USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I > Part 89
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In October, 1748, just before his twenty-first birth-day, Wilkes was married, in deference to his father's wishes, to a woman ten years his senior. She was Miss Mary Mead, daughter of a Mrs. Mead of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, widow of John Mead, a dry-salter who had carried on business on London Bridge and had inade money. Mrs. Mead was the daughter of a gentleman named Sherbrooke, a resident of Buckinghamshire and a man of considerable property. All Mrs. Mead's brothers and sisters dying this property became hers, and her daughter
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Mary was an heiress. The Meads were strict Dissenters, in an age when it meant something more than a reputation for greater austerity than other folks ; and a more incongruous match than that into which John Wilkes entered has seldom been known. It combined the disadvantages which flow from marriage at an immature age, and those which are usually supposed to result from an alliance founded on business prin- ciples. The lady was well off, but possessed no other recommendation in the eyes of her husband, for she liked to retain and hoard her money, while he was anxious to spend it. "It was a sacrifice to Plutus, not to Venus ; I stumbled at the very threshold of the temple of Hymen"- wrote Wilkes thirty years later.
This marriage placed Wilkes in possession of an estate at Aylesbury worth £700 a year ; while his wife had a handsome jointure and greater expectations. But in the course of a short time Wilkes found life at Aylesbury distasteful, whereupon he took a handsome house in Great George Street, Westminster, London. There a variety of company and splendid dinners almost every day required an expensive establishment. But, what was infinitely worse, was the introduction by Wilkes into his house of a number of juvenile bacchanalians of audacious manners and vulgar language. There is nothing to commend in Wilkes' choice of associates at that time. The leading spirits of the vicious band were Lord Sandwich, later First Lord of the Admiralty, and the most notor- ious of debauchees (if Wilkes was bad, there can be no doubt that Sand- wich was a hundred times worse); Sir Francis Dashwood, afterwards Chancelor of the Exchequer, and later Lord Le Despencer; Thomas Pot- ter, son of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, a barrister-at-law and, although a depraved sensualist, the intimate friend of the Hon. William Pitt, later the Earl of Chatham; Lord Orford; Paul Whitehead and John Hall Stevenson.
Not content with the ordinary indulgences of depraved tastes these associates and others founded the well-known companionship of the "Medmenham Monks," or "The Franciscan Club," a profane and profli- gate confraternity which had its headquarters in an old Cistercian abbey at Medmenham on the Thames, in Buckinghamshire. Sir Francis Dash- wood had purchased this abbey and converted it into a temple to a name- less pagan deity. Over the grand entrance was a copy of the famous inscription on Rabelais' Abbey of Theleme-"Fay ce que voudras." The inscriptions, pictures and sculptures in and about this building were certainly prurient enough (unless the "Monks" were very much belied) to warrant all the gossip of the times-which surely were the strangest times through which the Anglo-Saxon people ever passed. One of the pictures in the "abbey" portrayed Sir Francis Dashwood (the head of the Order) in the habit of a Franciscan friar, kneeling before a nude Venus and holding a goblet in his hand. These "Monks of Thelème"-as they were sometimes called-were twelve in number, and they practised what the gossip of the day alleged to be a blasphemous burlesque upon the monastic system and the rites of the Church of Rome. The "abbey" was fitted up with cells, and the "Monks," assuin- ing the habit of the Order of St. Francis, performed with grave mockery the ceremonies and observances of the conventual service. It is needless to describe the quality of the nuns who were admitted to a participation in those services, nor of the choruses which were chanted, nor of the
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images which represented the Virgin and the Saints. "The Franciscan Club" was for some time the wonder and the scandal of London ; and it is said that none of the "Monks" surrendered himself to the orgies of the confraternity with more of the true Rabelaisian abandon than Wilkes, although he despised their puerile mummeries. Many of the prime carouses of the band were held at Wilkes' house in Great George Street.
