oncealed
indignation. Having got rid of the real master of the ministry, Bute's
next step was to get rid of its nominal chief, and in the spring of 1762
he managed to drive the Duke of Newcastle from the Treasury, and was
himself placed by the King at the head of the administration. So rapid
an elevation of a man previously unknown as a politician could hardly
fail to create very widespread dissatisfaction, which was in some degree
augmented by the nationality of the new minister. Lord Bute was a
Scotchman, and Englishmen had not wholly forgiven or forgotten the
Scotch invasion of 1745. Since that time the Scotch had been regarded
with general disfavor; Scotch poverty and Scotch greediness for the good
things of England had furnished constant topics for raillery and
sarcasm; and more than one demagogue and political writer had sought
popularity by pandering to the prevailing taste for attacks on the whole
nation. Foremost among these was Mr. John Wilkes, member for Aylesbury,
a man of broken fortunes and still more damaged character, but of a wit
and hardihood that made his society acceptable to some of high rank and
lax morality, and caused his political alliance to be courted by some
who desired to be regarded as leaders of a party; many of the
transactions of the late reign having, unfortunately, not been favorable
to the maintenance of any high standard of either public or private
virtue. On Lord Bute's accession to office, Wilkes had set up a
periodical paper, whose object and character were sufficiently indicated
by its title, _The North Briton_, and in which the diligence of Lord
Bute in distributing places among his kinsmen and countrymen furnished
the staple of almost every number; while in many the Princess of Wales
herself was not spared, as the cause, for motives not obscurely hinted
at, of his sudden elevation. So pertinacious and virulent were the
attacks thus launched at him, coinciding as they did, at least in one
point, with the prejudices of the multitude, that they were commonly
believed to have had some share in driving Lord Bute from office, which,
in the spring of 1763, he suddenly resigned, hoping, as it might almost
seem, thus to throw on his successor the burden of defending his
measures. The most important of these measures had been the conclusion
of the Treaty of Versailles, which, when it was first announced to
Parliament, had been vehemently attacked in both Houses by Pitt and his
followers,