1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,400 Speaker 1: On this episode of The News World, I want to 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: put our current challenges, the current difficulties we're having in 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: defining freedom, the current threats to our freedom in context, 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:16,319 Speaker 1: and I want to remind people that there's been a 5 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: long struggle in the English speaking world to define our 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: ability to be free from tyranny and at the same 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: time to have responsible citizenship based on the votes and 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: the voices of the people. And the person I want 9 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: to use to start this conversation is John Wilkes, an 10 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: Englishman who became one of the great advocates of free speech, 11 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: one of the great advocates of freedom of the press, 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: and one of the great advocates that it is the people, 13 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: not the politicians, who get to pick who serves in 14 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: the Parliament or, in our case, in the Congress. I 15 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: think it's particularly important at the present time because we're 16 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: faced with the spectacle this week of politicians in Washington 17 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: deciding that they have the power to say to seventy 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: four or seventy five million Americans that the politicians in 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: Washington will define for them who they are allowed to 20 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 1: send to be president or any other job. It's an 21 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: extraordinarily dangerous precedent it's something we've never seen before in America, 22 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,040 Speaker 1: and it carries us right back to the world of 23 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: John Wilkes and to the great dangers of his generation, 24 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: when the team still thought of themselves as divine right, 25 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: and they thought of opposition as treason, and the fight 26 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: to have the right to print something, the right to 27 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: say something, the right to be elected by voters without 28 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: the politicians approving or disapproving. All of these things were 29 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: in flux, and they were in flux in a period 30 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: about ten to fifteen years before the Declaration Independence, and 31 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: then say another ten years before the Constitutional Convention. So 32 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: in studying Wilkes, we're really looking at somebody whose advocacy 33 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: for freedom and whose willingness to stand up to the 34 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: government would directly impress the Founding fathers and would have 35 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 1: a huge impact on people like Thomas Jefferson. And as 36 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: a result, much of the depth of the American commitment 37 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: to personal freedom, the freedom of the press, to freedom 38 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: of elections, much of that can be traced back to 39 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,239 Speaker 1: what Wilkes went through in the seventeen sixties. And that's 40 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: why I thought it would be a very timely and 41 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: very important thing to take a few minutes, and let's 42 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: look at a man who truly changed the course of history. 43 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: The founding fathers were deeply shaped, not just by their 44 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: study of the Roman Republic, or democracy in Greece, or 45 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:04,399 Speaker 1: the traditions of Judaism and Christianity, but they were very 46 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: deeply shaped by being citizens of Great Britain at a 47 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: time when Britain had been through enormous turmoil. There had 48 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: been the Reformation, in which Britain had moved from Catholicism 49 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: to the Church of England. There had been continuous pressures 50 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: with the Catholic Church sending priests in and the priest 51 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: and effect were seen by the English as the traitors 52 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: and undermining the authority of the system. They were also 53 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: deeply affected by the fact that Scotland was a separate 54 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: country with a separate tradition, and so there was a 55 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: constant pressure on the established government to try to find 56 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: a way to coerce people into loyalty and to root 57 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: out people who might be treasonous. In addition, when James 58 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: the Second clearly was moving to reimposed Catholicism of Britain, 59 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: and they had what was called the Glorious Revolution of 60 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: sixteen eighty eight. You had an tremendous effort, because suddenly 61 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: you have a Dutch aristocrat married to the daughter of James, 62 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: the second coming in degree Britain, to re establish a 63 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: Protestant state and to ensure that the traditions of the 64 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: existing elites would be sustained. So out of that process 65 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,359 Speaker 1: there were a number of laws passed. For example, the 66 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: Licensing of the Press Act of sixteen sixty two had said, 67 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: quote an Act for preventing the frequent abuses in printing seditious, treasonable, 68 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: and unlicensed books and pamphlets, and for regulating a printing 69 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,840 Speaker 1: and printing presses. In other words, the government would control 70 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: whether or not you could have a printing press, the 71 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: government would control what you could print. The government control 72 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: whether it was a book or a pamphlet or a newspaper. 