Conceived in Liberty Volume 2 - Ludwig von Mises Institute

tions could also readily agree on other programs of the old anti-Walpole
opposition: on the ending of "salutary neglect," on the rigorous enforcement
of trade regulations over the colonies, and on a strong central government
over America-—perhaps to be headed by the pliable Benjamin Franklin.
The imperialists lost little time in mounting a heavy counterattack of
pamphlets against Mauduit and the Whigs. The major rebuttal, Reasons in
Support of the War in Germany, was published in January 1761 by Robert
Wood, one of Pitt's chief aides. But the real author behind the scenes was
thought to be Pitt himself. Also joining in the pressure to keep Canada was
the alderman Sir William Baker, a leading military contractor and merchant
in the American trade, in which he was closely associated with the
leading American contractors DeLancey and Watts.
By the spring of 1761, the French declared their willingness to yield
far more than called for by the moderate Whig demands. They would
cede to Britain Canada, the Ohio Valley, and even Guadeloupe, provided
that France could retain her precious fishing rights in Canadian and Newfoundland
waters, with Louisbourg to protect them. But the fishing rights
were precisely what Pitt was most eager to gain, one of his prime objects
in the war being an English monopoly of Canadian fishing and the crushing
of efficient French competition. Pitt delighted in pouring cold water on
the Whigs, who were overjoyed at the French peace offer. He would, he
savagely assured them, fight for another half-dozen years to control Canada
and its fishing. Alderman Baker now returned to the attack, urging
not only the retention of Canada and a monopoly of its fisheries, but also
the seizure of French Louisiana.
By the end of June, a new division had emerged in the cabinet: King
George, Bute, Pitt, and Pitt's faithful brother-in-law Earl Temple united on
a minimum of peace terms—the Ohio Valley, Canada, Louisbourg, and the
fishing monopoly. The Whigs, Newcastle and Hardwicke, were, surprisingly,
now joined by Bedford and John Carteret, who realized that France would
fight to the death for her fishing rights. In reply to the generous French
peace offer, Pitt, bolstered by his wide support, fired an ultimatum: Surrender
Canada, Louisbourg, the fisheries and French conquests in Germany in
return for keeping Guadeloupe. Furthermore, none of Spain's grievances
against England was to be satisfied, and Pitt disdainfully broke off all negotiations
with Spain.
Its ships plundered, its fishing rights banned, and its Honduran territory
seized by a contemptuous Britain, Spain grew desperate and sought aid from
France. Both Spain and France grew still more anxious at a new, highly
touted scheme of Bute and George Grenville (Pitt's brother-in-law) to conquer
French Louisiana, a scheme that led to the transfer of General Amherst's
forces from Canada to Charleston, South Carolina, in the spring of 1761.
Bute and Grenville were heavily influenced in behalf of this plan by a
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