of his turbulent and mischievous brother-in-law Temple.

The events which immediately followed Pitt's retirement raised his fame
higher than ever. War with Spain proved to be, as he had predicted,
inevitable. News came from the West Indies that Martinique had been
taken by an expedition which he had sent forth. Havana fell; and it was
known that he had planned an attack on Havana. Manila capitulated; and
it was believed that he had meditated a blow against Manila. The
American fleet, which he had proposed to intercept, had unloaded an
immense cargo of bullion in the haven of Cadiz, before Bute could be
convinced that the Court of Madrid really entertained hostile
intentions.

The session of Parliament which followed Pitt's retirement passed over
without any violent storm. Lord Bute took on himself the most prominent
part in the House of Lords. He had become Secretary of State, and indeed
prime minister, without having once opened his lips in public except as
an actor. There was, therefore, no small curiosity to know how he would
acquit himself. Members of the House of Commons crowded the bar of the
Lords, and covered the steps of the throne. It was generally expected
that the orator would break down; but his most malicious hearers were
forced to own that he had made a better figure than they expected.
They, indeed, ridiculed his action as theatrical, and his style as
tumid. They were especially amused by the long pauses which, not from
hesitation, but from affectation, he made at all the emphatic words, and
Charles Townshend cried out, "Minute guns!" The general opinion however
was, that, if Bute had been early practised in debate, he might have
become an impressive speaker.

In the Commons, George Grenville had been entrusted with the lead. The
task was not, as yet, a very difficult one; for Pitt did not think fit
to raise the standard of opposition. His speeches at this time were
distinguished, not only by that eloquence in which he excelled all his
rivals, but also by a temperance and a modesty which had too often been
wanting to his character. When war was declared against Spain, he justly
laid claim to the merit of having foreseen what had at length become
manifest to all, but he carefully abstained from arrogant and
acrimonious expressions; and this abstinence was the more honorable to
him, because his temper, never very placid, was now severely tried, both
by gout and by calumny. The courtiers had adopted a mo