TRIAL OF GENERAL FOWKE.

The first victim offered to the enraged multitude was the unfortunate general Fowke, who had been deputy-governor of Gibraltar, and behaved with remarkable conduct and integrity in the exercise of that important office, till that period when he fell under the displeasure of the government. He was now brought to trial before a board of general officers, and accused of having disobeyed the orders he had received from the secretary at war in three successive letters 379 [See note 3 B, at the end of this Vol.], touching the relief of Minorca. Mr. Fowke alleged in his own defence, that the orders were confused and contradictory, and implied a discretionary power; that the whole number of his garrison did not exceed two thousand six hundred men, after he had spared two hundred and seventy-five to the ships commanded by Mr. Edgecumbe; that the ordinary duty of the garrison requiring eight hundred men, the whole number was not sufficient for three reliefs; that, if he had detached a battalion on board the fleet, he should not have had above two reliefs, at a time when he believed the place was in danger of being attacked, for good reasons, which he did not think himself at liberty to mention; that his orders being doubtful, he held a council of war, which was of opinion, that as undoubted intelligence was received of the French army’s being landed at Minorca, to the number of between thirteen and sixteen thousand men, and that a French squadron of sixteen ships was stationed off the harbour, the sending a detachment equal to a battalion from Gibraltar would be an ineffectual supply for the relief of the place, and a weakening of the garrison from which they must be sent. He observed, that supposing the orders to have been positive, and seven hundred men detached to Minorca, the number remaining at Gibraltar would not have exceeded one thousand five hundred and fifty-six: a deduction of seven hundred more, according to the order of May the twelfth, would have left a remainder of eight hundred and fifty-six; that the men daily on duty in the garrison, including artificers and labourers in the king’s works, amounted to eight hundred and thirty-nine; so that if he had complied with the orders as they arrived, he would not have had more than seventeen men over and above the number necessary for the daily work of the garrison; thus the important fortress of Gibraltar must, at this critical conjuncture, have been left almost naked and defenceless to the attempts of the enemy; and had those detachments been actually sent abroad, it afterwards appeared that they could not have been landed on the island of Minorca. The order transmitted to general Fowke to detain all empty vessels, for a further transportation of troops, seems to have been superfluous; for it can hardly be supposed he could have occasion for them, unless to embark the whole garrison, and abandon the place. It seems likewise to have been unnecessary to exhort the general to keep his garrison as alert as possible, during that critical time; inasmuch as it would have been impossible for the men to have enjoyed the least repose or intromission of duty, had the orders been punctually and literally obeyed. What other assistance it might have been in the governor’s power to give for the relief of Minorca, or in what manner he could avoid fatiguing his garrison, while there was an impossibility of relieving the guards, it is not easy to comprehend. Be that as it may, when the trial was finished, and the question put to acquit or suspend for one year, the court was equally divided; and in such cases the casting vote being vested in the president, he threw it into the scale against the prisoner, whom his majesty thought fit to dismiss from his service.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760