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The Prince's Mentor: A New Perspective on the Friendship between George III and Lord Bute during the 1750s*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

John L. Bullion
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Extract

The effects of the intense personal and political relationship between the young George III and his “dearest friend,” the earl of Bute, are well known to scholars of eighteenth-century Britain. The prince's affection and respect raised Bute, an obscure though well-connected Scottish nobleman, to the highest offices of state and to the absolute pinnacle of power. The earl's instruction and advice governed George's reactions to men and measures from 1755 until 1763. Even after Bute's influence waned following his resignation as First Lord of the Treasury, the lingering suspicions at Whitehall and Westminster that the king still listened to him in preference to others complicated relations between George III, his ministers, and Parliament.

This article examines the origins of the friendship between the king and the earl, and the features of it that strengthened and preserved their attachment during the 1750s. These are questions that have not engaged the attention of many students of the period. The long shadow the relationship cast over politics during the 1760s has intrigued far more historians than its beginnings. They have been content to leave efforts to understand that subject to Sir Lewis Namier, who was inclined toward making psychological judgments of eighteenth-century politicians, and John Brooke, who was compelled to do so by the demands of writing a biography of George III. Both of these men asserted that the personal and affectionate aspects of the connection between the prince and Bute far outweighed the political and ideological during its early years. Their arguments have evidently convinced historians of politics to pass over what made Bute “my dearest friend” and press on to matters they assumed to be more relevant to their interests. The concern of this essay is to demonstrate that this assumption is incorrect. It will show that political and ideological considerations were in fact utterly crucial to this friendship at its inception and throughout its development during the 1750s, with consequences which profoundly affected the political history of the first decade of George III's reign. A mistaken reliance on works by Namier and Brooke has prevented scholars from perceiving these realities. Thus it is necessary to begin by pointing out the serious flaws in their interpretations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , Spring 1989 , pp. 34 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1989

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank the Marquess of Bute, for permission to quote from the Bute papers; two anonymous readers of an earlier version of this article, for their thoughtful critiques; and Robert M. Collins, for encouraging me to explore the possibilities of applying modern concepts of mentoring to an eighteenth-century friendship.

References

1 There is no good biography of Bute, but many aspects of his career have been discussed recently in Schweizer, Karl W., ed., Lord Bute: Essays in Re-interpretation (Leicester, 1988)Google Scholar. For a brief account of his background, see Sedgwick, Romney, ed., Letters from George III to Lord Bute, 1756–1766 (London, 1939), pp. xliii–1Google Scholar. The best studies of his impact on politics are Brewer, John, “The Misfortunes of Lord Bute: A Case-Study in Eighteenth-Century Political Argument and Public Opinion,” The Historical Journal 16 (1973):3–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and O'Gorman, Frank, “The Myth of Lord Bute's Secret Influence,” in Schweizer, , Lord Bute, pp. 57–81.Google Scholar

2 Namier, Lewis Sir, England in the Age of the American Revolution, 2nd ed. (London, 1961), pp. 83–93Google Scholar; and “King George III” in Crossroads of Power: Essays on Eighteenth-Century England (London, 1962), pp. 124–140Google Scholar. Sedgwick advanced a similar explanation of the relationship in Letters from George III to Bute, pp. lvii–lx. J. H. Plumb attempted a different psychological approach in his 1977 Clark, George Rogers Lecture, subsequently printed as the pamphlet New Light on the Tyrant George III (Washington, D.C., 1978)Google Scholar. In it, he argued that the key to understanding the king's behavior during his reign was an awareness of his obsessive temperament. Because Plumb concentrated on George's interests and avocations after he became king, and did not analyze the origins and significance of his friendship with Bute, I will not discuss his interpretation in this essay. For the results of a biographical approach, see Brooke, John, King George III (London, 1972), pp. 44–72Google Scholar; and Ayling, Stanley, George the Third (London, 1972), pp. 39–54.Google Scholar

3 For example, Brewer and O'Gorman in the articles cited in n.1 do not discuss the origins of the friendship. Brewer refers to it only briefly in his essay on Bute in van Thal, Herbert, ed., The Prime Ministers: From Sir Robert Walpole to Edward Heath (New York, 1975), pp. 105–113Google Scholar. McKelvey, James Lee, George III and Bute: The Leicester House Years (Durham, N.C., 1973)Google Scholar focuses almost exclusively on the two men's political relations with the various ministries of the 1750s.

