nd advantage acquired by the few
brigades of infantry, who may be said to have defeated the whole French
army, was in no respect owing to any general or particular orders or
instructions, but entirely flowing from the native valour of the troops,
and the spirited conduct of their immediate commanders; and that a great
number of officers in the allied army, even of those who remained on
the open heath, never saw the face of the enemy, or saw them at such a
distance that they could not distinguish more than the hats and the arms
of the British regiments with which they were engaged. With respect to
the imputation of cowardice levelled at lord George by the unthinking
multitude, and circulated with such industry and clamour, we ought to
consider it as a mob accusation which the bravest of men, even the
great duke of Marlborough, could not escape; we ought to receive it as
a dangerous suspicion, which strikes at the root of character, and may
blast that honour in a moment which the soldier has acquired in a long
course of painful service, at the continual hazard of his life; we ought
to distrust it as a malignant charge, altogether inconsistent with the
former conduct of the person accused, as well as with his subsequent
impatience and perseverance in demanding a trial, to which he never
would have been called; a trial which, though his life was at stake, and
his cause out of countenance, he sustained with such courage, fortitude,
and presence of mind, as even his enemies themselves could not help
admiring. Thus have we given a succinct detail of this remarkable
affair, with that spirit of impartiality, that sacred regard to
truth, which the importance of history demands. To the best of our
recollection, we have forgot no essential article of the accusation,
nor suppressed any material circumstance urged in defence of lord George
Sackville. Unknown to his person, unconnected with his friends, unmoved
by fear, unbiassed by interest, we have candidly obeyed the dictates of
justice, and the calls of humanity, in our endeavours to dissipate the
clouds of prejudice and misapprehension; warmed, perhaps, with an honest
disdain at the ungenerous, and in our opinion, unjust persecution, which
previous to his trial, an officer of rank, service, and character, the
descendant of an illustrious family, the son of a nobleman universally
respected, a Briton, a fellow-subject, had undergone.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

SENTENCE OF THE