the French. In 1759 the French navy was almost entirely destroyed in the decisive battles of Lagos and Quiberon. Wolfe's crowning victory at Quebec (13 Sept. 1759) destroyed the last remnant of French dominion in Canada, Clive's victory of Plassy (23 Jan. 1757) rendered the English masters of Bengal, while in January 1760 Sir Eyre Coote routed the last French army in the East Indies at Wandewash. Pitt's conduct of the war led to the culminating point of English power in the eighteenth century, and made England as much an object of jealousy and dread to all Europe as Spain and France had been formerly.
At the close of the reign of George II, Pitt was in the zenith of his glory. The 'Great Commoner,' as he was called, 'was the first Englishman of his time, and he had made England the first country in the world' (Macaulay, Essays, ii. 198). His power over the House of Commons was complete. Divisions on party questions became unknown, and supplies were voted without discussion. The only political event which disturbed the placid current of domestic affairs was the resignation of Temple on 14 Nov. 1759, because he had been refused the Garter, but even he was induced to resume office two days afterwards.
On the accession of George III signs of an approaching change soon became apparent. The first royal speech to the council was composed by the king and Bute without any previous consultation with Pitt, and it was only after a long altercation that Pitt induced Bute to eliminate from it a covert censure upon the conduct of the war. In March 1761 Bute was appointed secretary of state in place of Holdernesse, and Legge was dismissed from the post of chancellor of the exchequer. At the general election in the same month Pitt was again returned for Bath. Bute and Pitt had been in political relations more than once during the late reign, but Pitt's refusal to screen Lord George Sackville [see Germain] had led to a coolness between them. Bute, anxious to rid himself of Pitt, at once took advantage of the jealousies which had begun to show themselves in the cabinet, in order to make his continuance in it impossible. Bute urged the necessity of an immediate peace. Pitt had no real desire for any peace which did not involve the complete humiliation of France. In September 1761, having become aware of the 'Family Compact,' he proposed to commence hostilities against Spain. To this his colleagues, after a discussion of the question in three successive cabinet councils, refused to concur, and on 5 Oct. Pitt and Temple resigned their respective offices. In the hope of lessening his popularity, rewards were pressed on Pitt both by the king and Bute. Though Pitt refused to become either governor of Canada or chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, he accepted a pension of 3,000l. a year for three lives and the title of Baroness Chatham for his wife (Chatham Correspondence, ii. 146-53). A number of libels instantly appeared, in which he was accused of having sold his country. Finding that the cause of his resignation had been 'grossly misrepresented,' Pitt wrote a letter to the town clerk of the city of London, explaining the real facts of the case (Thackeray, History of the Earl of Chatham, 1827, i. 594-6), and on lord mayor's day he made a triumphal progress to the Guildhall, while Bute was hooted, and the king and queen were scarcely noticed.
On Pitt's retirement Bute became supreme in the ministry, although Newcastle remained its nominal head, and even he resigned in May 1762. The events which quickly followed, especially the declaration of war with Spain in January 1762, justified Pitt's sagacity. Nevertheless he carefully abstained from any factious opposition during the first session of the new parliament. On 11 Dec. 1761 he supported a motion for the production of the Spanish papers, and was savagely attacked by Colonel Barré, to whom he deigned to make no reply (Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George III, 1894, i. 91-6). He also took part in the debate on the vote of credit in May following, when he pointed out the necessity of continuing the war in Germany, and of giving adequate support to the king, of Portugal (ib. i. 128-31). Though suffering from a severe attack of gout, Pitt attended the house on 9 Dec. 1762, when he denounced the preliminary treaty with France and Spain, and maintained that the peace was both insecure and inadequate (Parl. Hist. xv. 1259-71). At the end of the speech, which lasted three hours and twenty-six minutes, and was delivered by him sitting and standing alternately, he was compelled, by the violence of the pain, to leave the house without taking part in the division. He declined to present the address of the Bath corporation congratulating the king on the 'adequate and advantageous peace,' and intimated to his friend Ralph Allen [q. v.] that he would never stand again for that city (Thackeray, Hist. of the Earl of Chatham, ii. 23-7). In March 1763 he opposed Dashwood's obnoxious cider tax, and made a laughing-stock of his brother-in-law George Grenville [q. v.] (Parl. Hist.
