The same Gazette which announced his resignation, also trumpeted forth the peerage and the pension, and was the signal for clamours against the public favourite.

2

of Lord

On the retirement of Mr. Pitt, Lord Bute became the most influential of the ministers. He Influence undertook the chief management of public Bute. affairs in the cabinet, and the sole direction of the House of Lords.' He consulted none of his colleagues, except Lord Egremont and Mr. George Grenville. His ascendency provoked the jealousy and resentment of the king's veteran minister, the Duke of Newcastle. For years he had distributed all the patronage of the crown, but it was now wrested from his hands, nor was he consulted as to its disposal. The king himself created seven peers, without even acquainting him with their creation.3 Lord Bute gave away places and pensions to his own friends, and paid no attention to the recommendations of the duke. At length, in May 1762, his grace, after frequent disagreements in the cabinet, and numerous affronts, was obliged to resign."

Rockingham Mem., i. 54, 86, 101 (Letters of the Duke of New

castle).

2 Ibid., 104.

3 Walpole Mem., i. 156.

The personal demeanour of the king towards him evinced the feeling with which he had long been regarded. The duke complained of it in this manner: The king did not drop one word of concern at my leaving him, nor even made me a polite compliment, after near fifty years' service and devotion to the interests of his royal family. I will say nothing more of myself, but that I believe never any man was so dismissed.'-Letter to Lord Rockingham, May 19th, Rockingham Mem., i. 111. Yet Lord Bute, in a letter to Mr. Grenville, May 25th, 1762, says, 'The king's conduct to the Duke of Newcastle to-day was great and generous.-Grenville Papers, i. 448.

Lord Bute

as premier, 1762.

And now, the object of the court being at length attained, Lord Bute was immediately placed at the head of affairs, as First Lord of the Treasury. Rapid had been the rise of the king's favourite. In thirteen months he had been groom of the stole, a privy councillor, ranger of Richmond Park, secretary of state, and premier ;1 and these favours were soon followed by his installation as a Knight of the Garter, at the same time as the king's own brother, Prince William. His sudden elevation resembled that of an eastern vizier, rather than the toilsome ascent of a British statesman. But the confidence of his royal master served to aggravate the jealousies by which the new minister was surrounded, to widen the breach between himself and the leaders of the Whig party, and to afford occasion for popular reproaches. It has been insinuated that he was urged forward by secret enemies, in order to insure his speedier fall;' and it is certain that, had he been contented with a less prominent place, the consummation of his peculiar policy could have been more securely, and perhaps more successfully, accomplished.

Arbitrary conduct of

The king and his minister were resolved to carry matters with a high hand;3 and their arbithe king trary attempts to coerce and intimidate opnew minis- ponents disclosed their imperious views of prerogative. Preliminaries of a treaty of peace with France having been agreed upon, against

and the

ter.

1 His countess also received an English barony.

2 Walpole Mem., i. 44.

6

The king, it was given out, would be king,-would rot be dictated to by his ministers, as his grandfather had been. The prero gative was to shine out: great lords must be humbled.'-Walp. Mem., i. 200.

which a strong popular feeling was aroused, the king's vengeance was directed against all who ventured to disapprove them.

The Duke of Devonshire having declined to attend the council summoned to decide upon the peace, was insulted by the king, and forced to resign his office of Lord Chamberlain. A few days afterwards the king, with his own hand, struck his grace's name from the list of privy councillors. For so great a severity the only precedents in the late reign were those of Lord Bath and Lord George Sackville; the first,' says Walpole, in open and virulent opposition; the second on his ignominious sentence after the battle of Minden.'2 No sooner had Lord Rockingham heard of the treatment of the Duke of Devonshire, than he sought an audience of the king; and having stated that those who had hitherto deservedly had the greatest weight in the country were now driven out of any share in the government, and marked out rather as objects of his Majesty's displeasure than of his favour,' resigned his place in the household.3.

A more general proscription of the Whig nobles soon followed. The Dukes of Newcastle and Grafton, and the Marquess of Rockingham, having presumed, as peers of Parliament, to express their disapprobation of the peace, were dismissed from the lord-lieutenancies of their counties. The Duke of

I Walp. Mem., i. 201; Rockingham Mem., i. 135 (Letter of Duke of Newcastle to Lord Rockingham).

2 Walp. Mem., i. 203.

Letter to Duke of Cumberland; Rockingham Mem., i. 142. • Rockingham Mem., i. 155.

Devonshire, in order to share the fate of his friends and avoid the affront of dismissal, resigned the lieutenancy of his county.'

Nor was the vengeance of the court confined to the heads of the Whig party. Not only were all parliamentary placemen, who had voted against the preliminaries of peace, dismissed: but their humble friends and clients were also proscribed. Clerks were removed from public offices, and inferior officers from the customs and excise, and other small appointments, for no other offence than that of having been appointed by their obnoxious patrons.2 While bribes were lavished to purchase adhesion to the court policy, the king and his advisers determined to discourage opposition with unsparing severity. Great lords must be humbled, parties overborne, and Parliament reduced to subjection. The preliminaries of peace were approved by Parliament; and the Princess of Wales,

Its effect

upon parties.

exulting in the success of the court, exclaimed, 'Now my son is king of England.' But her exultation was premature. As yet there had been little more than a contention for power, between rival parties in the aristocracy: but these stretches of prerogative served to unite the Whigs into an organised opposition. Since the accession of the House of Hanover, this party had supported the crown, as ministers. It now became their office to assert the liberties of the people, and to resist the Walp. Mem., i. 235; Rockinghamı Mem., i. 156.

2 Walp. Mem., i. 283; Grenville Papers, i. 453; Rockingham Mem., i. 152, 158.

Walp. Mem., i. 233.

Thus the king's

encroachments of prerogative. attempt to restore the personal influence of the Sovereign, which the Revolution had impaired, so far from strengthening the throne, advanced the popular cause, and gave it powerful leaders, whose interests had hitherto been enlisted on the side of the crown. Claims of prerogative became the signal for the assertion of new rights and liberties, on the part of the people.

of Lord

The fall of the king's favoured minister was even more sudden than his rise. He shrank Sudden fall from the difficulties of his position,--a Bute. disunited cabinet, a formidable opposition,doubtful support from his friends, the bitter hatred of his enemies,—a libellous press, and notorious unpopularity. Afraid, as he confessed, 'not only of falling himself, but of involving his royal master in his ruin,' he resigned suddenly,--to the surprise of all parties, and even of the king himself, -before he had held office for eleven months. But his short administration had indulged the king's love of rule, and encouraged him to proceed with his cherished scheme for taking a dominant part in the direction of public affairs.

Nor did Lord Bute propose to relinquish his own power together with his office. Having His con

negotiated the appointment of Mr.

tinued in

George fluence

with the

Grenville as his successor, and arranged with king.

him the nomination of the cabinet,2 he retreated to

He was hissed and pelted at the opening of Parliament, 25th Nov., 1762, and his family were alarmed for his personal safety. 2 Grenville Papers, ii. 32, 33.