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Rating: 
Summary: "For the Encouragement of the Others"
Review: At one stage in Voltaire's Candide, our characters approach the English coastline to witness the execution of an admiral who was guilty of no particular offense, but is being shot "for the encouragement of the others." This was a reference to the notorious execution of Admiral Byng, described by Pope as one of the worst instances of "judicial murder" in British legal history. Pope's narrative takes us to the opening of the Seven Years' War (the European name for the French and Indian Wars), wherein Byng's fleet attempted, unsuccessfully, to resupply the British Meditteranean base in Minorca. After an inconclusive naval encounter with the French, Byng withdrew from the island and took his fleet back to Gibraltar. Whereupon all hell descended upon him and he was court-martialled, and shot, by a panicky British high command for supposed cowardice. Pope takes us through each phase of the trial, as well as the subsequent attempts to pardon Byng. Several of the usual heroes of British naval history, such as Lord Anson and Admiral Byng, emerge with less than admirable reputations for their complicity in the show-trial, whereas others such as Augustus Keppel seems to have taken genuine career risks in order to save their friend. I would read this together with Piers Macksey's excellent "The Coward of Minden," which deals with a near-contemporaneous trial of a British general, on similarly trumped up charges.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent account
Review: This is a fascinating account of the incident which resulted in Admiral Byng being shot on 14 March 1758. It is very well told and the story is a lamentable one. John Byng was sent to the Mediterranean in 1757 with a weak squadron, engaged in a battle with the French off Minorca, and then the next day the squadron--some ships in which had been badly damaged--went back to Gibralter. Admiral Byng was court-martialed and shot! As Voltaire said: "In this country it is thought well to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others!" You can't go wrong reading this book about this amazing event.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent account
Review: This is a fascinating account of the incident which resulted in Admiral Byng being shot on 14 March 1758. It is very well told and the story is a lamentable one. John Byng was sent to the Mediterranean in 1757 with a weak squadron, engaged in a battle with the French off Minorca, and then the next day the squadron--some ships in which had been badly damaged--went back to Gibralter. Admiral Byng was court-martialed and shot! As Voltaire said: "In this country it is thought well to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others!" You can't go wrong reading this book about this amazing event.
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