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cahnLast post, we had (among other things) Danish kings and their favorites; Louis XIV and Philippe d'Orléans; reviews of a very shippy book about Katte, a bad Jacobite novel, and a great book about clothing; a fic about Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire; and a review of a set of entertaining Youtube history videos about Frederick the Great.
Re: Augustus Hervey IV: Admiral Byng
Date: 2023-03-24 09:56 am (UTC)The 31st the Admiral and Mr. West went on shore together, which pleased me very much, as I was in hopes they would be well together. I kept pressing their sailing immediately to endeaovur to find the enemy, and wish my advice had been followed for the next day Admiral West had a letter overland that himself and Mr. Byng were recalled. And sure enough the 2nd July at 10 in the morning the Antelope of 50 guns in thirteen days from England arrived with Sir Edward Hawke and Rear-Admiral Sasunders to relieve Mr. Byng an dWest, Lord Tyrawly to relieve General Fowke, Lord Panmure to relieve General Stuart, Captain Batten and several other officers; the gentelmen relieved wer all to proceed to England immediately, Mr. Byng as a prisoner. Mr. Broderick was made a flag and to go home also. The land officers were superceded for their council of war at Gibraltar before tehy went up, and not complying with the King's orders, and here the whole garrison was astonished to find a set of gentlemen stigmatised only on the accounts of the French admiral, which were the only ones received when these sailed. They did not give time for the arrival of Admiral Byng's express, such was their determination to sacrifice that officer to screen their own wicked heads. Even Sir Edward Hawke, whom I went to see, condemned the hasty manner in which it was done, and much more so the unprecedented infamous reports Lord HOlland, Lord Anson and the Duke of Newcastle encouraged everywhere against Mr. Byng's character in order to raise the mob against him and turn all the resentment and just indignation of the people from themselves to Admiral Byng.
This is one of the passages where as Erskine says you can see Augustus might be working on the basis of his diary but is actually writing years later, for Henry Fox didn't become Lord Holland until the end of the war.
Augustus' indignation about Byng dominates the entire early account of the war.
The 11th we got off Mahon, bu tno French, nor any intelligence concerning them. The 13th we were joined by the Colchester, Captain O'Brien, who brought orders from England for myself and nine other Captains with several officers to go home in the Colchester to attend at Admiral Byng's trial, and it was a very extraordinary thing that all tlhe captains of that fleet should be ordered home but one, and that one Captain Durell, who was the Admiral's immediate second in that action, and was the occasion of the Admiral not being able to get into action the second time. By this ship we heard very much of the most infamous and shameful unheard-of treatment Admiral Byng had met with in England, all occasioned by a hired mob to insult him, and by papers being sent about everywhere to poison the minds of the people and prejudice them against him, in order to screen those wretches Newcastle, Anson and Fox.
Augustus distinguishes himself later at a famous at the time nightly battle involving the ship Monmouth, but the Byng passages are the last from the diary I'll quote for then in 1757, the manuscript ends abruptly, not in a dramatic scene but mid sentence, we know not why. The next quotes are from the letters Erskine provides in the appencides.
As mentioned elsewhere, Augustus wrote to Henry Fox as the one member of the current government he knew via his father, and basically said, more politely and without including Fox in his condemnation, what he writes in his diary re: Byng after describing the battle. Henry Fox forwards this letter to Molly:
Dear Madam, I send you your son's letter. It is private, so I have not shown it to anybody, because the blaming people here will neither do Mr. Hervey nor them any good.
Molly to Henry Fox, in reply: I return you, my dear sir, with a thousand thanks , Augustus' letter which has given me a great deal of pain, as I think even by those accounts every situation was not made the most of. I am heartily vexed at the whole, as an ENglishwoman and as a well-wisher to Byng. A m also frightened lest all those who composed the Council of War should receive censure. Dear Sir, I should be glad to see you before I go on my great journey (to Scotland), but how is it possible? (...) I wish for the sake of England that the new Admirals may do better than Byng, but I wish for Byng's sake that he had done that better. Adieu my dear, I am vexed and uneasy, but ever with truth and faithfully and affectionately yours.
Henry Fox writes back; the start of the letter reassures her on another matter, Augustus having written a presumably love letter to a French lady just before the war broke out:
Dear Madam, - No other harm can happen to Captain Hervey from his imprudence than from a little ridicule as to his being very fond of the French. It was before war was declared, and there was no harm in this letter. (...) I am more afraid that his gratitude to Byng joined to a lively disposition may make him talk imprudently when he finds in how different a light his superiors here look on that Admiral's conduct from that in which his Captains, and particularly Captain Hervey, represent it. I wish I could advise him to do his own duty, as I dare say he will, well; and neither write or speak of that of others. But particularly not to write his thoughts on such occasions.
