“Do they still desire the Act?” said Lord Strange. “Could anybody,” replied Keppel, “mention what weight they had on their minds, and not desire it still?”
The Speaker then, trimming between Pitt and Fox, declared himself extremely hurt with the words, pronounced them wrong, and of most dangerous consequence, and what had always been reckoned breaches of privilege;—he was satisfied there had been no bad intention in it. He knew Mr. Pitt would as soon lose his hand, as violate the rights of Parliament—indeed, there had been no necessity for the words in question; the message might have been worded differently; but he would pawn his soul there had been no wrong design in it. It might be entered, observing that objections had been made to the offensive phrase; the necessity of which might be stated too. For Mr. Fox, he had done his duty, and himself would do public right to him. “I did the same justice to Mr. Pitt,” said Fox. General Conway agreed that there had been little occasion to describe so particularly what had passed; and he asked whether it was necessary to enter the whole of the Message.
“The House,” said the Speaker, “may enter what it pleases; but it is a Message sent solemnly by the King, and I never knew an instance of overlooking it.” George Grenville went farther, and said, he would never consent to have it entered defectively. Beckford called the Bill so unpopular a measure, that he wished to have it imputed to the House of Commons, not to the King, who, he desired it might be reported, had yielded to it unwillingly, and only for the sake of justice: Pitt he commended. Sir Francis Dashwood, with much more sincerity, said he was glad of the Bill, come how it would. It was gracious of the King to give room for it, and wise of his Ministers. Fox asked, now the respite was granted, whether it were not better to wait for a petition from the Court-Martial before the Bill was passed? better to wait at least till Monday for some material information, which might be hinted in the petition. Sir Francis replied, that the very words of the Message from the Crown were, that a respite was granted till the Bill should pass. Would it be decent, after such a message, to say we will postpone the Bill, however, till the Court-Martial petitions? If six only of the thirteen should desire the Bill, would you not grant it? The House cried, “No, no!”—as if it was justice due to the consciences of an indefinite, and not of a determined number!
Nugent said, his constant opinion had been, that the Admiral was sentenced for error of judgment only; and the oath he thought only a conditional one.
Fox, after refining much on the oath, said it was impossible but at the desire of the whole number, to permit some to disclose the opinions of others. Each man might tell his own motives. At least, let the desires of the majority be taken. He then asked if it was proper that a set of Judges should go about for three weeks, hearing solicitations from the friends of the prisoner, and then come and complain of their own sentence? For his part, his feeling sometimes operated upon his reason, and, he supposed, did on that of others. See, then, whither solicitation and bribery might go. The King desires to have his doubts cleared up—but don’t let this Bill go immediately to pardon. Give way to the Bill—what was to follow would be a subsequent consideration. The Court had gone no farther than to acquit the Admiral of cowardice. He hoped the Parliament would ask the King for the examination, either, to rescind the sentence or to order a new trial. He had not, he said, run away basely the day before, but from his judgment: Mr. Keppel had told him what he meaned to do. He did not think himself necessary to every council, and had foreseen what confusion would follow. He had not voted against the Bill, and said, “Let Mr. Byng die on Monday.” He had gone away, his compassion struggling with his reason. On consideration, he had returned like a man to the hard part. If the King had felt, was it not proper he should feel too? He begged care might be taken not to establish this measure for a precedent; nor could it be reasonable to frame a new Article of War, because the Court-Martial had not understood the present. He should be for the Bill, though he would not (like Mr. Pitt) declare that most good would follow from pardon. Hearing a great Minister say so, he thought pardon was determined. Yet, for himself, he should have left the merit of it to the King’s mercy—but now it was the act of the Minister. He still wished to see more grounds for the Bill. He would not require any of the members of the Court, he would only enable such as thought fit, to discover what had passed. Something extraordinary he would have to conclude this extraordinary act.
The art and abilities of this speech are evident: it will be much more difficult to discover in it the good-nature he had promised to display.
Nugent expressed his disapprobation of two trials. Pitt declared he would speak very shortly and clearly; sometimes, he owned, he did speak too warmly. He gave much commendation to Mr. Fox’s speech, though he did not foresee the same consequences; nor would he decide, whether in the present instance Fox’s reason or good-nature had got the better. He defended Mr. Keppel’s behaviour, which had sprung from former proceedings, not from solicitation. [For] himself, [he] did not wish the Admiral saved out of compassion, but out of justice: “for how,” said he, “can it be for my interest to take the part I now do?—I look only at the sentence. Is it so necessary that he should be executed just now?” On the other hand he would not give time for the Court-Martial to be tampered with. Like Fox, he had wished for better grounds; but when Mr. Keppel rose and pronounced what he did, it was irresistible. It became the unanimous opinion of the House to yield to his emotions. Some even would have passed the Bill that very day. Nor had anything ever come before Parliament that almost commanded such rapidity. “Ought not,” said he, “Mr. Byng, ought not his family, to be put out of that cruel situation? ought not the King? ought not the Court-Martial, some of whom were on the point of sailing to America? Why hang this matter up for some days, in which the fate of the nation might be decided?” There was nothing of party in this—any number that were willing to tell, ought to be heard: might not they want to say that they had thought themselves bound to find error of judgment capital? To them he would have the Article explained. He feared, if this was pending too long it might produce riots.
Henley, the Attorney-General, endeavoured still to show that the Bill was unnecessary, and that the members might dispense with their oath. He suggested that the Bill might be rejected in the other House; and asked, who was to examine the members of the Court-Martial?
Doddington said, he had sought compassion and relief—had found compassion even when he called; but relief could only come constitutionally through justice. The Court-Martial indeed did at last perceive that they might have been mistaken. Were he in their place, he should not have waited for a Bill—he should have thought a life was to be saved at any rate.
Legge declared himself free from any bias one way or other. Had Mr. Byng been found guilty, nobody would be more ready to condemn him: but it appeared that he was only a sacrifice to discipline; and we must not imagine that we should draw down blessings on our Fleets by human sacrifices. He begged that, by adhering to the letter of this Article, demonstrated to be both obscure and severe, they would not prevent Courts-Martial from bringing in nobody guilty.