73 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,160 Speaker 1: And so that had been really an effort to clamp 74 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: down on people who had a different attitude. However, once 75 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:20,119 Speaker 1: they've gone through the Glorious Revolution, Parliament suddenly decided that 76 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: they would not continue it, and so it was rejected 77 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:27,479 Speaker 1: by the House of Commons in sixteen ninety five, which 78 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 1: is about the time that John Locke is writing and 79 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: is beginning to outline the concept that your rights may 80 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: come from your creator, and that they are in fact 81 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: explicitly yours, not the governments. Again and again people would 82 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: come back and trying to replace the bill because they're 83 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: trying to find some way to allow a little bit 84 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:54,279 Speaker 1: of freedom but still retain power with the government. And 85 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: during the period that the Act was enforced, there was 86 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: only one official newspaper, the Learning Gazette, which was published 87 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: by the government. And then when the London Gazette went 88 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,919 Speaker 1: out of business, there were a whole bunch of little 89 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: newspapers that showed up, and at that point you suddenly 90 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: have this whole chaos of people actually expressing their own opinions, 91 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: not expressing the government's opinions. Now, they were so concerned 92 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: that the Secretary of State had the power that they 93 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: could issue a warrant quote for the purpose of searching 94 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,720 Speaker 1: for and seizing the author of a libel or the 95 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: libelist papers themselves, and this was all seen as a 96 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: necessary part of protecting the government from the people. However, 97 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty five that was declared illegal in a 98 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: case called ANTIQ versus Carrington, and that was right in 99 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: the middle of the emergence of somebody I want to 100 00:06:55,720 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: talk about, John Wilkes. John Wilkes isn't immortal because he 101 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: stood for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and 102 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: the right of people to elect their own parliamentarians, not 103 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: the parliament's right to impose parliamentarians on people. So what 104 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: you had was a moment in time in the late 105 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: seventeen sixties. Remember this is about a decade before the 106 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: declature Independence. So all this is happening, all of us 107 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: being reported in the colonies, and the leadership who will 108 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: ultimately go to Philadelphia and write the declation Independence, they're 109 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: all very aware of what's going on in that period. 110 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 1: The most famous codifier of English law is Sir William Blackstone, 111 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: and Blackstone publishes commentaries on the laws of England, and 112 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: they are the definitive work, which frankly even today are 113 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: seen by lawyers as a landmark in codifying the law 114 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: and creating this idea that the law exists and that 115 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: the system operates within the law. And Blackstone comes down 116 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: very firmly. He says, quote, the liberty of the press 117 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: is indeed essential to the nature of a free state. 118 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: But this consistent laying no prior restraints upon publications, and 119 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: not in freedom from censure for criminal matter of when published. 120 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what sentiments 121 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: he pleases. But for the public to forbid this is 122 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: to destroy the freedom of the press. But if he 123 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: publishes what is improper, mischievous, or illegal, he must take 124 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:39,199 Speaker 1: the consequence of his own temerity. And here you have 125 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,880 Speaker 1: Jefferson's passion for freedom of the press and for the 126 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: idea of freedom of speech, which ultimately becomes part of 127 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: our Bill of rights. So Blackstone is laying out a 128 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: very firm statement. Think about all the debates we're currently 129 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:56,679 Speaker 1: having and the people, particularly on the left, who want 130 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: the right to censorship. They want the news media to 131 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 1: be sensed, they want politicians to be censored, they want 132 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: people on the Internet and social media to be censored. 133 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: And think about how exactly contrary that is to the 134 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: principle that Blackstone is creating in the seventeen sixties. I 135 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: want to repeat part of what you said. The liberty 136 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: of the press is indeed essential to the nature of 137 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: a free state. But this consistent laying no prior restraints 138 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: upon publications. Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay 139 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: what sentiment he pleases before the public to forbid this 140 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: is to destroy the freedom of the press. Now he 141 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:38,559 Speaker 1: goes on and say, look, you can say an you 142 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:41,280 Speaker 1: want to, but if what you say is libelous, or 143 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: if what you say is profoundly false, there are consequences. 