Conceived in Liberty Volume 2 - Ludwig von Mises Institute

In the meanwhile, Pitt's acceptance of handsome pensions and perquisites
had vastly alienated his support among the masses, who had thought
him their champion and had valued his much paraded "honesty" and incorruptibility.
To divert the attention of the masses from the mud on his halo,
Pitt and Temple used Alderman Beckford's warmongering newspaper, the
Monitor, to urge aggression and all-out war on France and Spain, and for
keeping Canada and its fishing rights—a campaign that served to push Pitt's
successors more forcefully into the attack on Spain.
The Spanish problem precipitated another pamphlet war toward the end
of 1761. Israel Mauduit, now an agent of the Massachusetts Assembly, again
called for peace and for keeping Guadeloupe rather than Canada. On the
other hand, Bute's agent, Charles Jenkinson, and Grenville's agent, Alexander
Wedderburn, launched a newspaper and pamphlet campaign for attacking
Spain and keeping Canada—and included hints of attempts to conquer
Louisiana and perhaps continue on to Cuba and the silver mines of Mexico.
Newcastle was horrified at Grenville's plans to seize Spanish America: "I
see things every day worse and worse; . . . this itch after expeditions will
exhaust our treasure. . . . What will become of this poor country, God only
knows. ... I never saw this nation so near its ruin, as at present. . . . Peace
. . . is the only remedy."
At the end of February, the English conquered the French West Indian
sugar island of Martinique, and this acquisition again spurred discussion of
peace terms. The French were all the more eager to yield Canada but not its
fishing rights, provided that the West Indies were restored. But the British
war leaders Grenville and Egremont insisted on Louisiana as well. Finally,
at the end of May, Newcastle, isolated in the cabinet and seeing the war
expand, resigned his post as prime minister, his fellow Whigs Hardwicke
and Devonshire resigning as well. In contrast to Pitt, Newcastle refused a
placatory pension from the Crown. Bute had at last achieved his aim of ousting
Newcastle. Bute, Grenville, and their friends now advanced in their
official posts. The Whigs were now completely out of the government for
the first time in forty years.
The French were now willing to cede eastern Louisiana—east of the
Mississippi—in return for the West Indian islands. But the English leaders
had the war bit in their teeth. Grenville, Egremont, Carteret, and even Bedford
were insisting on all of Louisiana. Oddly, Bute was now leaning toward
the French peace terms. Bereft of allies in concluding peace, Bute began to
long for the return of the Whigs, but the Whigs were too out of sympathy
with the whole policy of conquest to come to his aid. In August, the British
conquered Havana and the war crowd's appetite was whetted still more;
Bedford and Halifax called for Florida, and Grenville looked to the conquest
of all of Spanish America. Bute, however, was now determined on peace
and brought the pliable Henry Fox to leadership of the House of Commons
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