George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 4, 15th edition.

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Chapter 12:

The New Protestant powers against the Catholic powers of the Middle Age.—William Pitt's ministry.

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1757.

‘the orator is vastly well provided for,’ thought

chap. XII.} 1757

Bedford, in 1746, on the appointment of William Pitt to a subordinate office of no political influence. ‘I assure your grace of my warmest gratitude,’ wrote Pitt himself, in 1750, to Newcastle, who falsely pretended to have spoken favorably of him to the king; and now, in defiance of Bedford and Newcastle, and the antipathy of the king, he is become the foremost man in England, received into the ministry as its ‘guide,’ because he alone was the choice of the people, and, by his greatness of soul and commanding eloquence, can restore the state.

On his dismissal in April, no man had the hardihood to accept his place. A storm of indignation burst from the nation. To Pitt and to Legge, who had also opposed the Russian treaty, London, with many other cities, voted its freedom; unexampled discontent pervaded the country. Newcastle, whose pusillanimity exceeded his vanity, dared not attempt forming a ministry; and by declining to do so, renewed