In April, 1749, Wilkes was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1754 he served in the office of High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, and in April of that year contested the Parliamentary representation of Berwick-on-Tweed, spending £4,000 over it. The Delaval family swayed that borough, and engaged a vessel to bring some of their sup- porters from London ; but Wilkes bribed the Captain to steer for the coast of Norway, where, in time, he duly landed the free and independ- ent electors. Wilkes, however, lost the election, and had the audacity to present a petition against his opponent's return. Young Delaval, who had been returned, on being thus attacked made a speech which was full of wit, humor and buffoonery, and kept the House in a continued roar of laughter. "Mr. Pitt came down from the gallery and took up the matter in his highest tone of dignity. He was astonished when he heard what had been the occasion of their mirth. Was the dignity of the House of Commons on so sure foundations that they might venture themselves to shake it ?"
In politics as in vice Wilkes was thorough. He was clever, im- pudent, agreeable, and possessed influential friends ; and when we con- sider his career as a whole it would seem that his early excesses were rather the result of a desire for notoriety than of pure viciousness. This is no excuse for him, but it affords an explanation of his conduct as a young man, for during the rest of his life he was certainly no worse than most of his contemporaries in society.
Wilkes' habits were far from giving pleasure to his wife and her mother, and they soon saw that Mrs. Wilkes' fortune could not hold out for long against the inroads made upon it, especially if her husband was determined to adopt a political career for which, indeed, he possessed almost every qualification. In consequence, about 1756 or 1757, a separation between Wilkes and his wife was arranged by mutual con- sent. Wilkes retained the Aylesbury estate and the custody of his only legitimate child, Mary, who was born August 5, 1750. Wilkes and his wife never lived together again, and she died in 1784.
In July, 1757, by an arrangement with Pitt and Potter, Wilkes succeeded the latter as Member of Parliament from Aylesbury. Wilkes' share of the expenses of the canvass amounted to about £7,000. By further judicious ontlay he secured his seat at the general election held in March, 1761. In the meantime he had become Lieutenant Colonel of the Bucks regiment of militia, of which Sir Francis Dashwood was Colonel. Wilkes entered Parliament a loyal supporter of Pitt. With the latter's brother-in-law, Lord Temple,* he was closely associated in
* RICHARD GRENVILLE, Earl TEMPLE, was born September 26, 1711. In 1734 he was chosen, through the influence of his uncle Lord Cobham, to represent in Parliament the borough of Buckingham, and in subsequent Parliaments he sat as one of the Knights of the Shire of the county of Buckingham. He suc- ceeded to the Earldom of Temple in October, 1752, and inherited the large estates of Stowe and Wotton. Lord Temple became First Lord of the Admiralty in the administration formed by Mr. Pitt in Novem- ber, 1756, and in June, 1757, was made Lord Privy Seal. In 1758 he was constituted Lord Lieutenant of the county of Bucks, and in February, 1760, was made a Knight of the Garter. At the accession of George III (October 25, 1760) he continued to be Lord Privy Seal until Mr. Pitt went out of office in October, 1761, upon the question of war with Spain, when he also resigned ; and at that period began the unhappy
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the organization of the Bucks militia, and through the influence of Pitt and Lord Temple Wilkes hoped to obtain either the embassy at Constan- tinople or the Governorship of Quebec. He was disappointed, however, and attributed his want of success partly to Pitt's indifference, but much more to the inalign influence of Lord Bute .* He seriously disapproved of Bute's foreign policy, and also of his system of government; but mortification probably added vigor and venom to the attacks with which, in the violent pamphlet warfare into which he immediately plunged, he harassed the favorites of the King.
Wilkes began with a pamphlet published in March, 1762, which caught the public ear and damaged the Government. He followed up his advantage in The Monitor in May and June, and was answered in The Briton by its editor, Dr. Tobias Sinollett.} About that time Wilkes was enabled to make amends to Dr. Samuel Johnson for a piece of super- cilious criticism, for which the Doctor had a grudge against him. It seems that in the "Grammar" prefixed to the first edition (1755) of his "Dictionary" Johnson had stated concerning the letter "H" this strange dictum : "It seldom, perhaps never, begins any but the first syllable." Whereon Wilkes gave in the Public Advertiser several examples of the contrary, and then closed with this comment : "The author of this observation must be a man of quick appre-hension and of a most com- pre-hensive genius." Though Johnson took no notice of the sneer, it rankled. But a few years later, after Wilkes had inade amends to the Doctor, and the two were brought together through Boswell's interven- tion, Johnson, although he detested Wilkes' principles, was charmed with his wit, and said: "Jack has a great variety of talk, Jack is a scholar and Jack has the manners of a gentleman."
