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Vernon and the men were falling down very fast. Vernon was very angry, but, as he had no command over the soldiers on shore, he could do nothing beyond endeavouring to sting Wentworth into exertion, and that was impossible. Of the 6,600 men who had been landed, more than half were either dead or in hospital dying. On 17 April the miserable remnant were re-embarked and the fleet returned to Port Royal, leaving a few ships to demolish the forts which had been taken. The failure has very commonly been spoken of as a naval one—as Vernon's—and still more commonly as due to the ill-feeling between Vernon and Wentworth, and especially to Vernon's violent temper and savage tongue. This is the view which has been popularised by Smollett (Roderick Random, chaps. xxviii–xxxiii.); but, in point of fact, Smollett, though on board one of the ships (in a very humble capacity), was not in a position to know anything beyond what he could actually see on the rare occasions when he was permitted to be on the poop. Of the relations of Vernon and Wentworth, of their letters or conversations, he was and must have been altogether ignorant. The letters show that there was no quarrel before the ill-judged attack on San Lazaro; and that though Vernon did repeatedly urge Wentworth to exertion and point out the danger of delay, it was always in language of scrupulous courtesy.

Towards the end of May a large part of the fleet was sent home under Commodore Richard Lestock [q. v.], and Vernon, with Ogle, Wentworth, the other generals, and Trelawny, the governor of Jamaica, determined that an attack should be made on the island of Cuba. Santiago was the point decided on, and as the defences were sufficient to prevent the ships going into the harbour, they went to Guatanamo, a deep roomy inlet about sixty miles off, which had been known to English navigators as Walthenham, and to which Vernon now gave the name of Cumberland Harbour. Here the troops were landed, but did nothing beyond making a few predatory excursions to neighbouring villages. Vernon and Ogle were urgent on Wentworth to advance against Santiago, but he refused. The road, he said, was impassable for artillery. Time passed away in writing letters and holding councils of war; sickness broke out among the soldiers; many died, many were sent to hospital; the rest re-embarked in December, and returned to Port Royal. There they were joined by two thousand fresh soldiers from England, and the council of war decided on an attack on Panama. After a delay of nearly three months, Wentworth, who had gone to Porto Bello, found out that he had not sufficient force, and the expedition accordingly returned to Port Royal.

But the ill-feeling between Vernon and Wentworth, between the naval and military officers, could no longer be restrained. On 4 April Vernon wrote to Wentworth, in so many words, that it was principally owing to his (Wentworth's) ‘inexperience, injudiciousness, and unsteady temper’ that his Majesty's affairs had prospered so ill; that he had said this before, and, to avoid any misrepresentation, thought it better to give it under his hand. He concluded: ‘I am sorry I have been more unsuccessful in preserving a good correspondence with you than any gentleman I ever had to act with before.’ There were probably many angry meetings, for the quarrel seems to have been very bitter on both sides. In the end they were both recalled. Vernon sailed for England in the Boyne on 19 Oct., and after a rough passage, ‘with much blowing weather and a great tumbling sea,’ made St. David's Head on 26 Dec. 1742, and was compelled to anchor for some days under the island of Lundy. It is a stock instance of the dangerous tendency of Rennell's current after bad weather in the Atlantic.

During his absence Vernon had been again elected member of parliament for Penryn; he had also been elected for Ipswich, and had preferred to sit for that place, having bought Nacton, an estate in Suffolk. After his return he was on shore for a couple of years, attending pretty constantly in parliament, making himself, as an independent member, obnoxious to the government, and writing many pamphlets on matters relating to the navy; but, as these were anonymous, it is only possible to identify a few of them, and those doubtingly. One which may pretty confidently be attributed to Vernon—‘An Enquiry into the Conduct of Captain Mostyn’ [see ]—is an able but bitter criticism on the state of the navy at the time. In April 1745 Vernon was promoted to the rank of admiral of the white, and appointed to command the ships in the North Sea. The threatening rebellion which broke out in the latter part of the year rendered this command one of peculiar importance; and though the French proved unable or unwilling to attempt any further naval operations in the Stuart interest, Vernon was considered to have prepared for all possibilities with skill and judgment. He became, however, extremely dissatisfied with the treatment he received from the admi-