In January (1762) war was declared, and all the papers relative to the rupture with Spain were laid before Parliament. No sooner was this done than Wilkes wrote a pamphlet entitled "Observations on the Papers relative to the Rupture with Spain," in which he vindicated the policy of Pitt and exposed the folly of the existing ministry in having let slip the best opportunity that ever offered of crushing Spain beyond recovery. This was his first political essay, and at once stamped Wilkes as a political as well as literary writer of no mean order.[181] [Sidenote: City address on capture of Martinico, etc., 6 April, 1762.] The success of the war exceeded expectation. One expedition reduced Cuba, another Manila, whilst Spanish commerce was swept from the sea. The surrender of the island of St. Lucia and the capture of Martinico drew forth a congratulatory address to the king from the City, and once more the citizens were assured of his majesty's desire to promote their commercial interests.[182] The credit of the war was due to Pitt for having foreseen the struggle, and for the preparations he had made accordingly. [Sidenote: The Peace of Paris, 10 Feb., 1763.] All this time the thoughts of Bute were fixedly directed towards peace, and on the 10th February, 1763, the Peace of Paris was signed and an end put to the Seven Years' War.[183] The peace was distasteful to the City as well as to the nation at large. The Court of Aldermen, it is true, congratulated the king on having "happily concluded a very just and expensive war by a necessary and advantageous peace,"[184] but the Common Council said nothing. When the peace came to be debated in the House of Commons it met with strong opposition from Pitt, who spoke against it for more than three hours, although he was at the time so ill that he had to be carried down to the House. By practising a wholesale system of bribery the government managed, nevertheless, to obtain so large a majority that the Princess of Wales exclaimed in great exultation "Now my son is really king." [Sidenote: Resignation of Bute, 8 April, 1763.] The triumph of the king and his favourite were destined to be short-lived. An important feature of the budget for the year was a proposal to impose a tax upon cider. The proposal at once met with the most determined opposition, not only from the cider counties but also from the city of London, where anything in the nature of excise was looked upon with horror. The Common Council raised a strong protest against any such extension of excise duties at a time when there was every prospect of a continuation of peace.[185] The Bill eventually passed, but the unpopularity of Bute increased to such an extent that he got sick of office and retired (8 April). [Sidenote: Wilkes and the _North Briton_.]