and struck—by the hand of George the Second,
who was deeply incensed, and resolved to make
his degradation most galling—from the list of
generals. Having demanded a court-martial, a
question arose whether a man who had ceased to
be in the army was still subject to military law,
but the court assembled on the 29th of February,
1760, and was composed of sixteen members, all
general officers. The accusations were three in
number. First, for refusing to advance with
the cavalry and sustain the infantry when
engaged; second, after the cavalry were in motion,
in needlessly halting them; third, that he
moved so slowly as not to reach the action in
time to join in the pursuit. Assuming a
dictatorial tone to the court, he complained that he
had been punished before trial; and, while he
relied on the ambiguity of the orders, it was but
too evident that they did not direct him to stand
still. Forgetting that the moment of the
enemies' signal discomfiture was his opportunity, he
attempted in his defence to justify his inactivity
on the ground that the movement of the cavalry
was unnecessary. "The glory of that day,"
said he, "was reserved for the six brave (English)
regiments, who, it will scarcely be credited in
future ages, by a single attack put forty
battalions and sixty squadrons to flight." The
allusion would seem to have been peculiarly
inopportune, for while those six infantry regiments
suffered a loss of one thousand three hundred
and seventy-nine men and officers, the Gazette
does not record a single casualty amongst the
British cavalry. According to Walpole, "Whatever
were his deficiencies in the day of battle,
he has at least shown no want of spirit either in
pushing on his trial, or during it. He had a
formal message that he must abide the event,
whatever it should be; he accepted that issue,
and during the course of the examination
attacked judges, prosecutor, and evidence.
Indeed, a man cannot be said to want spirit who
could show so much in his circumstances. I
think, without much heroism, I would sooner
have led the cavalry up to the charge than have
gone to Whitehall to be worried as he was.
One hour of such resolution at Minden would
have established his character for ever." Gray,
the poet, wrote at the time, "The old Rundles
who sat on Lordly Sackville, have at last
hammered out their message. He is declared
disobedient, and unfit for all military command.
The unembarrassed countenance, the looks of
revenge, contempt, and superiority that he
bestowed on his accusers, were the admiration of
all. You may think, perhaps, he intends to go
abroad and hide his head—au contraire, all the
world visits him on his condemnation." The
court discharged their duty with firmness, neither
misled by his persuasive powers, nor irritated by
his overbearing pride; and it was said that seven
of the members were in favour of capital
punishment. The promulgation of the sentence
was followed by his name being struck off the
list of privy councillors; and the announcement
of its confirmation declared it to be
his majesty's pleasure "that the sentence be
given out in public orders, that officers may
be convinced that neither high birth nor great
employments shall shelter offences of such a
nature."

If disaster had attended our arms at Minden,
Sackville would inevitably have shared the fate
of Byng; but the splendid successes of Wolfe in
the conquest of Canada, following fast after that
victory, had tranquillised popular feeling, and,
strange to say, on the accession of the new
sovereign, he found favour with George the
Third, by whom he was named for office in 1765,
but the other members of the new ministry
refused to act with a man who had been so
publicly disgraced. Having, in 1770, acquired
property under the will of Lady Elizabeth
Germain, who had been a favourite correspondent of
Swift, on condition that he should thenceforth
bear her name, we may well believe that he
eagerly seized on any occasion that afforded
even a hope of retrieving his sullied repute. It
was a period "when corruption did, indeed,
glitter in the van and maintain a standing army
of mercenaries," and Lord George, aspiring to
be a patriot, having expressed himself in parliament
warmly on some popular question,
Governor Johnson replied that "he wondered the
noble lord should interest himself so deeply in
the honour of the country, when he had hitherto
been so regardless of his own." On a refusal to
retract an insult so publicly given, Lord George
demanded an immediate meeting, and named the
ring in Hyde Park; but as the challenged was
then, as a member, attending a committee of the
House of Commons, he hoped that a meeting
within an hour would be satisfactory. The
subsequent incidents are characteristic of the taste
for duelling then in fashion. The combatants
would seem to have arranged all the preliminaries
between themselves; the governor
suggested that one second, the bearer of the
message, Mr. Thomas Townsend, afterwards Lord
Sydney, would answer for them both; and as he
had an open wound in his arm, and his legs were
very much swelled, he expressed a wish to use
pistols—a request to which his opponent politely
acceded. In hurrying to the appointed spot, the
governor met Sir James Lowther in Piccadilly,
who accompanied him as his friend, and, when
on the ground, Lord George, accosting his
adversary, desired him to take whatever distance
he pleased. Being placed at twenty short paces
apart, Lord George called on the governor to
fire, which the other refused, declaring that, as
his lordship had brought him there, he must fire
first. Neither of the shots took effect, but his
opponent's second ball broke Lord George's
pistol, and one of the splinters grazed his
hand. The seconds then interfered, and the
governor afterwards avowed that he had never
met a man who behaved with more coolness or
courage.

Some remarkable coincidences gave credence