Molly to Henry Fox (after he forwarded another indignant Augustus letter to her):
I have wrote to Augustus and have given him the best, indeed the only advice I could give him, which is to make use of nothing, but truth in justification of his unhappy friend, as all fallacies and exaggerations can only hurt the man and cause he wishes to serve. But not to employ his utmost powers with truth to vindicate his friend ins what I can neither advise nor wish; on the contrary, I would excite him to it, as it was on like occasion I would do myself at all hazards and perils, and so the best friend I have in the world shall find if ever there is occasion for it, which on his account (why should I not plainly say yours) I hope will never happpen, but if it should, here it is under my hand, and keep it, I beg of you. I have spirit and courage to make it good, tho' fortune and life itself were both concerned. These are perilous times, my dear sir, God knows what may happen. The suffering, perhaps encouraging a mob to declare they will have - or otherwise do themselves - what they call justice, is not only the most wicked, but the most weak and dangerous thing imaginable; if they are supported or allowed to make such insolent illegal declarations, who knows whose turn may be next?
Henry Fox to Molly: The Mob, dear Madam, is not excited against Byng. The greatest care has been taken at least that they should not even get a sight of him. (...) I see no dificulty that Captain Hervey can be under. He will upon oath and will give true evidence. There is no room for friendship for giving evidence, and nobody will blame his doing Mr. Byng all the service he can. If the event should ruin Mr. Byng, that will grieve Mr. Hervey and be distressful, but Mr. Hervey's character as an officer or a man of courage can not bon this occasion be complicated with Mr. Byng's.
Footnote to this whole matter by Erskine: The ruth is that Fox was justified in trying to divert much of the blame for the loss of Minorca onto Byng for his unenterprising behaviour off Mahon - provided he did not exceed the bounds of fairness. The mutilation of the Admmiral's despatch and the tacit, if not active, encouragement of the mob were unworthy incidents in this attempt to make the Admiral scapegoat for all the sins of the ministry; but it was Fox' conduct after the finding and sentence of the Court Martial which can in no way be excused. The love of office and the knowledge that those who advocated leniency were flying in the face of royal and popular favour were too strong for him; he aquiesced at the unjust execution, and that 'fixed' Augustus' Hervey's opinion of him.
To conclude on a more joyful note, Mom Molly to Augustus about his battle heroics with the Monmouth: Indeed, my dear Augustus, if you go on at this rate you will quite blind me. I have been forced to read and write so many answers to letters of congratulations on your behaviour and success that I can hardly see; and this moment I have received your letter of the 22nd July with the pleasing account of farther and greater intrepidity, and, thank God, with safety still on your part.
Molly, a reminder, in her old age hands out a lot of Horace Walpole, who approves of her as he doesn't of Lady Mary:
Mr. Walpole, who is always the first and most obliging on all such occasions, said they were all in joy and full of your praises at Holland House. (...) He is just come into my room with Lady Stanhope and all of them with the newspapers of this morning, which he has just got, in which there is a full and most delightful account of the action and of Commodore Hervey and at the end of it some verses of which these are the last two lines:
"Britons exult! all Gallia trembling stands,
While Hervey executes and Hawke commands!
Re: Augustus Hervey IV: Admiral Byng
Date: 2023-04-11 05:25 am (UTC)"Britons exult! all Gallia trembling stands,
While Hervey executes and Hawke commands!
And this is so cute!
Re: Augustus Hervey IV: Admiral Byng
Date: 2023-04-11 03:18 pm (UTC)Same, and I also appreciate Molly's reply to Henry Fox going "tell your son to keep it quiet": I have wrote to Augustus and have given him the best, indeed the only advice I could give him, which is to make use of nothing, but truth in justification of his unhappy friend, as all fallacies and exaggerations can only hurt the man and cause he wishes to serve. But not to employ his utmost powers with truth to vindicate his friend ins what I can neither advise nor wish; on the contrary, I would excite him to it, as it was on like occasion I would do myself at all hazards and perils, and so the best friend I have in the world shall find if ever there is occasion for it, which on his account (why should I not plainly say yours) I hope will never happpen, but if it should, here it is under my hand, and keep it, I beg of yo
In other words, "I'm cool with telling Augustus not to make anything up, but I won't tell him not to do his best to defend his friend with the truth, which is what I'd do for you if and when it's your turn to fall, ever think about that, Henry?"