In the Spring of 1762, in connection with Charles Churchill (the "poor poet and poorer divine," who, from 1760 to 1764, was a prominent figure in London) Wilkes founded The North Briton, the first number of which appeared on the 5th of June. Just about that time Wilkes became Colonel of the Bucks regiment, succeeding Sir Francis Dash- wood, who, upon his elevation to the peerage as Lord Le Despencer, had resigned the command of the regiment.
Wilkes established The North Briton in order that, through its columns, he might answer the Government hacks, and so effectually did
estrangement from his brother, George Grenville (mentioned on page 532 and in the notes on page 441, ante), who remained in office as Treasurer of the Navy, and adhered to the policy and influence of Lord Bute. Lord Temple now became one of the most active and zealous leaders of opposition to the administra- tion of Lord Bute, and, in consequence of his open encouragement and patronage of John Wilkes, he was dismissed from his office of Lord Lieutenant of Bucks in May, 1763, and was succeeded by that model (?) nobleman, Lord Le Despencer-previously mentioned-the decorations of whose country-house were so indelicate as to shock Wilkes himself. Lord Temple became reconciled with his brother George in May, 1765, and in regard to the taxation of America-the Stamp Act, etc .- he invariably supported the policy of his brother. Lord Temple died September 11, 1779.
* JOHN STUART, third Earl of BUTE, was born in 1713. In 1760, at the time of the accession of George III, Bute was, and had been for several years, an officer of the young Prince's household. In March, 1761, he was appointed by the King one of the Principal Secretaries of State, and May 29, 1762, he became Prime Minister. His Government is memorable only as one of the most unpopular that ever held office in Great Britain, its fundamental principle being the supremacy of the royal prerogative. Bute was not only incapable, but, worse than that, was deemed, by the popular verdict, unfit to be Prime Minister be- cause (1) he was a Scot, (2) he was the King's friend and (3) he was a dishonest man. The disgraceful intrigue which placed Bute in power half sacrificed the conquests of the Seven Year's War, and com- menced the long struggle between the King and the Opposition. The fact that Bute was a Scot, and that he had overthrown by underhand means Pitt, the popular idol, was the most tangible charge against him. Just then Scots were very unpopular in London.
Bute resigned his office of Prime Minister April 8, 1763. For the next few years he retained his in- fluence over the King, but thereafter his life was spent in retirement. He died March 10, 1792.
+ SMOLLETT, some six years older than Wilkes, was a native of Scotland. From 1744 to 1767 he lived in England and on the Continent, devoting himself to novel, historical and iniscellaneous writing. In addition to editing The Briton he was the editor for awhile of The Critical Review. He was the author of "The Adventures of Roderick Random," "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle," "The Adventures of Count Fathom," and a number of other works.
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he catch the public taste that he made the Government a laughing stock. Nor did he disdain to fly at lower game. He lampooned William Hogarth, the noted painter and etcher, he satirized his quondam friend Dashwood and quizzed Lord Talbot, the Steward of the royal house- hold. Early in October, 1762, Wilkes was with his regiment in camp on Bagshot Heath near Winchester. Lord Talbot was also there. Col. Norborne Berkeley (afterwards Lord Botetourt, and Governor of Vir- ginia in 1768-'70), writing from Bagshot Heath to Earl Temple under date of October 7, 1762, said* :
"Lord Talbot having questioned Colonel Wilkes upon the subject of The North Briton in which he was mentioned, and received for answer that his Lordship had no right to question him, and that he would not tell him whether he did or no, Colonel Wilkes was desired by me to meet Lord Talbot Tuesday evening [October 5th], and met him accordingly. Before they walked out the inclosedt was given to me to deliver to your Lordship in case Mr. Wilkes fell. The matter between them was decided by pistols to both their satisfactions, and without hurt to either. When we returned I offered to give back Colonel Wilkes' letter, but was desired to inclose it to your Lordship as a proof of the regard and affection he bore you at a minute which might have been very near his last."
