George Monk was a man distinguished by great personal valour. His zeal in the public service was indefatigable. He was wise in counsel, fearless in battle; as a commander a strict disciplinarian, but also the stern enemy of oppression and tyranny, on the part of naval and military officers. Few men have ever attained to the influence and power he wielded, with less of personal ambition.
He was commanding in person, robust in constitution, an early riser, and a hard worker; loyal, faithful, and affectionate, in his public, social, and domestic relations.
EDWARD MONTAGUE,
EARL OF SANDWICH.
CHAPTER XI. NAVAL CONFLICT BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND THE DUTCH.
Remarks, by persons of mature age, are not uncommon, in our time, upon the precocity of the rising generation. It is alleged that we have no boys and girls nowadays, that they are too forward, know too much for their years, and are men and women before their time. Edward Montague, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, furnishes a notable illustration of precocity, in his generation.
Edward was the only surviving son of Sir Sidney Montague, and was a grandson of Lord Montague of Boughton, a staunch Royalist. Sir Sidney also adhered firmly to Charles I., and submitted to expulsion from the House of Commons, of which he was a member, rather than subscribe to an oath of allegiance to the Earl of Essex “to live and die with him,” in his conspiracy against the king.
Edward Montague was born 27th July 1625, the year of Charles I.’s accession to the throne, and of his marriage with Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV., King of France. Some years before he reached his majority, young Montague entered the whirl of domestic and State affairs. When only seventeen years of age he married Jemima, daughter of Lord Crewe of Stene. In the following year, 1643, he received a commission from the Earl of Essex,—whom his father had refused to support,—to raise a regiment of horse, to serve against the king, to whom his father adhered. Such was the influence at the command of the young chief, and the ardour with which he entered upon the execution of his commission, that in six weeks he was ready to take the field at the head of his regiment, and he entered immediately upon active service. He assisted at the storming of Lincoln in May 1644, and also exhibited great bravery, at the battle of Marston Moor, in the July following. In 1645 he had a great deal of stirring service, fighting at Naseby in July, and taking part in the storming of Bridgewater. In September he commanded a brigade in the attack on Bristol, and subscribed the articles of the capitulation of that city by Prince Rupert. With Colonel Hammond he was deputed to carry the intelligence of this important success, to the Parliament in London.
While yet under age, so prominent a character was he in connection with public affairs, as to be elected, or more properly appointed, by those who had the power, a member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire. It is stated concerning his conduct as member of Parliament, that the plottings and contests of parties were distasteful to him, and that he shunned these,—as he did also intrigues and cabals in the army. His opinions were sought after and valued, and notwithstanding his youth, he exercised considerable influence in the direction of affairs. Cromwell affected to despise nobility and family lineage, but he had a keen eye for the men fitted to promote his objects, could fully appreciate their value, and was skilful and effective in his methods of attaching them to his person and cause. Montague had rendered distinguished service, but he was a supporter of a very different stamp from the ordinary Roundheads,—and his allegiance was held by a more uncertain tenure. His social and family relations probably drew him in a different direction. Cromwell was solicitous to have Montague fully committed to his cause; he extolled his valour, discretion, and independence, and snared him into a seat, at his Treasury board.
Montague rendered effective service at the Treasury, but was not in his element in the civil service, from which he obtained release in 1656, when, at the request of Admiral Blake, he was appointed, in conjunction with that distinguished commander, to the command of the fleet in the Mediterranean. Montague found great discontent with the service, prevailing among the officers of the fleet. Exercising patience and discretion with the disaffected, he succeeded in allaying their discontent, and the fleet sailed under the direction of its distinguished commanders, who cherished magnificent projects,—to be accomplished ere they returned to England. One of these was to fall upon the Spanish fleet in Cadiz harbour, which, however, on careful survey, they concluded it would be foolhardy to attempt. Another project designed was the reduction of Gibraltar. Montague doubted the success of an attack by sea, and decidedly favoured attack by a land force,—approaching by the isthmus. However, the attack was not then made, and, after cruising about for a time, the fleet made for the opposite coast of Barbary, the intention of the commanders being the chastisement of the Tripoli and Salee rovers. Notwithstanding the terror that Blake had inspired by a former visit, the pirates had become as troublesome, daring, and destructive to traders as they had been before.
EARL OF SANDWICH—DUKE OF YORK.