e member of
parliament. Unfortunately he could not overlook Wilkes's insults to
himself and to his mother. Grafton came to London as seldom as possible,
but George found a willing instrument in Weymouth. On April 17 Wilkes
surrendered to his outlawry. In anticipation of disturbances Weymouth
wrote to the Lambeth magistrates, bidding them, if need arose, to be
prompt in calling in the aid of the military.

On the 26th Wilkes was committed to the king's bench prison. The
populace drew him along in a coach to Spitalfields, where he escaped
their further attentions and voluntarily went to the prison. An excited
crowd daily assembled outside the prison, and the riots of the sailors,
coal-heavers, and sawyers grew formidable. Parliament was to meet on
May 10, and the king, believing that a serious riot would probably take
place on that day, recommended firmness and a prompt employment of
troops. The tone of his letters at this crisis is unpleasant and shows
personal animosity; yet neither he nor Weymouth can justly be blamed for
urging prompt and decided measures, for they were necessary for the
preservation of order and for the protection of life and property. As
George had foreseen, a riot broke out on the 10th. A vast mob gathered
round the king's bench prison and in St. George's Fields, and demanded
that Wilkes should be liberated in order to take his place in
parliament. The riot act was read, the troops were severely pelted, and
some soldiers killed a young man named Allen, whom they mistook for a
ringleader of the rioters. The order to fire was given; five of the mob
were killed and several wounded. Though for the moment the mob was
mastered, this untoward event exasperated the malcontents, and much
indignation was excited by an order signed by Barrington, which assured
the troops that they would be protected if "any disagreeable
circumstance" should arise in the execution of their duty. On June 8
Lord Mansfield, the lord chief-justice, reversed Wilkes's outlawry and
sentenced him on the verdicts brought against him in 1764 to fines of
L1,000, and twenty-two months further imprisonment.

While in prison Wilkes obtained Weymouth's letter of April 17, and
published it with libellous comments, charging him with having
deliberately planned "the massacre" of St. George's Fields. These
comments were voted a seditious libel by the commons. Wilkes's petition
for redress of grievances was rejected; he was brought to the bar of