4 Namier, , England, pp. 84–85, 87, 92Google Scholar. I am not the first to note Namier's dislike of George III. See Baxter, Stephen B., “The Conduct of the Seven Years' War,” in England's Rise to Greatness (Berkeley, 1983), pp. 324–325.Google Scholar

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8 The quotations are from Brooke, , King George III, p. 53Google Scholar; for his account of the prince's environment at Leicester House, see pp. 26–44.

9 Dodington, February 8, 1753, Political Journal, pp. 202–203.

10 Waldegrave, Earl, Memoirs from 1754 to 1758 by James, Earl Waldegrave, Knight of the Garter, One of His Majesty's Privy Council in the Reign of George II and Governor of the Prince of Wales, Afterwards George III (London, 1821), pp. 9, 63–64.Google Scholar

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14 Dodington, , October 15, 1752, Political Journal, p. 179.Google Scholar

15 Dodington, March 3, 1753, in ibid., p. 207.

16 Ibid. Augusta appreciated Stone's civility deeply, because he served one of Frederick's most vigorous opponents, the duke of Newcastle.

17 See Bullion, John L., “‘To know this is the true essential business of a king’: The Prince of Wales and the Study of Public Finance, 1755–1760,” Albion 18 (1986): 429–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

18 The most convenient source for this quotation from the earl of Bute to the prince of Wales, [1755], is Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. liiiGoogle Scholar, but scholars should be aware that Sedgwick's summary of the parts of the letter he deleted is misleading. The original is in the Bute Letterbooks in the British Library, Add. MSS 36769, fos. 69–70.

19 Levinson, Daniel J., with Darrow, Charlotte N., Klein, Edward B., Levinson, Maria H., and McKee, Braxton, The Seasons of a Man's Life (New York, 1978), pp. 97–101Google Scholar. Other historians have used the word “mentor” to describe Bute; see Ayling, , George the Third, pp. 41, 52Google Scholar; Plumb, , New Light on the Tyrant, p. 6Google Scholar; and Brewer, , “Bute,” in van Thal, , Prime Ministers, p. 107Google Scholar. Brewer also uses “protégé” to describe George in “Misfortunes of Lord Bute,” p. 8. But Ayling, Plumb, and Brewer did not explore the implications of these terms.

20 Levinson, , Seasons of a Man's Life, pp. 97–101Google Scholar. For efforts to sharpen his definition of mentoring, see Collins, Nancy W., Professional Women and Their Mentors: A Practical Guide to Mentoring for the Woman Who Wants to Get Ahead (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1983), pp. 24–25Google Scholar; and Riley, Sandra and Wrench, David, “Mentoring among Women Lawyers,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 15 (1985): 376–79, 384–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21 For Levinson's assumptions and methodology, see Seasons of a Man's Life, pp. ix–xii, 4–63.

22 The prince to Bute [July 1, 1756], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 3Google Scholar. A concise account of their difficulties with George II may be found in ibid., pp. xlix–li, 2–3n.

23 Ibid., p. 3. I shall discuss Bute's pedagogical philosophy and methodology in greater detail below.

24 Ibid., pp. 3–4. The prince's comments about political attacks on his mother refer to the rumors that she and Bute were having an affair.

25 See the prince to Bute [July 30, 1759] and [March 1760], in ibid., pp. 27, 41.

26 Perkin, Harold, The Origins of Modern English Society, 1780–1800 (London, 1969), pp. 45–50Google Scholar; the quotations are on pp. 48, 49.

