was supported by Burke in
a speech which at once gave him rank as an orator; while Pitt's
lieutenant, Shelburne, found but four supporters in a similar attack in
the Lords. The passing of the declaratory act was followed by the
introduction of a bill for the repeal of the Stamp Acts; and in spite of
the resistance of the king's friends, a resistance instigated by George
himself, the bill was carried in February 1766 by a large majority.

[Sidenote: The Chatham Ministry.]

As the members left the House of Commons, George Grenville, whose
resistance had been fierce and dogged, was hooted by the crowd which
waited to learn the issue without. Before Pitt the multitude reverently
uncovered their heads and followed him home with blessings. It was the
noblest hour of his life. For the moment indeed he had "saved England"
more truly than even at the crisis of the Seven Years' War. His voice
had forced on the ministry and the king a measure which averted, though
but for a while, the fatal struggle between England and her Colonies.
Lonely as he was, the ministry which had rejected his offers of aid
found itself unable to stand against the general sense that the first
man in the country should be its ruler; and bitter as was the king's
hatred of him, Rockingham's resignation in the summer of 1766 forced
George to call Pitt into office. His acceptance of the king's call and
the measures which he took to construct a ministry showed a new resolve
in the great statesman. He had determined to break finally with the
political tradition which hampered him, and to set aside even the dread
of Parliamentary weakness which had fettered him three years before.
Temple's refusal of aid, save on terms of equality which were wholly
inadmissible, was passed by, though it left Pitt without a party in the
House of Commons. In the same temper he set at defiance the merely
Parliamentary organization of the Whigs by excluding Newcastle, while he
showed his wish to unite the party as a whole by his offer of posts to
nearly all the members of the late administration. Though Rockingham
stood coldly aside, some of his fellow-ministers accepted Pitt's
offers, and they were reinforced by Lords Shelburne and Camden, the
young Duke of Grafton, and the few friends who still clung to the Great
Commoner. Such a ministry however rested for power not on Parliament but
on public opinion. It was in effect an appeal from Parliament to the
people; and it was an appeal