_the Noble Lord, who presided in the American department._ George
Sackville Germain (1716-1785), called Lord George Germain, third son
of the first Duke of Dorset; M.P. for East Grinstead and Secretary of
State for Colonies; cr. Viscount Sackville, 1782. As minister in charge
of military operations in America, Germain bore the brunt of frequent
and savage onslaughts by Opposition. His famous Kentish holiday, which
delayed dispatches to Sir William Howe in New York, was long supposed
to have caused Burgoyne’s defeat at Saratoga; Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice,
_Life of William, Earl of Shelburne_, 1875-76, I, 358-359; but cf. Troyer
Steele Anderson, _The Command of the Howe Brothers during the American
Revolution_, New York, 1936, ch. xiv. Germain’s resignation was forced in
January 1782, two months before North’s government fell.
_the Earl of Bute._ John Stuart (1713-1792), third Earl of Bute; favorite
of George III in the early years of the reign; First Lord of the
Treasury, 1762-63, but forced to resign on account of his unpopularity,
to which the anti-Scots propaganda of Wilkes largely contributed. Lord
North was popularly regarded as the political heir of Lord Bute.