ttack of Wilkes which more than all else
determined Bute to withdraw from office in 1763 as a means of allaying
the storm of popular indignation. But the king was made of more stubborn
stuff than his minister. If he suffered his favourite to resign he still
regarded him as the real head of administration; for the ministry which
Bute left behind him consisted simply of the more courtly of his
colleagues, and was in fact formed under his direction. George Grenville
was its nominal chief, but the measures of the Cabinet were still
secretly dictated by the favourite. The formation of the Grenville
ministry indeed was laughed at as a joke. Charles Townshend and the Duke
of Bedford, the two ablest of the Whigs who had remained with Bute after
Newcastle's dismissal, refused to join it; and its one man of ability
was Lord Shelburne, a young Irishman, who had served with credit at
Minden, and had been rewarded by a post at Court which brought him into
terms of intimacy with the young sovereign and Bute. Dislike of the Whig
oligarchy and of the war had thrown Shelburne strongly into the
opposition to Pitt, and his diplomatic talents were of service in
securing recruits for his party, as his eloquence had been useful in
advocating the peace; but it was not till he himself retired from office
that Bute obtained for his supporter the Presidency of the Board of
Trade. As yet however Shelburne's powers were little known, and he added
nothing to the strength of the ministry. It was in fact only the
disunion of its opponents which allowed it to hold its ground. Townshend
and Bedford remained apart from the main body of the Whigs, and both
sections held aloof from Pitt. George had counted on the divisions of
the opposition in forming such a ministry; and he counted on the
weakness of the ministry to make it the creature of his will.

[Sidenote: George Grenville.]

But Grenville had no mind to be a puppet either of the king or of Bute.
Narrow and pedantic as he was, severed by sheer jealousy and ambition
from his kinsman Pitt and the bulk of the Whigs, his temper was too
proud to stoop to the position which George designed for him. The
conflicts between the king and his minister soon became so bitter that
in August 1763 George appealed in despair to Pitt to form a ministry.
Never had Pitt shown a nobler patriotism or a grander self-command than
in the reception he gave to this appeal. He set aside all resentment at
his own expulsion from