ificates to the same purport from some French doctors who had
special knowledge of gunshot wounds. But the Commons declined to accept
this evidence as sufficient, and directed two other doctors to examine
him. Wilkes, however, refused to admit them: his refusal was treated as
a sufficient ground for pronouncing him "guilty of a contempt of the
authority of the House," and for deciding on his case in his absence;
and, on the 19th of January, before the case had come on for trial, a
resolution was carried that "Mr. Wilkes was guilty of writing and
publishing _The North Briton_ (No. 45), which this House had voted to be
a false, scandalous, and seditious libel, and that, for the said
offence, he be expelled the House." At a later period of the year, he
was tried on the two charges of publishing No. 45 and the "Essay on
Woman," was found guilty of both, and, as he did not appear to receive
judgment, in November, 1764, he was outlawed.

So far, it may be said to have been a drawn battle. If, on the one hand,
the minister had procured the expulsion of Wilkes, on the other hand
Wilkes had gained great notoriety and a certain amount of sympathy, and
had, moreover, enriched himself by considerable damages; and again, if
the nation at large was a gainer by the condemnation of general
warrants, even that advantage might be thought to be dearly gained by
the discredit into which the Parliament had fallen through its
intemperance. But the contest between Wilkes and the ministry was only
closed for a time; and when it was revived, a singular freak of fortune
caused the very minister who had led the proceedings against him on this
occasion to appear as his advocate. To avoid the consequences of his
outlawry, he had taken up his abode in Paris, waiting for a change of
ministry, which, as he hoped, might bring into power some to whom he
might look for greater favor. But when, though in the course of the next
two years two fresh administrations were formed, it was seen that
neither Lord Rockingham, the head of the first, nor the Duke of Grafton
and Mr. Pitt (promoted to the Earldom of Chatham), the heads of the
second, had any greater sympathy with him than Mr. Grenville, he became
desperate, and looked out for some opportunity of giving effect to his
discontent. He found it in the dissolution of Parliament, which took
place in the spring of 1768. In spite of his outlawry, he instantly
returned to England, and offered himself as a candida