Byng had not been a popular officer; something of a martinet, he was cold and haughty in manner, but no one had ever accused him of want of personal courage, any more than his gallant father. He was opinionated, and self-willed, and it was shown on his trial that, if he had listened to the sensible and seamanlike suggestions of Gardner, the captain of his flag-ship, the result of his engagement with Galissonière might have been different, and have prevented him from taking refuge under the decision of a Council-of-war partly composed of the land officers, passengers in the fleet, which had much hurt the pride of the navy. It was by advice of this Council that he withdrew from Minorca. Byng’s execution, in spite of his manifest lack of criminality, was an opprobrium to the ministers of two administrations, for he was denounced and persecuted as a coward and traitor under that of the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Anson, while the Duke of Devonshire and Lord Temple sanctioned his death. The court which tried him expressly acquitted him of cowardice and treachery, and complained of the severity of the law which awarded the punishment of death on a _secondary_ charge, recommending him to mercy. The famous Voltaire remarked that the English had just shot an Admiral “_pour encourager les autres_.” [Illustration: VENETIAN GALLEY OF THE 16TH CENTURY. (A specimen of the Venetian Fleet at the Battle of Lepanto.)] XIII. SIR EDWARD HAWKE AND CONFLANS. A. D. 1759. It may be of interest to have some account of the successor of the ill-fated Admiral Byng, in the command of the fleet in the Mediterranean. Sir Edward Hawke, who was born in 1705, and died in 1781, was the son of a barrister. He entered the Navy early, and in 1733 had risen to the command of a ship. In an engagement with the French, off Toulon, in 1744, he broke from the line of battle to engage a vessel of the enemy; and, although he caused her to strike her colors, he was dismissed from the service for the breach of discipline. He was, however, restored almost immediately, by the King’s command, and in 1747 made a Rear-Admiral. In October of that year he was sent with a squadron to intercept a large fleet of French merchant vessels bound to the West Indies, under convoy of nine men-of-war, and many transports filled with troops. Coming up with them off Isle d’Aix, he succeeded, after a severe struggle, in capturing six of the men-of-war, but darkness coming on most of the convoy escaped. The delay of the French expedition, caused by this action, contributed very materially to the capture of Cape Breton. In consequence of his success, Hawke was made a Knight Commander of the Bath; and soon after became Member of Parliament for Bristol. In 1748 he was made a Vice-Admiral, and in 1755 an Admiral; and the following year succeeded Admiral Byng--but much too late to succor Minorca.