A detailed account of the complicated trial falls outside the scope of this book. The vital clauses in the 12th Article are those italicised above. The verdict contained thirty-seven resolutions, some of which contradicted each other. He was cleared of cowardice and disaffection, but found guilty, and presumably of negligence (as this was the only other alternative) but the word was not used. The court added a recommendation for mercy, in which they contradicted their implied verdict of negligence, and expressed the opinion that he had only made an error of judgement, a much lesser offence which did not come into the12th Article at all. To sum up, there was a gross miscarriage of justice engineered by a hostile administration.
Sentence of death was promulgated on 27 January 1757, but was not carried out till 14 March, forty-six days later. The delay was due to qualms of conscience among his enemies, and the redoubled efforts of his friends, among whom Augustus Hervey was again to the fore. The king refused a reprieve. A stay of execution in Parliament also failed. In all this striving Hervey worked behind the scenes, and when all seemed lost the loyal captain visited Byng at Portsmouth to take his farewell, and plotted his escape. Hervey tells the cloak-and-dagger story in his diary:

I set out for Portsmouth to see if there was not a possibility to help him to escape out of the hands of these blood thirsters. I set out and lay at Ripley, where I left a set of horses. The next day I dined at Petersfield, and ordered four horses to be ready for me . . . night or day, determining to carry Mr. Byng to London as the surest place to get him off from, and wrote to my servant to have horses constantly saddled. . . and made him hire a Dutch fishing boat to send a 'servant' to France.

But all in vain: Byng was too closely guarded.
Before the curtain falls on the tragedy of Admiral Byng, a tribute came to him from an unusual quarter. On 19 January 1757 an oddly addressed package arrived at a London post office addressed to 'M. L'Amiral Byng'. It was from that champion of freedom and human rights, Voltaire, enclosing a letter of eulogy from the Duc de Richelieu himself. Its contents were made known to the king and government and it was withheld from Byng till after his court-martial.
Admiral Byng died bravely. The following is a contemporary account of his death which appeared in the Evening Post:

On Monday, March 14th, 1757, all men-of-war at Spithead were ordered to send their boats and their captains and all their officers of each ship, accompanied by a party of marines under arms, to attend the execution of Mr. Byng. Accordingly they rowed from Spithead, and made the harbour a little after 11 o'clock, with the utmost difficulty and danger, it blowing prodigiously hard at NW by N, and the tide off ebb against them. It was still more difficult to get so high as the Monarque lay, on board which ship the Admiral suffered. . . There was a prodigious number of boats round the ship. . . which kept all the others off. Not a soul was suffered to be aboard the Monarque except those belonging to it.
Mr. Byng, accompanied by a clergyman who attended him during his confinement, and two gentlemen of his relations, at about 12 came on the quarterdeck, when he threw his hat on the deck, kneeled on a cushion., tied a handkerchief over his eyes, and dropping another which he held in his hand as a signal, a volley from six marines was fired; five of whose bullets went through him, and he was no more. He died with great resolution and composure, not showing the least sign of timidity in the awful moment.

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