him.  Newcastle kept silent.  Bute denounced the proposal, and the rest were of his mind.  “If these views are to be followed,” said Pitt, “this is the last time I can sit at this board.  I was called to the administration of affairs by the voice of the people; to them I have always considered myself as accountable for my conduct; and therefore cannot remain in a situation which makes me responsible for measures I am no longer allowed to guide.”  Nothing could be more offensive to George III. and his adherents.

[Footnote 868:  Beatson, II. 438.]

The veteran Carteret, Earl Granville, replied angrily:  “I find the gentleman is determined to leave us; nor can I say I am sorry for it, since otherwise he would certainly have compelled us to leave him.  But if he is resolved to assume the office of exclusively advising His Majesty and directing the operations of the war, to what purpose are we called to this council?  When he talks of being responsible to the people, he talks the language of the House of Commons, and forgets that at this board he is responsible only to the King.  However, though he may possibly have convinced himself of his infallibility, still it remains that we should be equally convinced before we can resign our understandings to his direction, or join with him in the measure he proposes."[869]

[Footnote 869:  Annual Register, 1761, p. 44.  Adolphus, George III., I. 40.  Thackeray, Life of Chatham, I. 592.]

Pitt resigned, and his colleagues rejoiced.[870] Power fell to Bute and the Tories; and great was the fall.  The mass of the nation was with the defeated Minister.  On Lord Mayor’s Day Bute and Barrington were passing St. Paul’s in a coach, which the crowd mistook for that of Pitt, and cheered lustily; till one man, looking in at the window, shouted to the rest:  “This isn’t Pitt; it’s Bute, and be damned to him!” The cheers turned forthwith to hisses, mixed with cries of “No Bute!” “No Newcastle salmon!” “Pitt forever!” Handfuls of mud were showered against the coach, and Barrington’s ruffles were besmirched with it.[871]

[Footnote 870:  Walpole, George III., I. 80, and note by Sir Denis Le Marchant, 80-82.]

[Footnote 871:  Nuthall to Lady Chatham, 12 Nov. 1761, in Chatham Correspondence, II. 166.]

The fall of Pitt was like the knell of doom to Frederic of Prussia.  It meant abandonment by his only ally, and the loss of the subsidy which was his chief resource.  The darkness around him grew darker yet, and not a hope seemed left; when as by miracle the clouds broke, and light streamed out of the blackness.  The bitterest of his foes, the Czarina Elizabeth, she whom he had called infame catin du Nord, died, and was succeeded by her nephew, Peter III.  Here again, as in England and Spain, a new sovereign brought new measures.  The young Czar, simple and enthusiastic, admired the King of Prussia, thought