144 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: You can be sued, people can come after you. So 145 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 1: you have to be prepared to defend what you're willing 146 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: to say. But you should not have a prior restraint. 147 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: Nobody should step in and say, ah, you're not allowed 148 00:09:55,320 --> 00:10:00,640 Speaker 1: to say this. Now, into this very chaotic environment where 149 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: people are really wrestling with just emerging modern world. What 150 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: are your rights? What's the government's rights? Comes John Wilkes. 151 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: John Wilkes is basically, by our standards, upper middle class. 152 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: He was the second son of six children of Israel Wilkes, 153 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:20,680 Speaker 1: who was a malt distiller. Born in Clerkenwell in seventeen 154 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: twenty five, he went off to boarding school. He mastered 155 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: Latin and Greek by the age of fourteen. In seventeen 156 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,719 Speaker 1: forty four he attended the University of Leiden and not 157 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: set a time when Lyden was one of the greatest 158 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: centerpieces of what we would think of his liberal learning 159 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: Wilkes came back home and had an arranged marriage to 160 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: a bride some ten years older than himself, Mary Meade, 161 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: whose dowry from her wealthy widowed mother was the manor 162 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: of Ellsbury in Buckinghamshire. A daughter, Mary, was born in 163 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty. After ten years, he primarily separated from his wife, 164 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: who retained the Ellsbury estate, and agreed to pay his 165 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:01,719 Speaker 1: wife to one hundred pounds a year, which is, by 166 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: the way, a lot of money back then, so he 167 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: obviously was doing pretty well financially. But he was bored. 168 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 1: So Wilkes decides to get into politics. In seventeen fifty seven, 169 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: he's elected a Member of Parliament for Aylesbury and he 170 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:36,559 Speaker 1: made his first speech in seventeen sixty one in support 171 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: of William Pitt. William Pitt really matters. He was called 172 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: the Great Commoner. He was the most impressive English Prime 173 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: Minister of his stage, to be matched only by his son, 174 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: Pitt the Younger, who fought the war with Napoleon, and 175 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,760 Speaker 1: Wilkes decides he's on the side of Pett, who is 176 00:11:55,840 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: basically a warhawk, somebody who believes in making Britain by 177 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: winning wars. Overseas and by capturing territories. His first speech 178 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:10,439 Speaker 1: was not a particularly big deal. Horace Walpole commented quote 179 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: his appearance as an orator had, by no means conspired 180 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 1: to make him more noticed. He spoke coldly and insipidly, 181 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:22,480 Speaker 1: though with impertinence. His manner was poor and his countenance horrid. 182 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: So j See Wilkes is not suddenly emerging on the 183 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: scene as a great trigure. He's just a backbench politician 184 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: trying to make his way along, and at that time 185 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 1: he was not taken very seriously. However, what starts to 186 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: change everything is the next year when King George the 187 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,840 Speaker 1: Third asked his close friend, the Earl of Butte, to 188 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 1: become Prime Minister. Now a lot of people were very 189 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: upset by that because they thought Beaude was incompetent, and 190 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: John Wilkes became Baute's leading critic in the House of Commons. 191 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: Now this is very tricky because remember this is a 192 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: period before you have the Declaration Independence, which asserts that 193 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 1: your rights come from God. This is a period when 194 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 1: people believe that your rights come from the king. So 195 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:17,080 Speaker 1: if you too clearly criticize the King, you're engaged in treason. 196 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: And if you too clearly criticize the King's best friend 197 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: who's now the prime minister, and that's pretty close to treason. 198 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,560 Speaker 1: And here you have Wilkes picking a fight, making his 199 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:33,080 Speaker 1: fame by taking on the King's close friend and prime minister, 200 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: the Earl Abute. In fact, in June seven sixty two, 201 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: Wilkes establishes The North Britain, which is a newspaper that 202 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: keeps attacking the King and his prime minister. Now think 203 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: about this, here's the guys who going out of his way. 204 00:13:46,559 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: It's not only making speeches attacking the prime minister, he's 205 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,839 Speaker 1: creating a newspaper to attack the prime minister. The very 206 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:56,800 Speaker 1: first issue, Wilkes writes, quote, the liberty of the press 207 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: is the birthright of a Britain and it is justly 208 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 1: a steemed the firmest bullock of the liberties of this country. 