THE TRIAL OF GEORGE SACKVILLE, AKA GEORGE GERMAIN
(George Sackville) (1716 - 1785)
Lord Germain, English Secretary of State for the Colonies who directed attempts to suppress the Revolution. An extraordinary manuscript in an unknown hand, 59pp. 8vo. [n.p., n.d., London, 1760] titled on the first page: "Extracts from the Trial of Lord George Sackville" being Germain's court-martial for disobeying orders at the battle of Minden in 1745. Bound in paper with marbled boards, binding loose but pages mostly clean.

Before his political career, Germain began his adult life as a cavalry officer first seeing action at Fontenoy in 1745. At Minden, he was accused of repeatedly failing to order a cavalry charge in support of the infantry, over what appeared to be a petty intra-officer dispute. His failure to order his cavalry forward cost the British-Hessian force a decisive victory over the French. For his actions, he was cashiered and sent home. Refusing to accept responsibility, he ordered a court-martial in an attempt to clear his name.

The "Extracts" offered here detail Germain's defence and read, in a very small part: "...Not to have executed Orders in Action does not always imply even a Neglect of Duty. My intention is not to throw Blame upon others but to vindicate myself from the Blame imputed to me And I must beg the Court would enter unto my Situation & not judge upon my supposed Knowledge or upon Facts since disclosed... The Marquis of Granby a Lieutenant General & second in Command of the British Troops who was as little acquainted as myself with any Plan of Action or instructed in any general Disposition a Precaution that few Commanders in Chief & particularly H.S Highness who is so able to form & to explain his Ideas have seldom omitted on the Eve of an Engagement...

The Inference from thence to my Prejudice is that H.S Highness's Impatience proves his Sense of my Delay but I beg leave to observe that it only proves that the Prince had very great occasion for Cavalry & was very sensible that they might be very useful where they were not posted... I should greatly wrong the Prince if I should suppose it necessary to take much Notice of what has been told the Court of his expressing his surprise at my doubt upon the Orders not by Words but by his Looks & Actions. The Orders he gave to me were so materially different in their Object from either Captain Ligoniers or Colonel Fitroy's that these Orders alone were a Confirmation of my Doubts & his Manner seemed to correspond with his Words.

Had pursuit been the object H.S.H would undoubtedly have ordered the Cavalry which first appeared to advance instantly without ordering me to form the whole. How much Time was employed in this Manouveur is not ascertained by the Evidence. No particular time can be said to be necessary for such movements as the making of them slower or faster must always depend on the Adroitness of the Troops & their readily comprehending the Orders they receive. If it was on this Occasion that Lord Granby found fault with my manoeuvers I flatter myself his Lordship would not have blamed them had he known I was acting under the Orders of the Prince. The intention of which I am persuaded he would have agreed with me could not have been otherwise satisfied than by advancing with a well formed Line of Cavalry fit to sustain. No Officer of the Cavalry I believe imagined that the Engagement was over before we came upon the Heath Nor had H.S.H any Idea that the success of the few Battalions that had engaged could determine the Event of the day as is plain by the Order he gave to Sustain the Infantry... Upon the whole if any of the Orders brought either by Captain Wintzingerade Captain Ligonier or Lieutn.

Colonel Fitzroy appears not to have been obeyed with all the Expedition which under the several circumstances now before you in Evidence shall appear to have been practicable or if any blamable Delay was afterwards made in the March whether by Halts or otherwise when Lord George Sackville considers himself as acting under the Prince immediate Orders. I submit that you will be under the disagreeable Necessity of finding his Lordship Guilty & in our Judgement will have regarded to the Degree of the Offence with respect to the Proportion & the Motive of the Delay..."

Germain concluded, "My Witnesses cannot say what they have said without being convinced that it is Truth... I expect no better Security for my Cause than their uninfluenced Determinations. I have mention'd already that I have the Security of their Oath. I have stronger still their Honour Upon that I reply. If I am guilty let me be declared so. If I am not Guilty let the Court shew [sic] by their Sentence that they will with pleasure protect the innocent."

The court did not bite on Germain's lengthy defence and found him guilty as charged, sentencing him to the most severe punishment that could be meted out to a general officer. Not only was his discharge upheld, but the court also ruled that he was unfit to serve in any military capacity. His name was struck from the Privy Council rolls and the verdict entered in the orderly book of every regiment in the army. Fortunately for Sackville, he was well-born and had already been a Member of Parliament on and off since 1741. With the ascension of George III to the throne in the same year, his political fortunes began to turn. He allied himself with Lord North in the 1760s and in 1775, the now Lord George Germain (his wife Lady Elizabeth Germain had died, leaving him her fortune and title), was appointed Secretary of State for the American department and this responsible for suppressing the revolt in America. It would be Germain who would approve the contrary plans of Howe and Burgoyne, setting the stage for disaster in Saratoga. Germain's bumbling would again provoke confusion in 1781, helping seal the fate of Cornwallis at Yorktown.