Wilkes subsequently wrote a full account of this affair, saying among other things :
"I found Lord Talbot in an agony of passion. He said that I had injured, that I had insulted him, that he was not used to be injured or insulted. What did I mean ? Did I or did I not write The North Briton ? He would know ; he insisted on a direct answer ; here were his pistols. I replied that he would soon use them, that I desired to know by what right his Lordship catechised me about a paper which did not bear my name. His Lordship insisted on finishing the affair immediately. I told him that I should very soon be ready, that I did not mean to quit him, but would absolutely first settle some important business. After the waiter had brought pen, ink and paper I proposed that the door of the room might be locked, and not opened until our business was decided. Lord Talbot, on this proposition, became quite outrageous, declared that this was mere butchery, and that I was a wretch who sought his life. I reminded him that I came here on a point of honour, to give his Lordship satisfaction, and that I men- tioned the circumstance of locking the door only to prevent all possibility of interruption. He then said he admired me exceedingly-really loved me-but I was an unaccountable animal ! But would I kill him, who had never offended me ? He soon after flamed out again, and said to me : 'You are a murderer ; you want to kill me. But I am sure that I shall kill you. If you will fight-if you kill me-I hope you will be hanged ! I know you will !' I asked if I was first to be killed and afterwards hanged ; that I knew his Lordship fought me with the King's pardon in his pocket, and I fought him with a halter about my neck.
"When I had sealed my letter I told Lord Talbot that I was entirely at his service, and I again desired that we might decide the affair in the room, because there could not be a possibility of interruption ; but he was quite inexorable. He then asked me how many times we should fire. I said that I left it to his choice ; I had brought a flask of powder and a bag of bullets. Our seconds then charged the pistols which my Lord had brought. We then left the inn and walked to a garden at some distance from the house. It was near seven, and the moon shone very bright. We stood about eight yards distant, and agreed not to turn round before we fired, but to continue facing each other. Harris gave the word. Both our fires were in very exact time, but neither took effect. I walked up immediately to Lord Talbot and told him that now I avowed the paper. His Lord- ship paid me the highest encomiums on my courage, and said he would declare every- where that I was the noblest fellow God had ever made !"
A week after his rencounter with Lord Talbot Wilkes wrote to Earl Temple as follows: :
"The affair between me and Lord Talbot is much talked of, and the camp censure Lord Talbot for firing only one pistol ; the seconds both having declared that before we went out Lord Talbot asked me how many rounds we should fire, and my answer was, 'Just as many as your Lordship pleases.' I am caressed more than I will tell ; and a most favorite object, whom I have unsuccessfully made tenders to ever since I first met
* See "The Grenville Papers," I : 477.
t This was a note addressed by Wilkes to Earl Temple and reading as follows: "My Lord-I am here just going to decide a point of honour with Lord Talbot. I have only to thank your Lordship for all your favours to me, and to entreat you to desire Lady Temple to superintend the education of a daughter whom I love beyond all the world."
# See "The Grenville Papers," I : 486.
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her here, now whispers me that she will trust her honour at the first shepherd's minute to a man who takes so much care of his own. I must look into my old friend Johnson for what is synonymous to the word 'honour,' to guess at the fair one's meaning."
Wilkes' attacks on the Government in the columns of The North Briton were so vigorous that he frightened Lord Bute into resigning his office as Prime Minister, which he did on the 8th of April, 1763, and was succeeded by George Grenville,* "one of the most destructive statesmen with whom a nation can be cursed-a man who mistakes obstinacy for firinness." Unnoticed by the authorities forty-four num- bers of The North Briton had passed from the press, although some of them contained scurrilities that might well have called for attention ; but Bute had wisdom enough to let Wilkes alone. Finally, on the 23d of April, 1763, "No. 45" of this journal came from the press. It con- tained nothing as bad as many of the preceding numbers, but it did con- tain a severe criticism on the King's speech at the opening of Parlia- ment. The following paragraphs have been extracted from an original copy of that issue of the journal :
"The King's speech has always been considered by the Legislature, and by the public at large, as the speech of the Minister. This week has given the public the most abandoned instance of Ministerial effrontery every attempted to be imposed on mankind. I am in doubt whether the imposition is greater on the Sovereign or on the Nation. Every friend of his country must lament that a Prince of so many great and amiable qualities, whom England truly reveres, can be brought to give the sanction of his sacred name to the most odious measures, and to the most unjustifiable public declarations from a Throne ever renowned for Truth, Honour and unsullied Virtue. * * *
"The preliminary Articles of Peacet were such as to have drawn the contempt of mankind on our wretched negotiators. All our most valuable conquests were agreed to be restored. * * The Minister cannot forbear, even in the King's speech, insulting us with a dull repetition of the word Economy. I did not expect so soon to have seen that word again, after it had been so exploded, and more than once, by a most numerous audience, hissed off the stage of our English theatres. Let the public be informed of a single instance of Economy-except, indeed, in the Household ! Is it not notorious that in the reduction of the army not the least attention has been paid to Economy? Many unnecessary expenses have been incurred, only to increase the power of the Crown-that is, to create more lucrative jobs for the creatures of the Minister. * * A despotic Minister will always endeavor to dazzle his Prince with highflown ideas of the prerogative and honour of the Crown, which the Minister will make a parade of firmly maintaining. I wish as much as any man in the kingdom to see the honour of the Crown maintained in a manner truly becoming Royalty. I lament to see it sunk even to Prostitution. What a shame was it to see the security of this country, in point of military force, com- plimented away, contrary to the opinion of Royalty itself, and sacrificed to the prejudices and to the ignorances of a set of people the most unfit from every consideration to be consulted on a matter relative to the security of the House of Hanover !"
