The glory which the English acquired in this expedition was in some measure tarnished by the conduct of some officers in the West Indies. Thither admiral Benbow had been detached with a squadron of ten sail in the course of the preceding year. At Jamaica he received intelligence that monsieur Du Casse was in the neighbourhood of Hispaniola, and resolved to beat up to that island. At Leogane he fell in with a French ship of fifty guns, which her captain ran ashore and blew up. He took several other vessels, and having alarmed Petit-Guavas, bore away for Donna Maria bay, where he understood that Du Casse had sailed for the coast of Carthagena. Benbow resolved to follow the same course; and on the nineteenth of August discovered the enemy’s squadron near Saint Martha, consisting of ten sail, steering along shore. He formed the line, and an engagement ensued, in which he was very ill seconded by some of his captains. Nevertheless, the battle continued till night, and he determined to renew it next morning, when he perceived all his ships at the distance of three or four miles astern, except the Ruby, commanded by captain George Walton, who joined him in plying the enemy with chase guns. On the twenty-first these two ships engaged the French squadron; and the Ruby was so disabled that the admiral was obliged to send her back to Jamaica. Next day the Greenwich, commanded by Wade, was five leagues astern; and the wind changing, the enemy had the advantage of the weather-gage. On the twenty-third the admiral renewed the battle with his single ship unsustained by the rest of the squadron. On the twenty-fourth his leg was shattered by a chain-shot; notwithstanding which accident, he remained on the quarter-deck in a cradle and continued the engagement. One of the largest ships of the enemy lying like a wreck upon the water, four sail of the English squadron poured their broadsides into her, and then ran to leeward without paying any regard to the signal for battle. Then the French bearing down upon the admiral with their whole force, shot away his main-top-sail-yard, and damaged his rigging in such a manner that he was obliged to lie by and refit, while they took their disabled ship in tow. During this interval he called a council of his captains, and expostulated with them on their behaviour. They observed, that the French were very strong, and advised him to desist. He plainly perceived that he was betrayed, and with the utmost reluctance returned to Jamaica, having not only lost a leg, but also received a large wound in his face, and another in his arm, while he in person attempted to board the French admiral. Exasperated at the treachery of his captains, he granted a commission to rear-admiral Whetstone and other officers, to hold a court-martial and try them for cowardice. Hudson, of the Pendennis, died before his trial: Kirby and Wade were convicted, and sentenced to be shot: Constable, of the Windsor, was cashiered and imprisoned: Vincent, of the Falmouth, and Fogg, the admiral’s own captain of the Breda, were convicted of having signed a paper that they would not fight under Benbow’s command; but as they behaved gallantly in the action, the court inflicted upon them no other punishment than that of a provisional suspension. Captain Walton had likewise joined in the conspiracy while he was heated with the fumes of intoxication, but he afterwards renounced the engagement, and fought with admirable courage until his ship was disabled. The boisterous manner of Benbow had produced this base confederacy. He was a rough seamen; but remarkably brave, honest, and experienced. [112] [See note S, at the end of this Vol.] He took this miscarriage so much to heart, that he became melancholy, and his grief co-operating with the fever occasioned by his wounds, put a period to his life. Wade and Kirby were sent home in the Bristol; and, on their arrival at Plymouth, shot on board of the ship, by virtue of a dead warrant for their immediate execution, which had lain there for some time. The same precaution had been taken in all the western ports, in order to prevent applications in their favour.
ANNE, 1701—1714
A NEW PARLIAMENT.
During these transactions the queen seemed to be happy in the affection of her subjects. Though the continuance of the parliament was limited to six months after the king’s decease, she dissolved it by proclamation before the term was expired; and issued writs for electing another, in which the tory interest predominated. In the summer the queen gave audience to the count de Platens, envoy-extraordinary from the elector of Hanover; then she made a progress with her husband to Oxford, Bath, and Bristol, where she was received with all the marks of the most genuine affection. The new parliament meeting on the twentieth day of October, Mr. Harley was chosen speaker. The queen in her speech, declared that she had summoned them to assist her in carrying on the just and necessary war in which the nation was engaged. She desired the commons would inspect the accounts of the public receipts and payments, that if any abuses had crept into the management of the finances, they might be detected and the offenders punished. She told them that the funds assigned in the last parliament had not produced the sums granted; and that the deficiency was not supplied even by the one hundred thousand pounds which she had paid from her own revenue for the public service. She expressed her concern for the disappointment at Cadiz, as well as for the abuses committed at Port St. Mary’s, which had obliged her to give directions for the strictest examination of the particulars. She hoped they would find time to consider of some better and more effectual method to prevent the exportation of wool, and improve that manufacture, which she was determined to encourage. She professed a firm persuasion, that the affection of her subjects was the surest pledge of their duty and obedience. She promised to defend and maintain the church as by law established; and to protect her subjects in the full enjoyment of all their rights and liberties. She protested, that she relied on their care of her: she said her interest and theirs were inseparable; and that her endeavours should never be wanting to make them all safe and happy. She was presented with a very affectionate address from either house, congratulating her upon the glorious success of her arms, and those of her allies, under the command of the earl of Marlborough: but that of the commons was distinguished by an implicated reproach on the late reign, importing, that the wonderful progress of her majesty’s arms under the earl of Marlborough had signally “retrieved” the ancient honour and glory of the English nation. This expression had excited a warm debate in the house, in the course of which many severe reflections were made on the memory of king William. At length the question was put, whether the word “retrieved” should remain? and carried in the affirmative by a majority of one hundred.
DISPUTES BETWEEN THE TWO HOUSES.
The strength of the tories appeared in nothing more conspicuous than in their inquiry concerning controverted elections. The borough of Hindon, near Salisbury, was convicted of bribery, and a bill brought in for disfranchising the town; yet no vote passed against the person who exercised this corruption, because he happened to be a tory. Mr. Howe was declared duly elected for Gloucestershire, though the majority of the electors had voted for the other candidate. Sir John Packington exhibited a complaint against the bishop of Worcester and his son, for having endeavoured to prevent his election: the commons having taken it into consideration, resolved, that the proceedings of William lord bishop of Worcester, and his son, had been malicious, unchristian, and arbitrary, in high violation of the liberties and privileges of the commons of England. They voted an address to the queen, desiring her to remove the father from the office of lord-almoner; and they ordered the attorney-general to prosecute the son, after his privilege as member of the convocation should be expired. A counter address was immediately voted and presented by the lords, beseeching her majesty would not remove the bishop of Worcester from the place of lord-almoner, until he should be found guilty of some crime by due course of law; as it was the undoubted right of every lord of parliament, and of every subject of England, to have an opportunity to make his defence before he suffers any sort of punishment. The queen said she had not as yet received any complaint against the bishop of Worcester; but she looked upon it as her undoubted right to continue or displace any servant attending upon her own person, when she should think proper. The peers having received this answer, unanimously resolved, That no lord of their house ought to suffer any sort of punishment by any proceedings of the house of commons, otherwise than according to the known and ancient rules and methods of parliament. When the commons attended the queen with their address against the bishop, she said she was sorry there was occasion for such a remonstrance, and that the bishop of Worcester should no longer continue to supply the place of her almoner. This regard to their address was a flagrant proof of her partiality to the tories, who seemed to justify her attachment by their compliance and liberality.