| Description: | Abstract: In June 1762 MP John Wilkes established The North Briton, a weekly newspaper in opposition to The Briton, a journal that supported the Earl of Bute's administration as King George III's prime minister. For the next forty-five weeks the North Briton severely attacked the king and his Prime Minister. After one article Wilkes was arrested for seditious libel but at a court hearing the Lord Chief Justice ruled that as an MP, Wilkes was protected by privilege from arrest on a charge of libel. However, the government was successful in stopping Wilkes from publishing further editions of the North Briton. |
