The North Briton

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The North Briton was a radical newspaper published in eighteenth century England by John Wilkes. It was founded in 1762.

North Britain was a name sometimes used for Scotland at the time, and the paper's title was apparently a dig at John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute the tutor of George III who served as Prime Minister early in his tutee's reign and whom Wilkes was fiercely opposed to.

Wilkes named his polemical paper in response to The Briton, a pro-government paper started by Tobias Smollett same year.

The North Briton issue #45 (1763) is the most famous issue of the paper. It criticized a royal speech in which king praised the Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years' War. Wilkes was charged with libel (accusing king of lying), and imprisoned for a short time in the Tower of London. Wilkes challenged the general warrant for his arrest and seizure of his paper, eventually winning the case. His courtroom speeches launched the cry "Wilkes and Liberty!", popular slogan for freedom of speech and resistance to power. Later that year, Wilkes reprinted the issue, which was again seized by the government. Before it could be burned, assembled crowd rescued the text, and the ensuing events caused Wilkes to flee across the English Channel to France, and be eventually imprisoned again. Nonetheless, by the time Wilkes was released from prison in 1770, the issue #45 became a popular icon not only of Wilkes, but for liberty and freedom of speech in general. ^[1]