THE AMATEUR PREMIER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 203, 25 August 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE AMATEUR PREMIER.

The first chapter :in "the reign ot George 111. closed on April 8, 1763. when John, Earl of Bute, resgned the position of Prime Minister. Born m 1713, he had entered the household ot Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1747, and four vears later became Groom (I the Stole to the future King. In this position he acquired great influence over both George and his mother, the Princess of Wales, and as :>c hoped, the foundation of a great political career. But, though kingly favour could push him to the front, :t could not keep him the-re. Bute may have had all the arts of the courtier, but he had none of the ability of a statesman, and, moreover, he had to contend against the hostility, veiled or open, of all the politicians and placemen, wh > viewed with dismay this unlicensed invasion of their preserves. As a Scot, again, Bute was unpopular with tha multitude, while his active share in bringing about a peace with France roused the antagonism of those who had at heart the honour of the country. All these causes co-operated to make him the. most unpopular premier of that age; and when John Wilkes voiced the general dislike, with unscrupulous vigour and venom, in the "North Briton, Bute began to regret that nmbitio t had ever lured him from the congenial obscurity of the back stairs. Within a. vear he'had had enough, and rctreattrt into private life, although for long afterwards he was suspected of exercising malign influence as a power behind the Throne. Whatever the truth may have been in such stories at first, however, they, too, in time died down, nnd Eute had become practivally forgotten, when in 1792 lie died, remote from the Court over which ho had once aspired to rule.