he Duke of Newcastle's Ministry soon fell. Newcastle was not a man
who had the slightest capacity for controlling or directing a policy of
war; and the great struggle known as the Seven Years' War had now
broken out. One lamentable event in the war has to be recorded,
although it was but of minor importance. This was the capture of
Minorca by the French under the romantic, gallant, and profligate Duc
de Richelieu. The event is memorable chiefly, or only, because it was
followed by the trial and execution of the unfortunate Admiral Byng.
Admiral Byng, the son of a famous sailor, was sent in command of a
small and a very poorly furnished squadron to the Mediterranean to
relieve Minorca. When he readied Gibraltar he found that a French
fleet much superior in numbers to his own was blockading the island he
was sent to relieve. Byng called a council of war, and the council
decided that, as they had no instructions from home how to act in the
event of their finding themselves face to face with a superior force,
they had better not interfere with the doings of the enemy. Still Byng
made for Minorca, and tried unsuccessfully to open communications with
the garrison. He had a slight engagement {298} with the French, and
then he brought his squadron away. The news created such an outburst
of passion in England that the Duke of Newcastle made up his mind at
once to sacrifice Byng to the popular fury. Byng was tried at
Spithead, found guilty of having failed in his duty, and shot on March
14, 1757. He died like a brave man. It went heavily against Newcastle
in later days that he was believed to have promised the sacrifice of
Byng before the trial had even begun. No one now believes that Byng
was a coward; and nothing but a miracle could have enabled him with
such a force to save Minorca. But he failed sadly in his duty, whether
from stupidity or irresolution, and probably he would not have cared to
outlive his degradation. The punishment was stern and harsh indeed,
but it was a time to excuse sternness on the part of a government on
whom had fallen the conduct of a great war. Pitt did his best to
induce the King to mitigate the penalty in accordance with the
unanimous recommendation of the court-martial; but George was
inflexible, and reminded Pitt that he had himself taught the Sovereign
to seek outside the House of Commons for the judgment of the English
people. It was to the execution of Byng that Voltaire applied