Within a few days after the publication of "No. 45" of The North Briton Grenville ordered the issue of a General Warrant against the authors, printers and publishers of this "seditious and treasonable
* GEORGE GRENVILLE-younger brother of Earl Temple, mentioned on page 529-was born October 14, 1712. In December, 1744, he was made Lord of the Admiralty. He was Treasurer of the Navy from 1754 till May, 1762, when he was made Secretary of State for the Northern Department. He was leader of the House of Commons front October, 1761, till October, 1762, when he became First Lord of the Admi- ralty. In April, 1763, on the resignation of Lord Bute, he became First Lord of the Treasury and Chancelor of the Exchequer. In July, 1765, he was dismissed from office, and never again accepted any appoint- inent in the Government.
He obtained the nickname of "The Gentle Shepherd" as the result of an encounter which he had with Pitt. "He interposed in defense of Dashwood's proposition of an additional duty on cider, and re- minded the House that the profusion with which the late war with France had been carried on neces- sitated the imposition of new taxes. He wished gentlemen would show him where to lay them. On his repeating this question in his querulous, languid, fatiguing tone, Pitt, who sat opposite to him, mimick- ing his accent aloud, repeated these words of an old ditty : 'Gentle shepherd, tell me where !' and then, rising, abused Grenville bitterly," The principal measure with which Grenville's name is associated in history is that of the American Stamp Act. It has been said, and probably with truth, that he was not the author of that measure ; but that he adopted it, and ever defended it with the utmost zeal and ability, cannot be denied. The measure may have been patriotic and well-intentioned on the part of Grenville, but the result was unfortunate to Great Britain. It was not, however, until the result became known, that it met with so much of party condemnation, for it is notorious that the Stamp Act originally passed both Houses of Parliament with very little discussion and less opposition.
George Grenville died at London November 13, 1770.
+ The Definitive Treaty of Peace between England and France had been concluded at Versailles in February, 1763, and was referred to in the King's speech.
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paper." Under this warrant Wilkes was arrested and brought before Lords Egremont and Halifax, the Principal Secretaries of State, for examination. He refused to tell them anything, and April 30, 1763, was committed to the Tower "for treasonable practices"-in other words, for libeling the Government. The documents in the case set forth that Wilkes, as the author of the article in The North Briton, "No. 45," had attacked and treated with unreserved freedom the King's speech, and had "endeavored to sow sedition and alienate the affections of His Majesty's subjects." Upon his reception at the Tower Wilkes desired that he might not be lodged in any room in which a Scot had ever been confined ; and he refused to occupy a room in which Lord Egremont's father had been a prisoner years before on account of liis Jacobitismn. Such was Wilkes' popularity after lie had been committed to the Tower that his enemies found they were burning their hands in attempting to roast him.
Wilkes' house in Great George Street was thoroughly ransacked by order of Egremont and Halifax, and all his papers, of every descrip- tion, were bundled up, carted away and delivered into the possession of these noble Lords.
Under date of May 3, 1763, the Duke of Grafton wrote to Earl Temple as follows* :
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