him the paragon of heroes, and proclaimed himself his friend.  No sooner was he on the throne than Russia changed front.  From the foe of Frederic she became his ally; and in the opening campaign of 1762 the army that was to have aided in crushing him was ranged on his side.  It was a turn of fortune too sharp and sudden to endure.  Ill-balanced and extreme in all things, Peter plunged into headlong reforms, exasperated the clergy and the army, and alienated his wife, Catherine, who had hoped to rule in his name, and who now saw herself supplanted by his mistress.  Within six months he was deposed and strangled.  Catherine, one of whose lovers had borne part in the murder, reigned in his stead, conspicuous by the unbridled disorders of her life, and by powers of mind that mark her as the ablest of female sovereigns.  If she did not share her husband’s enthusiasm for Frederic, neither did she share Elizabeth’s hatred of him.  He, on his part, taught by hard experience, conciliated instead of insulting her, and she let him alone.

Peace with Russia brought peace with Sweden, and Austria with the Germanic Empire stood alone against him.  France needed all her strength to hold her own against the mixed English and German force under Ferdinand of Brunswick in the Rhine countries.  She made spasmodic efforts to seize upon Hanover, but the result was humiliating defeat.

In England George III. pursued his policy of strengthening the prerogative, and, jealous of the Whig aristocracy, attacked it in the person of Newcastle.  In vain the old politician had played false with Pitt, and trimmed to please his young master.  He was worried into resigning his place in the Cabinet, and Bute, the obsequious agent of the royal will, succeeded him as First Lord of the Treasury.  Into his weak and unwilling hands now fell the task of carrying on the war; for the nation, elated with triumphs and full of fight, still called on its rulers for fresh efforts and fresh victories.  Pitt had proved a true prophet, and his enemies were put to shame; for the attitude of Spain forced Bute and his colleagues to the open rupture with her which the great Minister had vainly urged upon them; and a new and formidable war was now added to the old.[872] Their counsels were weak and half-hearted; but the armies and navies of England still felt the impulsion that the imperial hand of Pitt had given and the unconquerable spirit that he had roused.

[Footnote 872:  Declaration of War against the King of Spain, 4 Jan. 1762.]

This spirit had borne them from victory to victory.  In Asia they had driven the French from Pondicherry and all their Indian possessions; in Africa they had wrested from them Goree and the Senegal country; in the West Indies they had taken Guadeloupe and Dominica; in the European seas they had captured ship after ship, routed and crippled the great fleet of Admiral Conflans, seized Belleisle, and defeated a bold attempt