FEB. 17.

of the purpose of the French to invade Minorca, to that of the action in the Mediterranean, between the admirals Byng and Galissoniere. Such an inquiry was accordingly instituted in the House of Commons, and openly conducted by a committee of the whole house, who were furnished from the public offices with all the papers that could throw light upon the subject; and after the closest investigation, they came to several resolutions highly favourable to the execrated administration, instead of making any discovery to their disadvantage.

The first and last of these resolutions deserve particular notice. By the former, the committee declared it appeared to them, "That his majesty, from the 27th day "of August, in the year 1755, to the 20th day of April, "in the following year, received such repeated and con"current intelligence, as gave just reason to believe that "the French king intended to invade Great-Britain or "Ireland." And in the latter, they gave it as their opinion," "That no greater number of ships of war could be sent "into the Mediterranean than were actually sent thither "under the command of admiral Byng: nor any greater "reinforcement than the regiment which was sent, and "the detachment, equal to a battalion, which was order"ed, from Gibraltar, to the relief of fort St. Philip, "consistently with the state of the navy, and the various "services essential to the safety of his majesty's do"minions, and the interests of his subjects."

Though thus foiled in their attempt to criminate the ministry, the friends of admiral Byng did not yet abandon him to his fate. Another effort was made to save him. A member of the court-martial that had condemned him, and who was also a member of Parliament, made application to the house of commons in behalf of himself and several other members of that tribunal, praying the aid of the legislature to be released from the oath of secrecy imposed upon courts-martial, that they might make known the grounds on which sentence of death had been passed

upon

upon admiral Byng, and disclose such circumstances as might perhaps shew the sentence to be improper.

FEB. 26.

Little attention was paid by the commons to this application, till the king sent a message to the house, by secretary Pitt, informing them, That although he was determined to let the law take its course, with relation to admiral Byng, unless it should appear, from new evidence, that he had been unjustly condemned, his majesty had thought fit to respite the execution of the sentence of the court-martial, that the scruples of some . members might be fully explained and weighed. In consequence of this message, a bill was immediately brought in, and passed the house of commons, for releasing the members of the court-martial from their obligation of secrecy. But it was rejected almost unanimously by the lords, after they had examined such members of that court as were members of the house of commons; sufficient reason not appearing to them for obstructing the course of justice, by giving way to such unmeaning or pretended scruples, in support of which no forcible arguments were produced, nor any latent circumstance, in favour of the person whom they regarded, brought to light.

MARCH 14.

Perceiving that all hope of life was now cut off, admiral Byng collected a degree of courage that would have done him honour, and which had been better exerted in the day of battle. He was shot, according to his sentence, on board of ship, and behaved to the last with composure and dignity. Immediately before his death, he delivered a paper to the mareschal of the admiralty, in which he lays claim to a faithful discharge of his duty, according to the best of his judgment. And perhaps he was sincere; but men, under such circumstances, are very apt to be partial to themselves. "Persuaded

"I am," adds he, (after congratulating himself that a few moments would deliver him from the virulent persecution of his enemies) "that justice will be done to my reputation hereafter. The manner and cause of

"raising

"raising and keeping up the popular clamour and pre'judice against me will be seen through. I shall be "considered as a victim destined to divert the indig"nation and resentment of an injured and deluded 66 people from the proper objects."

No! my dear Philip: let us rather consider his blood as a libation due to the offended genius of England, and indispensably necessary to wash out the stain which had been thrown upon her naval glory. An admiral who had acted as Byng did, on such an occasion, and with such a force, setting aside all temporary cir cumstances, could only atone for his misconduct with the sacrifice of his life, as an awful warning to future commanders'.

