arrested on a warrant which had not been backed by a City magistrate,
and demanded to be heard by counsel in support of his plea. His demand,
however, was refused, and he and Alderman Oliver were committed to the
Tower; but, as if the ministers were afraid of re-opening the question
of Colonel Luttrell's election for Middlesex, they evaded taking notice
of Wilkes's disobedience to their order by a singularly undignified
expedient, issuing a fresh order for his appearance on the 8th of April,
and adjourning till the 9th.

The ministers now moved the appointment of a select committee to
investigate the whole affair; and the committee, before the end of the
month, made an elaborate report, which, however, abstained from all
mention of the offence committed by the printers, and confined itself to
an assertion that "the power and authority of the House to compel the
attendance of any commoner had ever extended as well to the City of
London, without exception on account of charters from the crown or any
pretence of separate jurisdiction, as to every other part of the realm."
And this assertion may be regarded as having been uphold by the refusal
of the judges to release the Lord Mayor and Alderman when they sued out
writs of _habeas corpus_; and they consequently remained prisoners in
the Tower till they were released by the prorogation.

But with this report of the committee the matter was suffered to drop.
The transaction had caused almost unprecedented excitement, which was
not confined to the City, for the grand-juries of many English counties
and a committee of the Dublin merchants showed their sympathy with the
Opposition by sending up addresses to the imprisoned City magistrates;
and the ministers had a prudent fear of keeping alive an agitation which
had not been always free from danger to the public tranquillity.[15] In
effect, the victory remained with the Opposition. No farther attempt was