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, but had been approved by large majorities. Wilkes, however,
not without reason, believed it to be still unpopular with the nation at
large, and, flushed with his supposed victory over Lord Bute, was
watching eagerly for some occasion of re-opening the question, when such
an opportunity was afforded him by the King's speech at the prorogation
of the Parliament, which took place a few days after Lord Bute's
resignation.

Lord Bute had been succeeded by Mr. George Grenville, who had for a time
been one of his colleagues as Secretary of State; and on him, therefore,
the duty devolved of framing the royal speech the opening sentences of
which referred to "the re-establishment of peace" in terms of warm