Page "William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham" Paragraph 30

Between 1746 and 1748 Pitt worked closely with Newcastle in formulating British military and diplomatic strategy.

He shared with Newcastle a belief that Britain should continue to fight until it could receive generous peace terms-in contrast to some such as Henry Pelham who favoured an immediate peace.

Pitt was personally saddened when his friend and brother-in-law Thomas Grenville was killed at the naval First Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1747.

However, this victory helped secure British supremacy of the sea which gave the British a stronger negotiating position when it came to the peace talks that ended the war.

At the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 British colonial conquests were exchanged for a French withdrawal from Brussels.

Many saw this as merely an armistice and awaited an imminent new war.