n; and his denunciation of the treaty
with Russia served as a pretext for his dismissal. When the disasters of
the war however drove Newcastle from office, in November 1756, Pitt
became Secretary of State, bringing with him into office his relatives,
George Grenville and Lord Temple, as well as Charles Townshend. But
though his popularity had forced him into office, and though the
grandeur of his policy at once showed itself by his rejection of all
schemes for taxing America, and by his raising a couple of regiments
amongst the Highlanders, he found himself politically powerless. The
House was full of Newcastle's creatures, the king hated him, and only
four months after taking office he was forced to resign. The Duke of
Cumberland insisted on his dismissal in April 1757, before he would
start to take the command in Germany. In July however it was necessary
to recall him. The failure of Newcastle's attempt to construct an
administration forced the Duke to a junction with his rival, and while
Newcastle took the head of the Treasury, Pitt again became Secretary of
State.

[Sidenote: His lofty spirit.]

Fortunately for their country, the character of the two statesmen made
the compromise an easy one. For all that Pitt coveted, for the general
direction of public affairs, the control of foreign policy, the
administration of the war, Newcastle had neither capacity nor
inclination. On the other hand his skill in parliamentary management was
unrivalled. If he knew little else, he knew better than any living man
the price of every member and the intrigues of every borough. What he
cared for was not the control of affairs, but the distribution of
patronage and the work of corruption, and from this Pitt turned
disdainfully away. "I borrow the Duke of Newcastle's majority," his
colleague owned with cool contempt, "to carry on the public business."
"Mr. Pitt does everything," wrote Horace Walpole, "and the Duke gives
everything. So long as they agree in this partition they may do what
they please." Out of the union of these two strangely-contrasted
leaders, in fact, rose the greatest, as it was the last, of the purely
Whig administrations. But its real power lay from beginning to end in
Pitt himself. Poor as he was, for his income was little more than two
hundred a year, and springing as he did from a family of no political
importance, it was by sheer dint of genius that the young cornet of
horse, at whose youth and inexperience W