27 “Mentor” does not appear in Johnson's, SamuelA Dictionary of the English Language (London, 1755).Google Scholar

28 Levinson, , Seasons of a Man's Life, pp. 91–93, 98.Google Scholar

29 Waldegrave, , Memoirs, pp. 9, 30.Google Scholar

30 Dodington, , August 6, 1755, Political Journal, p. 318.Google Scholar

31 The prince to Bute [July 1, 1756], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 4.Google Scholar

32 Dodington, , February 8, 1753, Political Journal, p. 203Google Scholar; see also Waldegrave, , Memoirs, p. 69.Google Scholar

33 Dodington, , October 15, 1752, Political Journal, p. 178Google Scholar; and Waldegrave, , Memoirs, p. 64.Google Scholar

34 The Prince to Bute [July 1, 1756], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 2Google Scholar. Since the publication of these letters, over four hundred additional ones from George to Bute have been discovered at the Bute family seat at Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland. With very few exceptions (and those trivial in content), these letters are political rather than personal. Internal evidence indicates none of them was written in 1755.

35 Waldegrave, , Memoirs, pp. 63–64.Google Scholar

36 An idea of Waldegrave's views can be gathered from ibid., pp. 4–7; and from Waldegrave, drafts of speeches on the education of the Prince of Wales [early 1753, 1754, and 1755], Holland House Papers, BL, Add. MSS 51380, fos. 119–122, 126–128, 239. For an illuminating discussion of the world view of the quintessential Whig courtier, Lord Hervey, see Browning, Reed, Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Court Whigs (Baton Rouge, 1982), pp. 35–66.Google Scholar

37 The prince to Bute [December 19, 1757], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 21.Google Scholar

38 The quotations are from Bute to the prince, [1755], in ibid., pp. lii–liv. For discussions of Bute's ideas, see Brooke, , George III, pp. 55–66Google Scholar; and Bullion, , “The Prince of Wales and the Study of Public Finance,” pp. 431–49.Google Scholar

39 Augusta to Bute [1755], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 4n.Google Scholar

40 George III to Bute [November 1762], in ibid., p. 167.

41 George III to Bute [November 1762], in ibid., p. 166.

42 The prince to Bute [June 1757], in ibid., p. 6.

43 The prince to Bute [March 25, 1757], in ibid., p. 5 (for similar sentiments see two letters written in September 1758 on pp. 13–15).

44 The quotation is from Brooke, , King George III, p. 66.Google Scholar

45 The prince to Bute, [December 19, 1758], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 21Google Scholar. For Bute's diagnosis of George's shortcomings in 1755, see ibid., p. liv.

46 The prince to Bute [December 19, 1758], in ibid., p. 21. This tactic did not, of course, keep the politicians and the public from identifying Bute as “the Favourite,” even while he held office.

47 The prince's essay on the British political system, quoted in Brooke, , George III, pp. 65.Google Scholar

48 The quotation is from George III to Bute [November 1762], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 166Google Scholar. For an account of the two men's views on specific fiscal policies, see Bullion, , “The Prince of Wales and the Study of Public Finance,” pp. 444–46.Google Scholar

49 The prince to Bute [Winter 1759–1760], in Sedgwick, , ed., Letters from George III to Bute, p. 36.Google Scholar

50 The prince to Bute [December 1758], ibid., p. 20.

51 See Brooke, , George III, p. 75Google Scholar. For other indications of thoughts by Bute and George on how to make the new king popular, see Bullion, John L., “From ‘the French and Dutch are more sober, frugal, and industrious’ to the ‘nobler’ position: Attitudes of the Prince pf Wales toward a General Naturalization and a Popular Monarchy, 1757–1760,” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 17 (1987): 159–172.Google Scholar

52 See Bullion, , “The Prince of Wales and the Study of Public Finance,” pp. 444, 451–52.Google Scholar

53 See Colley, Linda, In Defiance of Oligarchy: The Tory Party, 1714–1760 (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 267, 285–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

