BUTE, John Stuart (3d EARL or), British statesman: b. Edinburgh, 25 May 1713; d. 10 March 1792. His grandfather was created a peer in 1703, and the family was connected with the royal Stuart line. In 1737 he entered Parlia ment as one of the Scottish representative peers, but was not re-elected in 1741. He then retired to his estates, and lived there wholly secluded till the landing of the Pretender in Scotland in 1745 induced him to go to London and offer his services to the government. He soon gained influence with the Prince of Wales, and succeeded in making himself indispensable to him. At his death, in 1751, he was appointed by the widowed Princess chamberlain to her son, and was intrusted by her with his educa tion. Bute never lost sight of his pupil, and possessed so much more influence with the Princess of Wales than her son's particular tutors, the Earl of Harcourt and the bishop of Norwich, that they resigned their offices. George II died 25 Oct. 1760, and two days after Bute was appointed member of the privy council. In March 1761 the Parliament was dis solved and Bute was made Secretary of State. Pitt, who saw his influence in the new council annihilated, resigned the same year. This event made an unfavorable impression on the nation; but Bute, possessing the unbounded confidence of his King, stood at the head of the state. After a severe contest in Parliament, he con cluded a peace with France. The terms for England were perhaps not disproportionate to the successes obtained during the war; but Bute was obliged to bear the most bitter reproaches.
He, however, succeeded in winning the popular favor, and everything seemed to promise the power of the minister a long continuance. The influence of Bute seemed unbounded, when it was made known, contrary to expectation, that he had resigned his office as Prime Minister, and intended to retire into private life. In 1766 Bute declared in the House of Lords that he had wholly withdrawn from public business and no longer saw the King; still it was not doubted that his great influence continued. It was only on the death of the Princess of Wales, 1772, that he seems first to have given up all participation in the affairs of government. He spent his last years on his estate. A costly botanical garden, a library of 30,000 volumes, excellent astronomical, philosophical and mathe mathical instruments, afforded him occupation. His favorite study was botany, with which he was intimately acquainted. For the Queen of England he wrote the 'Botanical Register,' which contained all the different kinds of plants in Great Britain (9 vols. 4to). This work is remarkable, both for its splendor, in which it excels all former botanical works, and for its rarity. Only 12 copies were printed, at an ex pense of more than $50,000. Consult A. von Ruville, 'William Pitt and Gref Bute' (Berlin 1895) ; Lovat-Fraser, 'John Stuart, Earl of Bute' (New York 1912).