Transcript
Fort George Minorca {1} 16th 7ber 1799
my dear Sir
I have differred† some time to write to you being in a very melancholic disposition & I did not wish to trouble you by the recital of the occasion of it but as it may possibly have consequence of an unpleasant Nature which perhaps w[oul]d injure me in your Mind I thinck it best to acquaint you with it.
about 10 days ago being on Guard with one of our Capt[ai]ns {2} at about 8 o’clock P.N.† our Col[one]l {3} who was coming from Mahon found fault with one of my sentry’s & a firelock that was outside of the Guard Room & being a little heated with liquor I must suppose taxed me of Neglect; the Capt[ai]n of the Guard provoked at that came up to him & told him that he & not me was Com[man]ding that post & was answerable for every thing in it they begun a very warm Conversation in the Course of which the Col[one]l kept brandishing his stick as if threatening to strike him & after that he ordered him to be relieved & to be under arrest, a General Court Martial has been the Consequence of it & I have been heard as an Evidence I have been interrogated & Cross examined for three hours & a quarter & as you may suppose spoke the whole truth & nothing but the truth, the 2 G[uar]d Off[ic]ers one of whom was president & the whole court had the goodness to pay me a great many Compliments upon the clearness, precision & impartiality of my Evidence but the Col[one]l disappointed in his revenge & disappointed only by my Evidence that happens to be the only compleat & important is I am told incensed (how unjustly you may judge) against me though till now I have had it acknowledged by my superiors that they never saw me neglecting any part of my Duty I am a man & may once fail & then I must fear the worse, at least my peace of Mind is gone, accustomed to enjoy the Esteem & good will of my superiors as well as of my brother off[ic]ers I cannot bear the Idea that in Case I sh[oul]d accidentally fail in some point of my Duty instead of a friendly admonition I must expect to feel the whole weight of authority armed by hatred & perhaps for a trifle be brought before a Court martial to the injury of my Character. at any rate you may be sure that I shall redouble my accostumed† vigilance & that I have great Hope of disappointing his hostile intentions & I rely upon providence for not putting me to any of those hard trials where human prudence is vain I have another consolation which is to see my Conduct universally approved (for the first occasion of the Dispute has been found by the judges vain & frivolous.—23d sept[em]ber. not having yet found any Opportunity of sending my letter I will continue the journal of our uncomfortable Life, the storm that I expected has now begun to break out; under a frivolous pretence our Col[one]l has publicly exposed in public Orders 11 off[ic]ers of the Reg[imen]t & taxing them of Mutiny (N.B. I am not one in the number) {4} invites them to quit the Service, our Duty is made as hard & uncomfortable as possible, we can scarcely dispose of an afternoon in the Course of the Week, Our Servants cannot go out of the fort without a pass on purpose &c. &c &c. that Conduct has so much incensed the Reg[imen]t that the Colonel & the Major have been put into Coventry, (that is to say that no officer is to speak to them or even answer any question but upon matters of service)†, under pain of being himself put into Coventry). you can now easily imagine what a Hell I am in; but Our Position is so violent that it cannot last long & by doing my Duty with exactitude I can hope to see better Days, as this is the Moment of the Crisis I will not close this letter before it is over. 26 Sept[em]ber. contrary to every Body’s Expectation the Court Martial has found Capt[ai]n forty Guilty & condemned him to be publicly reprimanded under the Colours of the Reg[imen]t & to be suspended of rank & pay for 6 Months the Court besides has publicly reprimanded one Capt[ai]n & one L[ieutenan]t of the Reg[imen]t for seeming want of Candour in the ones & inconsistency in the other’s Evidence all that has put the Body of off[ic]ers in a still greater Rage than before in Consequence of it the Reg[imen]t has been represented to the Commander in Chief (sir james Erskine) as being in actual insurrection, & we now expect some severe Lecture thank God having left the Mess ever since the 7th instant I have not been present to any thing & for those 3 days past I have been blessed with a violent toothake† and a fluxion which will I hope keep me confined in my tent for a Week more. I write by this same Opportunity to Col[one]l Couper to remember to him his promising to get me a Company in some new raised Reg[imen]t & I hope in these present Circumstances it will not be difficult to get it. General Steward who has a new raised German Reg[imen]t here said the Day before Yesterday that if he had known me only a Month sooner he wd have given me a company in his Regt (he was president of the Court Martial). & so if he obtains leave to raise a second Battallion† what is not unlikely I may perhaps be promoted. I never wished so much for peace or promotion in the first Case to take my half pay, & at any rate to get out of this Reg[imen]t.
1st August.
I am very happy to be able to inform you my dear Sir, that a kind of peace has taken place in the Reg[imen]t. the Coventry is taken off but the brotherly affection will not I am afraid be so easily restored. I am going next Week on Detachment at Alcoufa for a fortnight & I hope to augment considerably there my collection of sea plants but I don’t know how to send them & even if I find an opportunity I am very much afraid that the most beautiful will be broke to pieces before reaching England; I am very much afraid that you dont receive my Letters more exactly than I receive yours this is my 5th & I am convinced you [ha]ve {5} written to me some, though I have received none of your Letters yet. if you cou[ld …] {5} any Body at portsmouth to enquire when men of War sail for here it w[oul]d be Very safe & it happens almost every month, or else write by way of Lisbon through falmouth. we are all here very much vexed to be confined in this accursed Island instead of being employed in Holland & I am more vexed than any one to be so far out of the Way now that Col[one]l Couper’s friendship could so easily have got promotion for me in the German Corps that I understand are beginning to be raised. but patience! the rainy Season is beginning now but I brave it under my Marquise, if you have a plan of Minorca I am situated upon the ruins of the N.W. ravelin of the Queen’s Kane {6} facing to philipe, & commanding the Entrance of the fort. I hope my Letter will go to Morrow may it reach you safe & so many yours me I never felt so much the want of them. farewell my dear Sir & believe me for ever wholly yours.
A. Maimburg
this is to go by way of Leghorn by a regular pacquet twice a Month write to me the same Way.
[Direction:] Dawson Turner Esqr | Yarmouth | Norfolk. | England
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Postmarked with a stamp dated 4 December 1799 and a Foreign Office stamp with the same date. There are a couple of postman’s marks, one of which is probably ‘1/7’. The first part of the letter was written on 17, 23, and 26 Sept. The second part, which is dated 1 Aug., was probably written on 1 Oct. Letters missing from words abbreviated by superscript letters have been supplied in square brackets.
{1} In 1798 a British force captured Minorca from the Spaniards, and on 6 May 1799 the 8th Regiment of Foot, with whom Maimburg was serving, set out for that island, where they were stationed for the next twelve months. See R. Cannon, Historical Record of the Eighth or King’s Regiment of Foot (1844), p. 74.
{2} Thomas Fortye.
{3} Gordon (later Sir Gordon) Drummond.
{4} ‘N.B. … number’ interlined; no caret. The brackets have been supplied.
{5} The seal conceals a few letters here.
{6} Reading uncertain.
† Sic.
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