The trial had lasted longer than was expected. The Mutiny Bill expired. A new warrant was forced to be made out, and the depositions were read over to the witnesses. It was the third of April before the whole proceeding was closed: the event different from what Lord George had presumed, and yet short of what he had reason to expect. The Court-Martial pronounced him guilty of having disobeyed Prince Ferdinand’s orders, whom by his commission and instructions he was ordered to obey, and declared it their opinion that he was unfit to serve his Majesty in any military capacity whatever. The King confirmed the sentence, but, dissatisfied that it had gone no further, he could not resist the ungenerous impulse of loading it with every insult in his power; impotent, as circumscribed in narrower limits than his wishes; and unjust, as exceeding the bounds of a just trial; since no man ought to be punished beyond his sentence. The Court-Martial’s decision was directed to be given out in public orders to the Army, declaring the sentence worse than death. The King struck Lord George’s name out of the Council Book, and forbad his appearance at Court. The Lord Chamberlain, too, was ordered to notify that prohibition to the Prince of Wales and the Princess-Dowager; and lest that should not be sufficient, the Vice Chamberlain was sent to acquaint Lord Bute with it, who said, to be sure the Prince would not think of seeing Lord George while it was disagreeable to his Majesty. Lord George’s witnesses and friends were treated with no less cruelty. Hugo, a Hanoverian, was dismissed on his return to the Army. John Smith was obliged to quit it here; and Cunningham was sent to America, though he had been there three times already. Yet not a murmur followed: as the object was obnoxious, even the dangerous precedent of persecuting witnesses who had thwarted the inclinations of the Court made no impression--so much do liberty and power depend on circumstances and seasons.[106] The trial of Lord Ferrers had more solemn conclusion. To one man his crimes were advantageous. Sir Robert Henley, Lord Keeper, had been hoisted to that eminence by circumstances of faction; which, however, could not give weight to his decisions in Chancery. Those, as he complained, were often reversed before his face by the House of Lords without his being empowered to defend them, he not being a Peer. It was proper to appoint him Lord High Steward for the trial of Lord Ferrers; and it was requisite, to fill that office, that he should be a Peer. Henley was accordingly created a Baron; but as the Seals had not taught him more law, a Coronet and White Staff contributed as little to give him more dignity. He despised form, even where he had little to do but to be formal. He did not want sense, and spirit still less; but he could not, or would not, stoop to so easy a lesson as that of ceremonial.