Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 12.djvu/59

 Lord George Sackville. His desire to smooth matters over is illustrated by the suggestion he made on 26 Feb. 1757, in the course of the debate on the breach of privilege contained in the king's message on Admiral Byng's case, that it was not necessary to enter the whole message in the journals of the house, a course which the speaker refused to adopt. In April he received the appointment of groom of the bedchamber. In the summer Conway, who had been promoted major-general in the January of the previous year, was summoned from Dorsetshire, where he was with his regiment, and, in conjunction with Sir John Mordaunt, received the command of an expedition, planned by Pitt, which was to surprise Rochfort and burn the ships in the Charente. Pitt at first intended to give Conway the sole command, but the king considered that he was too young. Although he thought badly of the plan, he accepted the command, and the expedition sailed on 8 Sept., the fleet being under Sir Edward Hawke, with Knowles, Howe, and Rodney, while Cornwallis and Wolfe held military commands. On the 20th the ships appeared off Oleron, and after some debate the little island of Aix was reduced on the 22nd. Conway then proposed to advance up the river and attack Rochfort. A council of war was held, and it was decided that it was impracticable to take the town by surprise. Unwilling to accomplish nothing, he then proposed to attack Fouras, in the hope of being able to burn the French ships and magazines. Some days were wasted, and then an attack was made which failed. Conway wished to renew it, and Mordaunt offered to agree if he would take the sole responsibility. This he would not do, though he was willing to make the attempt if some one of the other officers in command would advise him to do so. At last Hawke declared that he would not keep his ships longer at sea at that season, and the expedition set sail on the 29th, arriving in England on 3 Oct. without having done anything. Great indignation was felt at this failure. Military men generally blamed the plan of the expedition, the ministers and the public blamed its commanders. A court of inquiry was held, which reported that no sufficient ground existed for abandoning the enterprise. Conway's conduct was allowed to pass, and a court-martial held on Mordaunt ended in an acquittal. In the course of the expedition Conway showed considerable indifference to personal danger. Associated, however, as he was with Mordaunt, whose powers were shattered by ill-health, his indecision was fatal. Nor was he altogether fitted in other ways for an enterprise of this sort, for his shy and reserved manner prevented his subordinate officers from feeling any enthusiasm for him, and he is accused by his detractors of having learned from the Duke of Cumberland to be a martinet to his men. The king received him coldly, and struck his name out of the list of the staff; and Pitt was indignant with him. Lord George Sackville made the worst of the matter, an ill-turn which Conway was too generous to repay when Lord George himself fell into far deeper disgrace. The question was debated in pamphlets entitled ‘Military Arguments … fully considered by an Officer,’ ‘Reply of the Country Gentleman, by Thomas Potter,’ and ‘The Officer's Answer to the Reply,’ all in 1758, the ‘Officer’ probably being Conway himself. In consequence of the failure of the Rochfort expedition he failed in obtaining a command in America, and when Ligonier told the king how eager he was for employment, adding that ‘he had tried to do something,’ George answered, ‘Yes, après dîner la moutarde’ (Memoirs of George II, ii. 235–45, 277; Grenville Papers, i. 217–29; Chatham Correspondence, i. 277; Annual Register, i. 19).

Although Conway was restored to the staff and promoted lieutenant-general on 30 March 1759, receiving the command of the 1st or royal regiment of dragoons on 5 Sept. following, and was employed on some military duty, he was not allowed to go on active service until March 1761, when he was sent to join the British army serving with Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. On 15 June the prince occupied a strong position near the village of Kirch-Denkern, his centre being commanded by Conway and his left by the Marquis of Granby, when Granby's wing was attacked first by De Broglie and the next day by Soubise. The French were repulsed with heavy loss. On Granby's return to England Conway was left in charge of the English army, and took up his winter quarters at Osnaburg, where he was joined by his wife. Early the next summer he gained some credit by taking the castle of Waldeck by stratagem, and on the conclusion of the peace of Paris, signed 10 Feb. 1763, brought back the army to England. When Conway returned he found Grenville's government engaged in their attempt to crush Wilkes, and though he did not formally join any party of opposition, he acted with the whigs in resisting the arbitrary measures adopted by the ministers. His conduct enraged George III, who, as early as 16 Nov., proposed to Grenville that he should be dismissed from all his civil and military employ-