209 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 1: I mean, Jefferson is basically later on, essentially taking exactly 210 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:12,720 Speaker 1: Wilke's line. And the whole concept of the Bill of 211 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: Rights and the whole concept of your right to free 212 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:18,559 Speaker 1: speech and the right of a free press comes straight 213 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:23,080 Speaker 1: from Wilkes. Now, however, at the time it was not 214 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: seen as a very positive thing. In fact, Wilkes gets 215 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: more and more extreme. In seventeen sixty three, he writes 216 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: in his newspaper, the King's speech at the opening of 217 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,119 Speaker 1: Parliament gave quote, his sacred name to the most odious 218 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: measures and the most unjustifiable public declarations from a throne 219 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: ever renowned for truth, honor and unsullied virtue. He added 220 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,480 Speaker 1: that the spirit of discord will never be extinguished but 221 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: by the extinction of their power. Now, if you're the King, 222 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: if you're the King's Prime minister, this guys only began 223 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: to make you mad, saying very aggressive things, using very 224 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: strong language, and in in fact he is engaged at 225 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: what would be called, if not treason's sedition, that is, 226 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: the undermining of the government. George Grenville, replacing Butte as 227 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: Prime Minister, decides he's going to prosecute Wilkes for seditious libel. 228 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: Wilkes writes back quote, the government has sent the spirit 229 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 1: of discord through the land, and I will prophesy that 230 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: it will never be extinguished, but by the extinction of 231 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: their power. A nation as sensible as the English will 232 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: see that a spirit of concord, when they are oppressed, 233 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: means a team submission to injury, and that a spirit 234 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: of liberty ought then to arise, and I am sure 235 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: ever will in proportion to the weight of the grievance. 236 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: They feel thirteen years before the declaration of independence a 237 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: clear statement the government have sent the spirit of discord 238 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 1: through the land. I mean he is laying it right 239 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: on the government, something which is shocking and clearly verges 240 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: on treason by the standard of that time. While Grenville's 241 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 1: a serious man. So in April thirtieth, seventeen sixty three, 242 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: John Wilkes and forty nine publishers are arrested on the 243 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: general warrant, a document which had no real crime, but 244 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,600 Speaker 1: just said anybody we listen in this document can be arrested. 245 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 1: General warrants were very unpopular. I think of this was 246 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:34,760 Speaker 1: in some ways parallel to the Russian collusion, the Ukrainian collusion, 247 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: I mean, all the junk we've been through. And as 248 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: Wilkes said, look, these are clearly unconstitutional. You haven't specified 249 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 1: a crime, you haven't specified we've done anything wrong. You 250 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 1: can't just go around arresting people. At a court hearing, 251 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: the Lord Chief Justice ruled that as a member of Parliament, 252 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: Wilkes was protected by privilege from arrest on a charge 253 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 1: of libel. In other words, what you said in the parliament. 254 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: In this case, they stretch it out to say what 255 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: you set as a parliamentarian could not be attacked for limel. 256 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:13,880 Speaker 1: Now that led to a movement proclaiming quote Wilkes and liberty. 257 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: So he's beginning to really be identified as the symbol 258 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: of freedom, the symbol of a free press, and the 259 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:27,639 Speaker 1: symbol of legitimately standing up to the government not being treasonous. Actually, 260 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: during the spring of seventeen sixty three, Wilkes is a 261 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 1: very energetic guy, organizes twenty five Printers to bring suits 262 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: against the government for a legal arrest and seizure of property. 263 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 1: The Printers and leader Wilkes won their cases against the 264 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,199 Speaker 1: execution of the general warrant and were paid compensation by 265 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,879 Speaker 1: the government. Now, in our current parier, this would be 266 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: comparable to Facebook and others having to compensate the Post, 267 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:56,880 Speaker 1: or having the New York Post, or having to compensate 268 00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:01,120 Speaker 1: President Trump, or having to compensate Russia. Limbaugh. I mean, 269 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: he's taking on this notion that if you arrest us illegally, 270 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 1: you owe us damages Wilkes, having won the argument on 271 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,399 Speaker 1: that case, goes right back and attacks the government again. 272 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 1: Samuel Martin, who supports the King, challenges Wilkes to a 273 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: duel after Wilkes called him quote the most treacherous, base, selfish, mean, abject, 274 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: low lived and dirty fellow that ever wriggled himself into 275 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,640 Speaker 1: a secretaryship. You can see why Martin was kind of irritated. Nonetheless, 276 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: their consequences. On sixteenth November seventeen sixty three, Wilkes is 277 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: seriously wounded by Martin by a shot in the stomach, 278 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: which is very painful, and he's lucky he didn't die. 279 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: And then one week later Parliament voted that a member's 280 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: privilege from arrest did not extend to the writing and 281 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: publishing of seditious libels. Clearly, they're about to arrest Wilkes, 282 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,880 Speaker 1: and he takes off and his friends get him to Paris, 283 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 1: out of reach of the government. Then he returns and 284 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: it's quiet until Parliament is dissolved in seventeen sixty eight, 285 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: decides to stand for the Middlesex constituency he had organized supporters. 