54 The prince to Bute [Winter 1759–1760], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, pp. 36–37.Google Scholar

55 The prince to Bute [May 4, 1760], in ibid., p. 45.

56 Ibid. The prince did, however, except Pitt, “the blackest of hearts,” from this rule.

57 See Brooke, , King George III, p. 65.Google Scholar

58 The prince to Bute [April 23, 1760], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 43.Google Scholar

59 The prince to Bute [May 4, 1760], in ibid., pp. 45–46.

60 The prince to Bute [ca. September 1758], in ibid., pp. 14–15.

61 The prince to Bute [December 19, 1758], in ibid., pp. 21.

62 The prince to Bute [Winter 1759–1760], in ibid., p. 35–36.

63 Bute to Gilbert Elliot, August 16, 1756, in McKelvey, , George III and Lord Bute, p. 42Google Scholar. See also Bute to Earl Talbot, April 23, 1760, in ibid., p. 89.

64 The prince to Bute [December 1758], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, p. 22.Google Scholar

65 The prince to Bute [Winter 1759–1760], in ibid., p. 36.

66 The prince to Bute [December 1758], in ibid., p. 19.

67 Ibid., p. 20.

68 The prince to Bute [December 19, 1758], in ibid., p. 21.

69 The duke of Devonshire, diary entry for November 12, 1760, in Brown, Peter D. and Schweizer, Karl W., eds., The Devonshire Diary: William Cavendish, Fourth Duke of Devonshire, Memoranda on State of Affairs, 1759–1762, Camden, 4th ser., vol. 27 (London, 1982), p. 57.Google Scholar

70 January 16, 1761, in ibid., p. 72.

71 In “The Misfortunes of Lord Bute,” Brewer failed to call attention to the faact that violent opposition to Bute did not begin until after Pitt's resignation. Nor did he note the politicians' earlier acquiesence and—in some cases—eagerness for Bute to hold responsible office. Pares's, Richard stimulating discussion of Bute in office in King George III and the Politicians (Oxford, 1953), pp. 100–108Google Scholar, also suffers from these oversights. For a more accurate account of the politicians' opinions, see O'Gorman, , “The Myth of Lord Bute's Secret Influence,” pp. 58–59Google Scholar. For Bute's awareness of his impact on the king's popularity, see Bute to Henry Fox, March 2, 1763, Holland House Papers, BL, Add. MSS 51379, fos. 140–41.

72 The prince to Bute [December 19, 1758], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Lord Bute, p. 21Google Scholar. For Brooke's, comment, see King George III, p. 62.Google Scholar

73 In ibid., p. 53, Brooke remarks that it was a pity Bute did not merely wish to be the prince's teacher and friend without wanting to be his prime minister. Such a relationship cound not have been possible. Certainly by December 1758 it was impossible for Bute to change their relationship by becoming simply teacher and friend.

74 George III to Bute [May 4, 1760], [May 13, 1762], and [May 19, 1762], in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, pp. 45, 103, 109Google Scholar

75 George II to Bute [November 1762], [early March 1763], [March 5, 1763], in ibid., pp. 166–67, 196–98.

76 Bute to Thomas Worsley, November 28, 1762, Bute Letterbooks, BL, Add MSS 36797, fol. 24; and Bute to Fox, March 2, 1763, Holland House Papers, BL, Add. MSS 51379, fos. 140–41.

77 This exchange is in Sedgwick, , Letters from George III to Bute, pp. 250–58Google Scholar. Accounts of the two men's relationship from 1763–1766 may be found in O'Gorman, “The Myth of Lord Bute's Secret Influence,” and Brown, Peter D., “Bute in Retirement,” in Schweizer, , Lord Bute, pp. 62–69, 241–252.Google Scholar

78 For Bute to Charles Stuart, February 25, 1783, and the invitation to Windsor in 1789, see ibid., pp. 268–69. Brown speculated that the reconciliation was perhaps fostered by Charles Stuart's support for William Pitt the Younger during the Regency crisis of 1788, but George's letter quoted above antedates those events. For it, see George III to Bute [1788], Bute Papers, Mount Stuart, Box VIII.