even of those who, from their situation,
might be supposed to be in all the secrets of the government,
anticipated what really took place. To the amazement of the Parliament
and the nation, it was suddenly announced that Bute had resigned.

Twenty different explanations of this strange step were suggested. Some
attributed it to profound design, and some to sudden panic. Some said
that the lampoons of the Opposition had driven the Earl from the field;
some that he had taken office only in order to bring the war to a close,
and had always meant to retire when that object had been accomplished.
He publicly assigned ill health as his reason for quitting business, and
privately complained that he was not cordially seconded by his
colleagues, and that Lord Mansfield, in particular, whom he had himself
brought into the cabinet, gave him no support in the House op Peers.
Mansfield was, indeed, far too sagacious not to perceive that Bute's
situation was one of great peril, and far too timorous to thrust himself
into peril for the sake of another. The probability, however, is that
Bute's conduct on this occasion, like the conduct of most men on most
occasions, was determined by mixed motives. We suspect that he was sick
of office; for this is a feeling much more common among ministers than
persons who see public life from a distance are disposed to believe; and
nothing could be more natural than that this feeling should take
possession of the mind of Bute. In general, a statesman climbs by slow
degrees. Many laborious years elapse before he reaches the topmost
pinnacle of preferment. In the earlier part of his career, therefore, he
is constantly lured on by seeing something above him. During his ascent
he gradually becomes inured to the annoyances which belong to a life of
ambition. By the time that he has attained the highest point, he has
become patient of labor and callous to abuse. He is kept constant to his
vocation, in spite of all its discomforts, at first by hope, and at last
by habit. It was not so with Bute. His whole public life lasted little
more than two years. On the day on which he became a politician he
became a cabinet minister. In a few months he was, both in name and in
show, chief of the administration. Greater than he had been he could not
be. If what he already possessed was vanity and vexation of spirit, no
delusion remained to entice him onward. He had been cloyed with the
pleasures of ambition before he h