286 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: Remember by now he is sort of the symbol of 287 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: freedom and now we're up to about eight years before 288 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: the declaration independence. People in America are reading about this, 289 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,360 Speaker 1: they're talking about this, They're trying to say what does 290 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: it mean? Which side will be on? In Middlesex, there's 291 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:37,880 Speaker 1: a six thousand strong contingent of weavers who parade through 292 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 1: the streets and forced every carriage to either show Wilkes's color, 293 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: which is blue, or to chalk their vehicle with the 294 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: slogan Wilkes and Liberty. Wilkes triumphs by twelve hundred and 295 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: ninety two votes to eight hundred and twenty seven and 296 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: eight o seven that's the other two candidates. Then, after 297 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: being elected, Wilkes is arrested and taken to King's Bench prison. 298 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 1: So now you have people who can't say, wait a second, 299 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: this guy won the election. He had a huge support, 300 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 1: and for the next two weeks the crowd began to 301 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:12,800 Speaker 1: assemble at Saint George's Field, which is a large open 302 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:17,120 Speaker 1: space by the prison. The tenth of May seventeen sixty eight, 303 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:21,679 Speaker 1: a crowd of almost fifteen thousand arrived outside the prison. 304 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: They chanted Wilkes and Liberty, no liberty, no King, and 305 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: damned the king, damned the government, damned the justices. Well, 306 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 1: think about it. The stuff is all directly aimed at 307 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:38,120 Speaker 1: the king and concept of power coming from the king 308 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,440 Speaker 1: to the citizens, and as an enormous threat to the system. 309 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: The crowd of fifteen thousand scares the troops, who are 310 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: really afraid that they're going to try to break in 311 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: the prison and rescue Wilkes, and so the troops opened fire, 312 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: killing seven people. Anger at that led to disturbances all 313 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: over London. Remember this is a periodly being up to 314 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: what will become the Boston massacre, what will become the 315 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: Tea Party. Again, all of these things are in fact 316 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,359 Speaker 1: across the Atlantic. There are ties of thinking, ties of activity, 317 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: people paying attention to each other, and a gradual emerging radicalism. 318 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: Radical in the sense that it does not accept that 319 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: the king has universal power and does not accept that 320 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,880 Speaker 1: liberty doesn't matter. Wilkes has then found guilty of libel. 321 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 1: He sentenced to twenty two months prison and a thousand 322 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,720 Speaker 1: pound five He's expelled from the House of Commons, but 323 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:43,400 Speaker 1: in February, March and April he's reelected by Middlesex three times, 324 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,920 Speaker 1: and in all three occasions the decision was overturned by Parliament. 325 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 1: In fact, in May, the House of Commons voted that 326 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,920 Speaker 1: Colonel Henry Lttruelle, the defeated candidate Middlesex, would be accepted 327 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,040 Speaker 1: as the parliamentary member. So now you have the spectacle. 328 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: Here's the guy who's the government critic is the guy 329 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: who has won four elections, and the politicians, the establishment, 330 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,880 Speaker 1: the swamp of that era, says no, we don't care 331 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: what the voters want. We're not good at tolerate it. Wilkes, 332 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 1: having been banned from Parliament, joins a campaign for freedom 333 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 1: of the press, and in February seventeen seventy one, Parliament 334 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,000 Speaker 1: attempted to prevent several London newspapers from publishing reports of 335 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 1: its debate. Wilkes challenges the decision. The government reacts by 336 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,159 Speaker 1: ordering the arrest of two of his printers. A large 337 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,680 Speaker 1: crowd soon surrounds Parliament, and, afraid of what would happen, 338 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: the government ordered the release of the two men and 339 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,640 Speaker 1: abandoned attempts to prevent the publication of reports of its debates. 340 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: And so a couple of principles here are being to 341 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:50,919 Speaker 1: be established. Politicians don't debate in secret. The voters have 342 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 1: the right to read the debates, and you can't just 343 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: go and arrest people because they happen to be printers. 344 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: Wilkes already been reputing three times in Parliament in seventeen 345 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: seventy four. Now this surmember where this is all evolving 346 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: two years now before we will create the Dclish independence. 