While the English ministry, in compliance with the wish of the people, were thus bringing to punishment a commander in chief, whom they considered as the cause of their greatest disgrace, and with whom they hoped their misfortunes would expire, (for which they have been unjustly ridiculed, and represented as barbarians, by their more giddy and volatile neighbours) the French

19. Even Dr. Smollett, his warm advocate, after saying, "he was "rashly condemned, meanly given up, and cruelly sacrificed to vile con"siderations," has the candour to admit, that "the character of admiral

Byng, in point of personal courage, will, with many people, remain pro"blematical: they will still be of opinion, that if the spirit of a British "admiral had been properly exerted the French fleet would have been de"feated, and Minorca saved. A man's opinion of danger," continues he, " varies at different times, in consequence of an irregular tide of animal 'spirits: he is often actuated by considerations which he dares not avow. "And after an officer, thus influenced, has hesitated or kept aloof in the bour "of trial the mind, eager for its own JUSTIFICATION, assembles with

་་

surprising industry, every favourable circumstance of excuse, and broods "over them with parental partiality; until it becomes not only satisfied "but enamoured of their beauty and complexion, like a doting mother, blind "to the deformity of her own offspring." (Contin. Hist. England, vol. i.) These ingenious reflections, and others of a like kind, which do honour to the discernment of Smollett, and distinguish his character as a historian, will long be remembered, after the malice of his enemies, and his own political prejudices, his generous but self-deluding personal attach ments, and his violent resentments, are forgot.

were

were enjoying the tortures of a maniac, who had attempted to kill their king. On this fanatical wretch, named Francis Damien, whose gloomy mind had always bordered upon madness, and whose understanding was now evidently disordered by the disputes between the king and the parliaments relative to religion, (which I shall afterward have occasion to explain) was practised, without effect, every refinement in cruelty that human. invention could suggest, in order to extort a confession of the reasons that induced him to make an attempt on the life of his sovereign20. He maintained a sullen silence in the midst of the most exquisite torments, or expressed his agony only in frantic ravings. And his judges, tired out with his obstinacy, at last thought proper to terminate his sufferings by a death shocking to humanity; which, although the act of a people who pride themselves on civility and refinement, might fill the hearts of savages with horror. He was conducted to the common place of execution amidst a vast concourse of the populace; stripped naked, and fastened to the scaffold by iron gyves. One of his hands was then burnt in liquid flaming sulphur. His thighs, legs, and arms, were torn with red-hot pincers. 'Boiling oil, melted lead, rosin, and sulphur, were poured into the wounds; and to complete the awful catastrophe, tight ligatures being tied round his limbs, he was torn to pieces. by young and vigorous horses".

The attempt against the king's life had no influence upon the French councils, as it was soon discovered that his wound was not mortal. The court of Versailles, therefore, in conformity with its engagements and its views, assembled a great army; the main body of which, consisting of eighty thousand men, commanded by mareschal d'Etrees, and other officers of high reputation, passed the Rhine early in the spring, and marched by the way

20. He stabbed the king with a penknife, between the fourth and fifth ribs, as he was stepping into his coach.

21. Smollett. Voltaire. Trial and Execution of F. R. Damien.

of

of Westphalia, in order to invade the territories of the king of Prussia, as was pretended, but in reality to reduce the electorate of Hanover; and by that bold measure to oblige the king of Great-Britain to submit to the encroachments of the French in America, or to the loss of what he valued as the apple of his eye, or the cords of his heart, his German dominions. The smaller division, composed of twenty-five thousand men, under the prince de Soubise, was destined to march toward the Maine, to strengthen the Imperial army of execution.-Some explication will here be necessary, in order to make the nature of this army perfectly understood.

No sooner did the king of Prussia enter Saxony, the preceding campaign, than a process was commenced against him in the Aulic council, and also before the diet of the empire, By the influence of the court of Vienna, and the terror of the powerful confederacy it had formed, he was condemned for contumacy; and the fiscal had orders to notify to him, that he was put under the ban of the empire, and adjudged fallen from all the dignities and possessions which he held in it. The circles of the empire were accordingly commanded to furnish their contingents of men and money, in order to put this sentence in execution. But the contingents were collected slowly; the troops were badly composed; and probably the army of the Empire would never have been able to act, had it not been seconded by the French forces under the prince de Soubise. This general, before he passed the Rhine, made himself master of Cleves, Meurs and Gueldres, whilst a detachment from the army of mareschal d'Etrees, seized upon the town of Embden, and whatever else belonged to his Prussian majesty in EastFriesland.

Alarmed at the danger which threatened his electoral dominions, George II. seemed disposed to enter deeply into the continental quarrel, and even to send over a body of British troops for the protection of Hanover. In these views, however, he was thwarted by Pitt and Legge, his new ministers; who, adhering to the patriotic principles

VOL. V.

ia