party. The last of these struggles—that which was waged over the right of publishing the debates of Parliament—was marked by similar circumstances. Chatham, Burke, Grenville, and many of the Whigs, were on the popular side, but they could not rally the strength of the party, and the majorities by which the right of printing was opposed were much larger even than those usually obtained by the Government.
Throughout the whole of this series of efforts to obtain and to secure the liberty of the press, the strength of the Liberal side lay not with the ordinary leaders in Parliament, but with the popular feeling outside, represented by a few determined men in the House. It was in the City of London especially that the fight was most vehemently maintained. The Corporation was always ready, either by petitions, by addresses to the King, or by popular demonstrations, to keep up the excitement. The lord mayor and aldermen did not hesitate to oppose the House of Commons, to resist its orders, to imprison its messengers, and generally to defy its authority. Behind the whole of this agitation, exciting its spirit and directing its movements, was the indefatigable Wilkes. The question with regard to the law of libel and the rights of juries was settled in the law courts; but with respect to the disqualification of members, and the publishing of reports, the nature of the triumph itself was plainly indicative of the means by which it had really been gained. Chatham and Burke, and other great Parliamentary leaders, had thundered against the disqualification of Wilkes, and against the exclusion of reporters and the imprisonment of printers. But they had protested against other things, which either went on all the same under the protection of great ministerial majorities or were settled by formal votes in Parliament. In these two' cases there was no victory gained in divisions. Wilkes took his seat, and the debates were reported, not because the opposition obtained a majority, but because neither ministers nor Parliament could resist the outside opinion which found expression in the House of Commons, through the small group of men who worked in the city with Wilkes, and in the
