A letter of Lord Weymouth previous to the murder of Allen in St. George’s Fields, and couched in imprudent terms,[162] had been printed in the _St. James’s Chronicle_. Lord Pomfret was desirous of complaining of it, but the Duke of Grafton insisted on making the complaint himself, and did with extraordinary heat, and the Lords ordered Baldwin the printer to be taken up. The letter had been accompanied by a very daring comment. Baldwin at the bar of the Lords said, he had received the papers from one Swan a printer, who appeared likewise. He was a plain honest man; confessed he had been alarmed at the seizure of Baldwin, yet had been determined to sacrifice himself, his wife, and children, rather than betray any man. He had therefore applied to Mr. Wilkes, to whom he had gone three times a-week for letters to be printed in the newspapers, and had asked him what he should do? Mr. Wilkes had answered, “Declare you received all those papers from me.” This hardiness threw the Lords into a rage; but the Duke of Grafton, checked by Wilkes’s boldness, proposed to defer the consideration till the morrow. The Duke of Bolton professed to detest Wilkes, and wondered their Lordships could hesitate a moment; but the Minister, perceiving the new difficulty into which he had plunged, Wilkes being as yet a member of the other House, and willing to take advice, persisted in deferring the consideration. On the 14th, Serjeant Glynn was returned for Middlesex by a majority of 264 votes; but though the City and the Strand were illuminated on that occasion, Wilkes, to prevent complaints and to display his authority, had issued such strict orders to his partisans, that not a man appeared in the streets--such was his influence even from his prison! The Lords then passed six or seven resolutions on American affairs; of which the only strong one was, to address the Crown to prosecute in England all who had been engaged in treasonable practices in the Colonies. Lord Temple, who had not appeared till then during the session, said, all this was doing nothing, and went away. Lord Shelburne professed himself an American, but declared he would wait for a better opportunity of speaking his thoughts. The Duke of Richmond called on the Ministers to acquaint the House with what sums had been received from the new duties. The Duke of Grafton answered, Nothing had been received, for the Commissioners had been imprisoned by the mob: but he would go farther; he believed nothing had been received from any part of America;--but another of the Ministers, more prudent, interrupted him, and said, the Duke of Richmond’s question was nothing to the point before them. The resolutions passed.