly given; and for these proceedings the thanks of the Corporation of London were immediately voted them.

The House of Commons now found themselves once more reduced, by their own rashness and indifcretion, to a moft vexatious perplexity; and the Oppofition, who, as Members of the House, felt for

its

its honor, and participated in the general indigna tion excited by this unparalleled affront, reminded the Minifters that to them must be imputed the odium under which the Houfe had fallen with the people, who embraced with eagerness every occafion to mock their power and baffle their meafures. These reflections admitted of little reply, and the Lord Mayor and Mr. Alderman Oliver, as Members of the Houfe, were ordered to attend in their places the next day. The Lord Mayor pleaded, in his juftification, that he was bound by oath to preserve the franchises of the city, that his conduct had been strictly agreeable to law, and he demanded to be heard by counsel. This was refufed, on the ground that no counsel could be heard in oppofition to the privileges of the Houfe; and the Lord Mayor's book of minutes being called for, the recognizance of Whittam the meffenger was expunged from the record by order of the Houfe; and a refolution paffed, that to institute any proceeding at law in this cafe was contrary to the privileges of the Houfe; and alfo that it was a breach of privilege to apprehend the meffenger of this House executing his warrant, under the pretence of an affault; and that it was a breach of privilege to hold the meffenger to bail for fuch pretended affault. Mr. Oliver was proceeded against in a fimilar manner; and the two Magiftrates refolutely re

fufing to make any conceffion or apology, it was at length by a very great majority voted that they be committed prifoners to the Tower.

On the last day of the attendance of the Lord Mayor, vaft multitudes of people affembling in the vicinity of Westminster Hall, a violent riot took place, and several of the minifterial Members were grofsly infulted-Lord North himself being perfonally attacked, and with difficulty rescued from the fury of the populace. Mr. Wilkes, having received a fummons to attend at the bar of the House, addreffed a letter to the Speaker, in which he declared that he could attend only in his place as Member for the county of Middlefex. After fome fruitless repetitions of the order, the House, now eagerly defirous to dismiss the business, ordered a new fummons for the 8th of April, and at the fame time wifely appointed, with much more attention to their safety than their DIGNITY, the 9th as the first day of meeting after the Eafter recefs.

The Lord Mayor and Mr. Oliver foon after their commitment applied for a writ of habeas corpus, which was accordingly iffued by the Court of Common Pleas; but after very long and learned pleadings these magiftrates were remanded by the Court, and continued in cuftody till the end of the feffion, when their liberation was celebrated by great and univerfal rejoicings; and from this time forward the proceedings of Parliament and the

speeches