347 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: Wilkes is elected Lord Mayor of London. So every time 348 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,360 Speaker 1: the Establishment crushes him, he bounces back bigger, more popular, 349 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 1: with more support, and he's once again elected to represent 350 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,880 Speaker 1: Middlesex in the House of Commons. This time the Establishment 351 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: caves and he's allowed to serve and comm Wulkes is 352 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: a genuine radical for his generation. When he's in Commons, 353 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: he campaigns for religious toleration, for parliamentary reform. He says, 354 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 1: quote that every free agent in this Kingdom should, in 355 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:46,640 Speaker 1: my wish, be represented in Parliament. That the metropolis which 356 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: contains it inself a ninth part of the people, and 357 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,639 Speaker 1: the counties of Middle Silks, York and others which so 358 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:57,160 Speaker 1: greatly abound with inhabitants, should receive an increase in their representation. 359 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:02,119 Speaker 1: That the mean and insignificant Borrow, so emphatically styled the 360 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: rotten part of our constitution, should be topped off and 361 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: the electors in them thrown into the counties, and the rich, 362 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 1: populous trading towns Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, leads to others, be 363 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 1: permitted to send deputies to the Great Council of the Nation. 364 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,159 Speaker 1: You have to understand the structure of British politics in 365 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,160 Speaker 1: this period to realize how radical this is. The British 366 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: Parliament had grown up in a medieval period and basically 367 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 1: represented geographies. Many of them were many of them with 368 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: almost no people. At least one of them had no 369 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,919 Speaker 1: people at all in it, and the representative from that 370 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: particular parliamentary seat was basically picked by the landowner who said, yeah, 371 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,919 Speaker 1: I want to do there. And in fact, the most 372 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: famous conservative intellectual of the late eighteenth century, and the 373 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:53,119 Speaker 1: greatest critic of the very base of the French Revolution 374 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:57,359 Speaker 1: and its radical destruction of liberty, was actually initially from 375 00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 1: what was called a rotten borough. And they were called 376 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,439 Speaker 1: rotten burroughs because they were totally disproportionate to their size, 377 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: and very often they were controlled by the owner of 378 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: the property. In that period, what Wilkes is suggesting is 379 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 1: an enormous shock to the system which would transfer power 380 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: from these rural boroughs. There were very few people to 381 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: these great metropolises, which represented a totally different world. They're upsented, 382 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: a world of commerce, a world of manufacturing. This in fact, 383 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: would not begin to occur in a big way until 384 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,880 Speaker 1: the eighteen thirties and forties, partially because the French Revolution 385 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:39,480 Speaker 1: would have occurred so deeply frightened the British aristocracy, it 386 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:42,159 Speaker 1: was so ruthless, had killed so many people, It was 387 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: such a totalitarian system that had just stopped this kind 388 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:50,359 Speaker 1: of reformative trucks. Without the French Revolution, probably Wilkes's model 389 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,880 Speaker 1: of representation would have occurred by eighteen ten or eighteen fifteen, 390 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: and Wilkes was defining a really important key point all 391 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,359 Speaker 1: of this. Remember, just a year or two before the 392 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: Declaration Independence, Wilkes says, quote, the poorest peasant and day 393 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: laborer has important rights respecting his personal liberty, that of 394 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: his wife and children, his property, however inconsiderable his wages, 395 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: which are in many trades and manufactures regulated by the 396 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,320 Speaker 1: power of Parliament. Some share therefore in the power of 397 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:44,919 Speaker 1: making those laws which deeply interest them. Without a true 398 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:49,880 Speaker 1: representation of the commons, our constitution is essentially defective. So 399 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: he's really speaking for every working person having the right 400 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:58,440 Speaker 1: to have representation, to vote, have their vote counted. In 401 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: that era, this is a hugely radical position, as you 402 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: might guess, when the Americans finally rebel, Wilkes was on 403 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: their side again. Think about how controversial and how divisive 404 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 1: this must have been in the British governing class. Wilkes says, quote, 405 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: I hold Magna Carta to be in full force in America. 