1762–63 Issues number 1 (5 June 1762) to number 44 (2 April 1763) were published on consecutive Saturdays. The newspaper was begun in response to
The Briton, a pro-government paper started by
Tobias Smollett. Only eight days after that newspaper began publication, the first issue of
The North Briton came out. It then came out weekly until the resignation of the
Bute government.
Issue 45 The North Briton issue number 45 (23 April 1763) is the most famous issue of the paper. It criticized a royal speech in which
King George III praised the
Treaty of Paris ending the
Seven Years' War. Wilkes was charged with
libel (accusing the King of lying), and imprisoned for a short time in the
Tower of London. Wilkes challenged the
warrant for his arrest and seizure of his paper, eventually winning the case. His courtroom speeches started the "Wilkes and Liberty!" cry, a popular slogan for
freedom of speech and resistance to power. Later that year, Wilkes reprinted the issue, which the government again seized. Before it could be burned, an assembled crowd rescued the text, and the ensuing events caused Wilkes to flee across the
English Channel to France, and be eventually imprisoned again. In 1764, the
British House of Commons declared Wilkes the author of number 45. Nonetheless, by the time Wilkes was released from prison in 1770, "45" was still a popular icon not only of Wilkes, but of freedom of speech in general.
1768–71 Issue numbers 47 (10 May 1768) to 218 (11 May 1771) were published by William Bingley. Bingley was jailed in
Newgate and then in
King's Bench Prison on account of issues number 50 and 51. He was released after two years without trial. ==See also==