y of the House in
supporting a resolution of Colonel Barre, that "Jeremiah Weymouth, the
d----n of this kingdom, is not a member of this House." On which the
previous question was moved by the ministers, and carried by 120 to
38.--_Parliamentary History_, xvii., 78. And an instance of rather the
opposite kind, of the guarded way in which the most respectable
publications were as yet accustomed to relate the transactions of
Parliament, may be gathered from the account of the proceedings in the
case of Wilkes, given in the "Annual Register" for 1770--drawn up,
probably, by Burke himself--in which Lord Camden is only mentioned as "a
great law lord;" Lord Chatham as "Lord C----m;" Lord Rockingham as "a
noble Marquis who lately presided at the head of public affairs;" the
King as "the K----;" Parliament as "P.;" and the House of Commons as the
"H. of C."--_Annual Register_, 1770, pp. 59-67.]

[Footnote 15: On more than one occasion there had been disturbances in
the City, and in the streets adjacent to the Houses of Parliament, which
were little short of riot. One day the mob paraded effigies of the
principal ministers, which, after hanging and beheading them, they
committed to the flames with great uproar. On another day Mr. Charles
Fox (as yet a vehement Tory) complained to the House that the mob in
Palace Yard had insulted him, breaking the glasses of his chariot, and
pelting him with oranges, stones, etc.--_Parliamentary History_, xvii.,
163.]

CHAPTER II.

The Regency Bill.--The Ministry of 1766 lay an Embargo on Corn.--An Act
of Indemnity is Passed.--The _Nullum Tempus_ Act concerning Crown
Property; it is sought to Extend it to Church Property, but the Attempt
fails.--The Royal Marriage Act.--The Lords amend a Bill imposing Export
Duties, etc., on Corn.

The prosecution of Wilkes was not the only act of Mr. Grenville's
administration which excited both the Parliament and the people. In 1764
the King was attacked by a serious illness, and, as the Prince of Wales
was an infant scarcely two years old, it was manifestly necessary to
make arrangements for a Regency, in the event of the throne becoming
vacant while the heir was still a minor. A similar necessity had arisen
in the preceding reign on the death of the present King's father, and a
bill had accordingly been introduced by Mr. Pelham, the minister of the
day, which, in the event of the reigning sovereign dying during the
minority of the boy who had