le SILENT, the other beautiful gentlemen were,
I will not ask; but poor old Carteret,--the wine perhaps sour on his
stomach (old age too, with German memories of his own, "A biggish Life
once mine, all futile for want of this same Kingship like Pitt's!")--I
am sorry old Carteret should have ended so! He made the above Answer;
and Pitt resigned next day. [Thackeray, i. 592 n. "October 5th"
(ACCEPTANCE of the resignation, I suppose?) is the date commonly given.]
"The Nation was thunderstruck, alarmed and indignant," says Walpole:
[_ Memoirs of the Reign of George the Third,_ i. 82 et seq.] yes, no
wonder;--but, except a great deal of noisy jargoning in Parliament
and out of it, the Nation gained nothing for itself by its indignant,
thunderstricken and other feelings. Its Pitt is irrecoverable; and it
may long look for another such. These beautiful recalcitrants of the
Cabinet-Council had, themselves, within three months (think under what
noises and hootings from a non-admiring Nation), to declare War on
Spain, ["2d January, 1762," the English; "18th January," the Spaniard
(ANNUAL REGISTER for 1762, p. 50; or better, Beatson, ii. 443).] NOT on
better terms than when Pitt advised; and, except for the "readiness" in
which Pitt had left all things, might have fared indifferently in it.

To Spain and France the results of the Family Compact (we may as well
give them at once, though they extend over the whole next year and
farther, and concern Friedrich very little) were: a War on England
(chiefly on poor Portugal for England's sake); with a War BY England in
return, which cost Spain its Havana and its Philippine Islands.

"From 1760 and before, the Spanish Carlos, his orthodox mind perhaps
shocked at Pombal and the Anti-Jesuit procedures, had forbidden trade
with Portugal; had been drawing out dangerous 'militia forces on the
Frontier;' and afflicting and frightening the poor Country. But on
the actual arrival of War with England, Choiseul and he, as the first
feasibility discernible, make Demand (three times over, 16th March-18th
April, 1762, each time more stringently) on poor Portuguese Majesty:
'Give up your objectionable Heretic Ally, and join with us against him;
will you, or will you not?' To which the Portuguese Majesty, whose very
title is Most Faithful, answered always: 'You surprise me! I cannot; how
can I? He is my Ally, and has always kept faith with me! For certain,
No!' [_London Gazette,_ 5th May, 1762, &c. (in