'With the death of his wife, Sir John's interest in country life came to an end; and leaving his son to the care and instruction of his old friend at Ludgvan, he set out for a foreign land. Meanwhile, however, the parliamentary horizon was rapidly clouding over; a crisis was clearly imminent; and, on his return to England, it was to find that, for the present at least, his sorrow must be drowned in more work, in a redoubled attention to those duties which his early reputation now pointed to him to fulfil. And thus, as the Walpole Administration draws on to its close, the figure of Sir John St. Aubyn--the "little baronet," as he was called--comes prominently to the front as one of the most vigorous, as he certainly was the most conscientious, of the opponents of the then unpopular Prime Minister. On the subject of the vote of thanks, including an approbation of the manner in which the Spanish War had been prosecuted, which was carried by a small majority in the House of Commons early in 1741, he writes (April 9th) as follows: "I believe ye Folks in ye country are very much puzzled abo^t many of our Proceedings, and I don't wonder at y^r doubts about that unseasonable vote of Innocence; especially when ye Opportunity was so fairly given, w^{ch} ye Nation has been so long expecting us to take ye advantage of." But the country party the while felt that no opportunity must be lost, and no vigour spared in the attack. Contrast the tone of the following extract from a letter dated May 5th, and note how the space of one single month had served to fan the flame. Sir John now inveighs against "such Insolence in Administration, such wantonness in Power, w^{ch} surely nothing could produce but that mistaken vote of Innocence, w^{ch} so lately happen'd. And yet," he continues, "this is y^e Man ag^t whom we want evidence to advise his Removal, when at my very door there are such glaring Proofs, which, in less corrupt times, would deprive Him of his Head." Day by day the enemies of the Ministry acquired fresh strength: the elections were against the Court interest, even Westminster returning two members hostile to it. Walpole tottered on the brink of ruin, and had it not been that, during a short adjournment of the House in 1742, he resigned his office and was elevated to the peerage, he might, as we know, even have been committed to the Tower.