Arizona republican., 1914-04-01
TRIAL OF ADMIRAL BYNG

Nothing succeeds like success" is a popular epigram and it is well illus trated in the lives of many great men in the misfortunes and humiliation that have followed unpreventable failure. If a great soldier wins he receives the plaudits of the world and equally the condemnation if he loses, and not in frequently circumstances initiated against his chances to win. This is it. lustrated in the career of Admiral Byng, of the English navy
 Byng was esteemed by the British nation as an especially able seaman and as brave man, but he was ruined by partisan animosity He was exc cuted in 1757 for his failure in his at tempt to relieve Monorca two years before, but after party fury had sub sided and his conduct had been dispas- sionately examined, his intentions were allowed to have been good, his courage indisputable and his death the conse- quences of rancorous misrepresenta- tions from personal dislike.
 On the first news of Byng's failure in the Mediterranean he was hurriedly recalled by the ministry. He reached England and was placed on trial in November, 1756, by court martial This trial was continued until the following June, when he was convicted of crimi- nal neglect. Lord Anson had appoint ed Byng to the position as admiral of the fleet in the Mediterranean. and, al though he was equally responsible with him in the failure, there is nothing to show that Anson did not fully agree with the finding of the court and the justice of the sentence
 Before leaving England Byng show ed that the force he was taking out was inadequate for the service requir- ed of him. but his objections were overruled and he was assured that when he was joined by the ships al ready in the Mediterranean he would have a force at his disposal equal, if not superior, to that of the enemy. He also complained that his ships were badly manned and were short of com plement.
 But in spite of the representations Byng made to his Government he was | compelled to follow orders, and because l he failed, he lost his life. The court | martial of Byng was the most cele- brated ever held in England It | brought out stormy debates and dis ] cussions in the British house of com mons. When the sentence of death was passed by the court martial this sentence was accompanied by recom- | mendation to mercy; but it was, never l theless, carried out and Byng was shot on the quarter deck of the Monarch, i on the 14th of March, 1757.
 The tragic fate of Byng formed the ! subject of much discussion at the time, and it has often been discussed since, and many of the English historians | have condemned the execution, as a | judicial murder Eoscawen, the British Lord of the Admiralty, was the head of the board that signed Byng's in structions on March 30, 1756. He sign ed the order for the court martial on
 the fourteenth of December following; and as commander in chief of Ports
 mouth, he signed the immediate order
 for the execution on the fourteenth of
 March.
 Byng. as most of the superior off cers of the navy, was a member of the house of commons; and it fell to the lot of Boscawen to inform the house on
 the third of December that the king
 and the board of admiralty, being dis
 satisfied with the conduct of Admiral
 Byng, he, the said admiral, is now in
 custody in order to be tried"
 There is no doubt that there had
 been influences at work to throw as
 much blame as possible on the unfor-
 tunate Byng while perhaps, he suffer-
 ed nearly as much from the violent
 partisanship of his friends. Macaulay,
 the historian, has asserted that the
 punishment of the admiral twas unjust
 and absurd'' The king refused to com
 mute the sentence, though asked to do
 so by Pitt
 The conduct of Byng in his last mo-
 ments confirms no part of the evidence of cowardice. with which he was
 charged, for he was cool, determined dignified and resigned. In answer to 1 this. however. a historian states:
 There is a broad distinction between
 a passive courage in facing death
 which is often shown by warlike na-
 tions, notably the Chinese, than that
 more active form of affronting danger
 which leads to victory"
 | But in spite of Byng's misfortune at the time, an immediate posterity hon.
 ored him as a British admiral and it
 was obtained from among the secrets
 of ministerial intrigue, that he was the
 victim of ministerial cowardice. un-
 deserving of the disgrace of an execu- tion and obedent to orders which the
 men in office had not the courage to
 avow.