,
yet speaking against me; the ground I tread upon is so hollow, that I am
afraid, not only of falling myself, but of involving my royal master in
my ruin. It is time for me to retire." Bute retired as proudly as he had
exercised his office, for he neither asked for pension nor sinecure, and
his retirement was followed by that of Sir Francis Dashwood, chancellor
of the exchequer, and of Fox, who were elevated to the peerage: the
former as Baron le Despencer, and the latter as Baron Holland. Mr.
George Grenville succeeded to the premiership, and also to the place
which had been occupied by Dashwood, uniting in himself the offices of
chancellor of the exchequer and first lord of the treasury. But Bute
still acted behind the scenes. He pulled the strings, and Grenville and
the rest of the cabinet answered his motions, as mechanically as though
they had been so many puppets. Grenville, indeed, seems to have been
chosen by the king and Bute, as a willing instrument for carrying their
plans into ready execution.

THE CHARACTER AND IMPEACHMENT OF WILKES.

One of the most sturdy opponents of Bute and his administration had been
the celebrated John Wilkes, member of parliament for Aylesbury, and a
lieutenant-colonel in the Buckinghamshire militia. On first entering
into office, Bute, by the advice of Bubb Doddington, had established a
newspaper, styled "The Briton," the ostensible object of which was,
to advocate the measures of Bute's administration. Many writers were
employed to write for this paper; and while they exalted the premier,
they did not fail to vilify his opponents. To oppose this organ of the
ministers, another paper was set on foot, and conducted by Wilkes, under
the the title of "The North Briton." Wilkes was a man of ruined fortune
and of dissolute habits; but he was active, enterprising, and daring,
and possessed a considerable fund of wit and repartee. In the beginning
of this reign, he had solicited a lucrative post under government,
but had been disappointed. His failure was attributed by him to the
influence which Bute held over the monarch, and he began to vent his
spleen against the minister and his coadjutors in scandalizing and
calumniating their actions and private characters. Both in conversation
and in the "North Briton," they were ever made the butts of his ready
wit. He even reviled, stigmatized, and heaped curses upon Bute's country
and countrymen. According to his showing, the river Tweed