406 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: In Parliament, Wilkes urged conciliation rather than coercion, denounced the 407 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:29,919 Speaker 1: American War as bloody, expensive and above all futile, telling 408 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,679 Speaker 1: the House of Commons men are not converted by the 409 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: force of the bayonet at the breast. So he is 410 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: basically on the side of the Americans who are critiquing 411 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: the system. And the reference to Magna Carta is important 412 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,399 Speaker 1: because of its cultural implications for Great Britain. There's a 413 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: copy of the Magna Carta in the US Capitol, signed 414 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:56,080 Speaker 1: in twelve fifteen. It is a statement basically that the 415 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,680 Speaker 1: king can have extra money, but he has to respect 416 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 1: the of the nobles. Originally didn't relate to everyday people 417 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: related to the nobles, but it was establishing this notion 418 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,199 Speaker 1: that the king was not absolute, the king did not 419 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 1: have total authority, that in fact he had to negotiate, 420 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: he had to share his power. Occurred because King John 421 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:20,640 Speaker 1: was a very weak king, deeply over extended, deeply in debt, 422 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: desperate for the money, so he cave after he had 423 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: agreed to it. He tried to get out of it, 424 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,679 Speaker 1: but it became the benchmark of the concept that the 425 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:33,119 Speaker 1: king must come to the Parliament, and particularly come to 426 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:36,639 Speaker 1: the House of Commons to get money. And therefore the 427 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: government to summing Stunt was obligated to normal people, the 428 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: people from whom it wants to get money, and that 429 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: grew into a bigger and bigger statement. More and more 430 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: power moved to the Commons and away from the king. 431 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: By saying the Magna carts in full force in America, 432 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: Wilkes is saying all the rights of an English citizen 433 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: applied the colony. Well, this was not at all London's 434 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,640 Speaker 1: view of things. London thought of the colonies as places 435 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: to be exploited on behalf of Great Britain, not places 436 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: the Great Britain had to govern as part of Britain. 437 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: And effect you can write a terrific alternative history in 438 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: which they cleverly give the Americans the right to vote 439 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: for parliamentary representation, and as a result, America remains loyal 440 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:27,320 Speaker 1: to Britain and you have a totally different world. Lukes 441 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: goes so far as to move to repeal the Declaratory 442 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: Act of seventeen seventy six. This is a key complained 443 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: of the colonists. It was one of the things that 444 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,240 Speaker 1: came out of defeating the French and the Seven Years War, 445 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 1: or what the Americans called the French and Indian War. 446 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: He was trying to say, let's get rid of things 447 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: that really make the Americans angry. He only gets ten 448 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: votes because the fact is the British political system is 449 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: not prepared to conciliate the Americans. They want to crush 450 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: the Americans. Finally, there's a Piece Commission in seventeen seventy eight, 451 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,920 Speaker 1: which leads him to urge recognition of the American colonists. 452 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: The Peace Commission was an export to the last big 453 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: effort to find some way out of this war that 454 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,840 Speaker 1: had seemed to continue to go on. The Americans were 455 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: gradually winning, and Welke's pointed out of quote a series 456 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:24,680 Speaker 1: of four years, disgraces and defeats are surely sufficient to 457 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:28,960 Speaker 1: convince us of the absolute impossibility of conquering America by force. 458 00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,800 Speaker 1: And I fear the gentle means of persuasion have equally failed. 459 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: So here he is saying, in seventeen seventy eight, this 460 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,680 Speaker 1: is over. We're not going to be able to defeat 461 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,719 Speaker 1: the Americans. We need to give them their freedom. And 462 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,120 Speaker 1: by the way, Pitt the Elder of the Great Commoner, 463 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: had also come to the same view and also believed 464 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 1: that it was impossible to militarily defeat the Americans. Finally, 465 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: after all these years of standing decisively, being a very 466 00:30:56,680 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: bold reformer, being a half century ahead of the way 467 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,800 Speaker 1: things would evolve, in the seventeen ninety general election, he's 468 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: defeated for reelection and he retires from politics. Now, I thought, 469 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:15,000 Speaker 1: when the current situation we're in, that Wilkes was a 470 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:20,200 Speaker 1: particularly useful person to look at, because this whole notion 471 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 1: that we're going to say to a former president now 472 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: a private citizen. And I saw a reference today to 473 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: citizen Trump, which I think is a very important concept. 474 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 1: If you think citizen He said to yourself, by what 475 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:38,480 Speaker 1: right do Washington politicians tell the American people that a 476 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: citizen who had gotten over seventy four million votes, that 477 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: that citizen cannot run for office, that the American people 478 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: do not have the right to pick who they want 479 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: to send into office. That, it seems to me, is 480 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 1: a return to the kind of parliament that Wilkes was. 481 00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:00,960 Speaker 1: In fact rebelling against the spirit of Wilkes, and the 482 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 1: fight that Wilkes has involved in dramatically impacted the Americans, 483 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: led to a deep passion for freedom of the press, 484 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,280 Speaker 1: led to a deep belief in free speech, and led 485 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:16,680 Speaker 1: to a deep belief the power came from the people, 486 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: not from the king, and that our rights in fact 487 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: come to us from God, and that we therefore have 488 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 1: the right to stand up and refuse to allow the 489 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 1: government to define for us what we are allowed to think. 