W I L 



had given orders for the printing, he was taken into cuf- 

 tody, and brought before the two fecretaries of ftate. 

 Perfedly felf-poffefTed, and avowing the illegaUty of his 

 arreft, he refiifcd to anfwer any interrogatories ; and a 

 habeas corpus which had been fued out for him being evaded, 

 he was clofely confined in the Tower. However, he was 

 foon after brought by habeas corpus before the court of 

 common pleas, when lord chief juftice Pratt declared the 

 opinion of that court againft the legality of his commitment, 

 fo that he was difcharged amidft the acclamations of the 

 audience and of the populace. In the courfe of thefe pro- 

 ceedings he was deprived of his commiflion as colonel, by 

 the king's order ; and his patron, lord Temple, loft his poll 

 of lord-lieutenant of the county. This nobleman, at his 

 own expence, availed himfelf of the legal decifion againft 

 general warrants, and commenced aftions againft the king's 

 meflengers, the fecretaries, the under fecretary, and the foli- 

 citor of the treafury ; in all which the profecutors obtained 

 damages, which were paid by the crown, in confequence of 

 an exprefs order of council. Thus the doftrine of the ille- 

 gaUty of fuch warrants was eftabliflied, and for this acceffion to 

 the caufe of liberty the public were indebted to John Wilkes, 

 lord Temple, and lord chief juftice Pratt, afterwards lord 

 Camden. Wilkes, not fatisfied with this triumph, pro- 

 ceeded, againft the advice of friends, to fet up a prefs in his 

 own houfe, and to reprint the North Briton ; for which he 

 was again profecuted to conviftion. Having withdrawn to 

 France in 1763, he was expelled from the houfe of com- 

 mons, becaufe he did not appe.ir to anfwer the charges that 

 were produced againft him. The next attack that was di- 

 refted againft him was occafioned by his printing an indecent 

 and profane piece, caUed " Eflay on Woman," and faid to 

 have been written by Mr. Potter, fon of the archbifhop of 

 the fame name ; and as fome fcandalous reflexions on a 

 bifhop were introduced in this piece, complaint of breach of 

 privilege was made in the houfe of lords ; and on a profecu- 

 tion, he was found guilty of both the crimes of blafphemy 

 and hbel. By his continued abfence, he incurred the penalty 

 of outlawry. Upon a change of miniftry he returned to 

 England, and delivered himfelf to cuftody ; and confiding 

 in his popularity, he offered himfelf as a candidate to repre- 

 fent the city of London ; but faihng in this objedl, he was 

 immediately ele<fted for the county of Middlefex. Al- 

 though his fentence of outlawry was reverfed as illegal, he 

 was condemned for his two libels to an imprifonment of 22 

 months, and a fine of 1000/. In 1769 he was charged with 

 being the author of a pamphlet relating to the riots, occa- 

 fioned by his imprifonment, and expelled from the houfe ; 

 and being immediately re-elefted, he was declared incapable 

 of a feat in the houfe during the exifting parliament. He 

 now became popular as the martyr of liberty, and large fums 

 were coUefted towards the payment of his debts. He was 

 again re-elefted, and his eleition was declared void. At the 

 next eledlion, the court-candidate, colonel Luttrel, whofe 

 votes were about a fourth of thofe of Mr. Wilkes, was de- 

 clared the fitting member. This meafure caufed diftatis- 

 faftion and complaint through the country, and produced 

 petitions for the diffolution of parliament. Wilkes, though 

 Jxcluded from parliament, was chofen an alderman of the 

 :ity of London ; and in the exercife of his office as a magif- 

 :rate, he refifted with liis ufual fpirit exaftions of authority 

 vhich he confidered as illegal ; and aftually liberated one of 

 :he printers of newfpapers in which the fpeeches of mem- 

 bers of parliament were detailed, and who had been arrefted 

 3y royal proclamation. Two others were releafed by lord 

 nayor Crolby and alderman OHver, who being members 

 l)f the houfe were committed to the Tower. Wilkes 

 Vol. XXXVIII. 



