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The Virginia Gazette
Richmond, Williamsburg, Richmond County, Virginia
What is this article about?
Extract from a London letter dated February 7, 1770s?, reports a peaceful opening of parliamentary sessions with the opposition faction dissolved; Lords Temple, Chatham, and Shelburne withdrawing; limited activity in Common Council and Wilkes-led newspapers amid general despondency.
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Full Text
Extract of a Letter from London, February 7.
PURPOSELY deferred writing till the opening of the Sessions; and never was any One in this, or the last Reign, more peaceable. The Faction is no more. Lord Temple will have Nothing to do with them; Lord Chatham stays in Somersetshire; Lord Shelburne is going abroad and Barry, on the Motion of twenty five Thousand Seamen, spoke for the Motion, and is manifestly trimming round, and seeking out for a new Master on the Failure of the old One. All are desponding; the only Appearance of Life is in the Common Council, and in the Newspapers. These are written by Wilkes and his Set of desperate Printers, who are courting a Jail in Order to lift them into publick Notice, and to keep themselves from starving. As to the Common Council, it has been long sinking but is now fallen upon the very lowest of the Inhabitants.
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Where did it happen?
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
London
Event Date
February 7
Key Persons
Outcome
the opposition faction has dissolved; key figures are disengaging or seeking new alignments; political activity limited to common council and newspapers; general despondency prevails.
Event Details
The writer delayed correspondence until the opening of Sessions, describing an unusually peaceful political atmosphere compared to recent reigns. The Faction is dismantled, with Lord Temple refusing involvement, Lord Chatham remaining in Somersetshire, Lord Shelburne planning to go abroad, and Barry supporting a motion for 25,000 seamen while shifting allegiances after the old leadership's failure. Despondency dominates, with vitality only in the Common Council and newspapers, the latter driven by Wilkes and desperate printers seeking notoriety and survival through potential imprisonment. The Common Council has declined to represent only the lowest inhabitants.