The Virginia Gazette

Mr. WILKES's Speech to the Society at the London Tavern, the 22d of this Month.

I HAVE always made it a Maxim to retire when any private Affair, relative to myself, became the Subject of your Discussion, that no Delicacy might prevent any Member of a Society to which I am so much obliged from using every proper Freedom in Debate. All of you I considered as my Friends, and therefore apprehended no Inconvenience from being absent; but by some Fatality, for which I cannot easily account, I have been lately held out to you in a light which I little expected, and which, I am sure, I little deserved. At your last Meeting, as soon as I left this Room a certain Gentleman took the Liberty of entertaining you for an Hour and a Half at my Expense. Where he could find Matter for such a tedious Harangue, except in his own indistinct Ideas, and verbose Diction, I am utterly at a Loss to determine. Certain I am that in my publick or private Conduct he could find Nothing, that, fairly and candidly examined, would afford him sufficient Subject for a Speech of ten Minutes in Length, much less for a long-winded Orator, more sleepy than a Scotch Parson's Sermon. The Success which he then met has emboldened him to make a publick Attack, and he hopes to provoke me to engage in a literary Warfare. Of the Severity of his Pen I am not afraid; I am only afraid of degrading myself in the Estimation of the Publick by the Contest, not that I dread to undergo the severest Examination before the Tribunal of the People. No, I hold myself accountable to them for every Part of my publick Conduct; because, though unjustly superseded, I still reckon myself their Servant. Nor do I decline an Examination of my private Life. If I am subject to Imperfections, I believe they are human, and venial. Here I stand ready to answer for them to the Nation in general, and to this respectable Society in particular. If any Person has Objections to start, let him stand forth and challenge me Face to Face. I desire to conceal Nothing. The whole Tenour of my Life has been such that I need not blush at a single Scene. The Publick, by your Assistance, has supported me with much Generosity; and I should be the basest of Men if, in Return, I did not devote my Life to its Service. Hitherto I am not conscious of having failed in my Part, and I am resolved to adhere to the same Plan; and, if it should be found necessary, to lay down my Life in the Cause of the Publick. That these my Intentions may not be frustrated I find it necessary to clear my Character of some late Aspersions; and as I know no Body of Men who are more capable of doing Justice than this Society, I call upon my Accusers to produce their Charges, while I am here to confute, or be confuted. Your Knowledge of the actual State of our Affairs will prevent the Dispute from running to that enormous Length which a Newspaper War must infallibly produce. Here there will be no Room for Subterfuges, Evasions, or Misrepresentations. We must adhere to plain Matter of Fact, and the Affair will soon come to an Issue. If this Challenge should be refused, you must naturally conclude that I am invulnerable, and that my Adversaries are not so open and ingenuous as they pretend. Let them act as they please, I am resolved to remain with you this Evening, both in Order to give them a fair Opportunity of making their Attack, and to prevent any disagreeable Altercation which might arise from your not being acquainted with Facts."

The Reverend Mr. Horne said, that he looked upon Mr. Wilkes's Speech as a Challenge to himself; that he would make no Professions of Patriotism, but allow his Actions to speak for themselves; that, if he knew himself, his Principles were at least as disinterested as those of Mr. Wilkes; that he had never received a Sixpence for being a Patriot, but that he had expended many Pounds in the Cause, &c. &c. Thus he went on, in a vague and general Strain, defending his own Conduct, and casting oblique Reflections on Mr. Wilkes; but as he never descended to Particulars, or attempted to prove any Charge against his Antagonist, it was moved that the Society should approve of Mr. Wilkes's Conduct. Upon this Mr. Horne declared that they might as well expel him; and he proposed, as an Amendment of the Motion, that Mr. Wilkes himself should draw up the Resolution. This Stroke of Humour was little regarded, and the Resolution passed. Yet Mr. Horne still remains unexpelled!