490 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: I think Wilkes is one of those remarkable people who 491 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: have an impact out of all proportion to what you 492 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: would have expected at the beginning of their life, and 493 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: he certainly had a big impact on the Americans, and 494 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: as a result, people like Jefferson drew from Wilkes's views 495 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,880 Speaker 1: a very very deep commitment to a level of restricting 496 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 1: the government. Remember the Constitution is actually designed to limit 497 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: the government, not to strengthen it. The Bill of Rights 498 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 1: is designed to limit the government, not to strengthen it. 499 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 1: The whole goal was, how do we have a system 500 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 1: strong enough that we can survive in a dangerous world 501 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: with countries like France and Britain and Spadin that they 502 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: want to devour us, but at the same time restrict 503 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 1: that government so that its power, which is important to 504 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:26,480 Speaker 1: protect us from foreign danger, cannot be used to eliminate 505 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 1: our own freedoms. That's the central question the Founding fathers 506 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,400 Speaker 1: are working on, and they believed that they were creating 507 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: a system in which freedom would always be protected. I 508 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: think right now we are seeing the gravest threat to 509 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,280 Speaker 1: that system and the two hundred and twenty five year 510 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: history of the United States, and I think it's useful 511 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,720 Speaker 1: to go back and look at Wilkes, understand what he 512 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:53,040 Speaker 1: was fighting for, understanding the scale of corruption and the 513 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: scale of self serving police power that was being used 514 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 1: to try to crush him, and recognize that the struggle 515 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 1: for liberty, the struggle for freedom, the struggle for citizenship 516 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: is on ending, and that we are once again in 517 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 1: a period where we have an obligation to stand firm 518 00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:15,080 Speaker 1: for every person's rights, to stand firm for free speech, 519 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: to stand firm for government respecting the citizenry. And I 520 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: can't think of any better example. I tweeted over the 521 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:28,440 Speaker 1: weekend in honor of Ronald Reagan's hundred and tenth birthday, 522 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: that our new cry should be Speaker Pelosi, tear down 523 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:36,520 Speaker 1: this wall in memory of Ronald Reagan saying in Berlin, 524 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:40,839 Speaker 1: mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Reagan was referring to 525 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,359 Speaker 1: the wall in Berlin, which was designed to keep East 526 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: Germans from fleeing to the West. The very notion that 527 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 1: we would have barbed wire around the US capital to 528 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 1: protect our capital from Americans strikes me as exactly wrong. 529 00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: We have plenty of FBI capability, plenty of police capability. 530 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:06,080 Speaker 1: We don't have to physically separate the politicians behind a 531 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,720 Speaker 1: protective barrier. And it's doubly ironic because the very people 532 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,319 Speaker 1: who most want the wall around the Capitol are the 533 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 1: people who most want to tear down the wall between 534 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,240 Speaker 1: the United States and Mexico. And I think that Wilkes 535 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: would have thoroughly understood this dilemma. He would have totally 536 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 1: been in favor of tearing down the wall, and he 537 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 1: would have found it amazing that the American people are 538 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,839 Speaker 1: being told by their elected officials that they are so 539 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,360 Speaker 1: unworthy of trust that the elected officials have to protect 540 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:38,120 Speaker 1: themselves from the people of the United States. So I 541 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:39,799 Speaker 1: think there's a lot to learn from Wilkes, and I 542 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,200 Speaker 1: think this particular time is a time when we have 543 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,520 Speaker 1: a lot to learn to think profoundly about how we 544 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:47,840 Speaker 1: are going to protect freedom, and we are going to 545 00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:50,640 Speaker 1: protect liberty, and we are going to refuse to allow 546 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:54,759 Speaker 1: either big government or mobs on the left who might 547 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,399 Speaker 1: be tempted to try to crush freedom. Because I think 548 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,600 Speaker 1: that it's essential to recognized that every generation has to 549 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,920 Speaker 1: be militant, and every generation has to be prepared to 550 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:08,240 Speaker 1: do what it takes in order to preserve its freedoms. 551 00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:12,560 Speaker 1: And this is a really, really important question and one 552 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,319 Speaker 1: that I hope will be a significant part of our 553 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:21,279 Speaker 1: debates in the next few years. I'm new Gangrich. This 554 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:22,280 Speaker 1: is net World.