WI: Pitt the Elder remains in Power

During the Seven Years' War, Britain's success was largely down to William Pitt the Elder, the Secretary of State for the Southern Department, who devised the strategy which allowed Britain to secure control of most of France's colonies.

Yet Pitt would ultimately resign from office in 1761, after the Cabinet refused to support his plans for war with Spain, who were preparing to declare war on Britain anyhow in support of France. This was not the only reason why Pitt resigned - since his ascension, George III had been preparing to get Lord Bute to form a Government, and so Bute and his supporters were working to ensure that Pitt was somehow dismissed from office.

So, what would have happened if perhaps George II lived for several years longer, or Prince Frederick lived long enough to take the throne, and the Cabinet agreed to support Pitt's plans for war with Spain. Would Britain secure more territory at the end of the war? Would Prussia, whom Pitt supported far more than his successors in Government, also come out of the conflict better off?
 
And would there still be a rebellion in America...? Pitt the Elder was very pro-Colonist.
 
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The big question is going to be the finances, IIRC all sides were financially strained, although Britain was in better shape than the other Powers, by the time of Pitt's ouster. If Pitt is able to continue the conflict and declare war on Spain first then they need to intercept the Spanish Treasure Fleet - that year it was apparently carrying 17 million pesos, which depending on what source you use is around £3.8 million - so as to disrupt their economy.

Off the top of my head even without any new gains two bonuses will be that news of the capture of Manila and the Philippines and the fall of Cassel to Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick's men, the knowledge of which arrived after the treaty or at least the main preliminaries of the treaty had been agreed respectively, will be known when it comes time to write the peace treaties putting the Spanish and French in much poorer negotiating positions. Providing that they don't manage to gain some advantage elsewhere to offset these losses it would be interesting to see what Britain might ask for on top of what she did in our timeline.
 
The big question is going to be the finances, IIRC all sides were financially strained, although Britain was in better shape than the other Powers, by the time of Pitt's ouster. If Pitt is able to continue the conflict and declare war on Spain first then they need to intercept the Spanish Treasure Fleet - that year it was apparently carrying 17 million pesos, which depending on what source you use is around £3.8 million - so as to disrupt their economy.

Off the top of my head even without any new gains two bonuses will be that news of the capture of Manila and the Philippines and the fall of Cassel to Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick's men, the knowledge of which arrived after the treaty or at least the main preliminaries of the treaty had been agreed respectively, will be known when it comes time to write the peace treaties putting the Spanish and French in much poorer negotiating positions. Providing that they don't manage to gain some advantage elsewhere to offset these losses it would be interesting to see what Britain might ask for on top of what she did in our timeline.

It's highly unlikely that the British would be able to successfully capture the Treasure Fleet. In it's 224 year existence the Treasure convoy was only captured once, at the famous Battle in the Bay of Matanzas in 1628. Maybe the British could successfully capture it while in port, but even then I'm skeptical. Plus there's no guarantee that the war would go Britain's way; the British had already tried a colonial war against Spain fairly recently, the War of Jenkins' Ear, to pretty dismal results. That's probably why the Cabinet opposed the idea of expanding the war to Spain. Ultimately it would be a huge gamble and I can't see anyone suddenly deciding to support it.

A more interesting idea to explore would be a successful Pitt return in 1766.
 
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