asy means of realizing his schemes.
George had hardly mounted the throne when he made his influence felt in
the ministry by forcing it to accept a Court favourite, the Earl of
Bute, as Secretary of State. Bute had long been his counsellor, and
though his temper and abilities were those of a gentleman usher, he was
forced into the Cabinet. The new drift of affairs was seen in the
instant desertion from Pitt of the two ablest of his adherents, George
Grenville and Charles Townshend, who attached themselves from this
moment to the rising favourite. It was seen yet more when Bute pressed
for peace. As Bute was known to be his master's mouthpiece, a peace
party at once appeared in the Cabinet itself, and it was only a majority
of one that approved Pitt's refusal to negotiate with France. "He is
madder than ever," was Bute's comment on this refusal in his
correspondence with the king; "he has no thought of abandoning the
Continent." Conscious indeed as he was of the king's temper and of the
temper of his colleagues, Pitt showed no signs of giving way. So far was
he from any thought of peace that he proposed at this moment a vast
extension of the war. In 1761 he learned the signature of a treaty which
brought into force the Family Compact between the Courts of Paris and
Madrid, and of a special convention which bound the last to declare war
on England at the close of the year. Pitt proposed to anticipate the
blow by an instant seizure of the treasure fleet which was on its way
from the Indies to Cadiz, and for whose safe arrival alone the Spanish
Court was deferring its action. He would have followed up the blow by
occupying the Isthmus of Panama, and by an attack on the Spanish
dominions in the New World. It was almost with exultation that he saw
the danger which had threatened her ever since the Peace of Utrecht
break at last upon England. His proud sense of the national strength
never let him doubt for a moment of her triumph over the foes that had
leagued against her. "This is the moment," he exclaimed to his
colleagues, "for humbling the whole House of Bourbon." But the Cabinet
shrank from plans so vast and daring; and the Duke of Newcastle, who had
never forgiven Pitt for forcing himself into power and for excluding him
from the real control of affairs, was backed in his resistance by the
bulk of the Whigs. The king openly supported them, and Pitt with his
brother-in-law Lord Temple found themselves alone. Pitt did not bli