, said that the
appointment must be made with his concurrence, for otherwise Pitt might
blame him, and might perhaps resign office and leave him and Bute
saddled with the conduct of the war.[23]

Bute intended when in office to make a peace which would immortalise his
name. He saw that this would soonest be obtained if England withdrew
from the war on the continent and confined her operations to the sea.
France would then be induced by the loss of her colonies to make a
separate peace. Pitt was determined not to assent to any peace which was
not made in concert with our allies and did not insure England a full
return for her victories. Bute would have had the country stand apart
from continental politics; Pitt desired that it should have continental
allies and make itself felt in the politics of Europe. The two opposing
views are characteristic of the two men. Pitt maintained that the
continental war was profitable because it had hindered France from
putting forth her full strength in defence of her colonies.
Statesmanlike as his position was, there was much to be said on the side
of the tories and others, who held that England should confine herself
to a naval war. We have, they argued, no interest in a war for Silesia.
Why should we pay Frederick L670,000 a year, the amount of the subsidy
again granted to him soon after the accession, for fighting in his own
quarrel? What profit do we derive from the L340,000 paid to the
Landgrave of Hesse for the hire of troops? The naval war has brought a
rich return; on the continent we have nothing to gain by victory. As for
the argument that the German war is one of diversion, why should we
divert a war from the sea, where we are supreme, to land, where we must
necessarily be inferior to France? To fight in Germany for Hanover is to
surrender the advantages of an insular position. Better let France
overrun Hanover, for, as we shall possess her colonies, we can force her
to surrender it again.

These arguments are ably stated in a pamphlet entitled _Considerations
on the German War_, written by one Israel Mauduit, and published at the
end of 1760. It had a strong effect on public opinion, and was followed
by other pamphlets more or less on the same lines, and probably written
at the instigation of Bute, for he employed and largely rewarded the
services of pamphleteers. Their arguments were enforced by the growing
expenses of the war and the difficulty of obtaining men for the arm