W I L 



was ordered to attend at the bar of the houfe ; but in a 

 letter to the fpeaker, he objefted, that in the order for at- 

 tendance, no notice was taken of his being a member of the 

 houfe, and his attendance in his place had not been defired, 

 which forms, he faid, were eflential : he alfo demanded his 

 feat, and then he would give a full account and jullification 

 of his conduft. The houfe, fenfible of the difficulty to 

 which it had fubjefted itfelf, faved its authority by adjourn- 

 ing for the day on which Wilkes was ordered to attend. In 

 1772 Wilkes was chofen one of the fheriffs for London and 

 Middlefex, and in 1774 lord mayor of London. Having 

 condufted himfelf with propriety and reputation in his pub- 

 lic offices, he was re-eletled in 1776 a reprefentative for 

 the county of Middlefex ; and was allowed to take his feat 

 without oppofition. In parliament, he oppofed the meafures 

 that occafioned the American war ; and on the acceffion of 

 the Rockingham adminiftration, he carried his motion for 

 refcinding the decifion of the houfe of commons, which gave 

 Luttrel a feat by a minority of votes. In 1779 he fuc- 

 ceeded in his application for the office of chamberlain in the 

 city of London, and retained it during the remainder of his 

 life. Tired of political conflifts, the latter years of his life 

 paffi^d off without much notice, fo that, to adopt his own 

 expreffion, he was an " extinguifhed volcano ;" and he ex- 

 pired at the houfe of his daughter in 1797, in the 73d year 

 of his age. His private hiftory affords no memorial that is 

 either amufing or inftruftive. The early errors of his con- 

 duft caft a ftiade over his charafter. His literary talents 

 and attainments, devoted as he was to pleafure, and engaged 

 in bufinefs, never attrafted much notice ; though as a com- 

 panion he knew how to render himfelf agreeable. Although 

 his patriotifm might poffibly originate in difappointed views 

 and expeAations, he was confiftent and fteady in maiijtaining 

 the caufe to which he was attached ; and he was, either 

 intentionally or incidentally, and by an intrepidity and felf- 

 poffeffion which he polfelfed in an eminent degree, the in- 

 ftrument of gaining fome important advantages to pubhc 

 and private liberty. Aim. Mem. of Wilkes. Ann. Reg. 

 Gen. Biog. 



Wilkes, in Geography, a town of Ohio, in- GaUia county, 

 with 187 inhabitants Alfo, a county of the ftate of Geor- 

 gia, bordering on South Carolina, containing 7066 inhabit- 

 ants. Tobacco is the chief produce, of which 3000 hogfheads 

 were exported in 1788. — Alfo, a county in the N.W. 

 corner of North Carohna, with 7247 inhabitants, including 

 790 flaves. — Alfo, a town of North Carolina ; jo miles W. 

 of Salem. 



WILKESBARRE, formerly Wyoming, called alfo 

 Wilkejburg, a town of Pennfylvania, and chief town of Lu- 

 zerne county ; fituated on a plain, bounded on one fide by 

 the Sufquehanna, and on the other by a range of mountains, 

 and containing about i jo wooden dwelling-houfes, a church, 

 court-houfe, and gaol, with 1225 inhabitants. A dreadful 

 maflacre was committed in this place, during the American 

 war, by the Indians under the command of colonel Butler, 

 which is recorded in moft hiftoriesof that war, and which will 

 everremain a blot on the Englifh annals. Several of the houfes, 

 to which the unfortunate viftims retired to defend them- 

 felves on being refuted quarter, are ftill Handing, perfo- 

 rated in every part with balls ; the remains of others that 

 were fet on fire are alfo ftill to be feen, nor will the inha- 

 bitants on any account fuffer them to be repaired. N. lat. 

 45° 13'. W. long. 75'' 50'. Weld's Travels, vol. ii. 



WILKINS, David, in Biography, a learned antiquary, 



was born in 1685, and in early life more than once made the 



tour of Europe, acquiring a knowledge of moft modern 



languages. In 1715 he was appointed by archbifhop Wake 



3 K keeper 



