Bombast And Broadsides: The Lives of George Johnstone

8. Final Appointments

8. Final Appointments Like 1778, the year 1782 was crucial for Johnstone. For his career the chiefevent in it was the fall ofthe North ministry-which meant the end of indulgence for the commodore. As the American war wound down, his naval career was bound to finish anyhow. The struggle at sea ended with a final flash of true glory when Rodney, with great skill and some of his customary luck, destroyed French naval power in the West Indies at the battle of the Saints, eclipsing anything that might have remained of Johnstone's reputation as "the hero of the day." Even ifhis ventures in international negotiation had been successful, as a defector to North he would not have been chosen for similar work by North's successors, Rockingham and Shelburne. A prospect of a consular appointment from William Pitt the Younger was never fulfilled, and so Johnstone's diplomatic career, such as it was, also came to an end. There remained possibilities for him, in Parliament and at East India House, whenever his health permitted, for he was an increasingly sick man during the last five years of his life. Domestic life, too, occupied him more than formerly, partly because illness kept him at home, partly because he had married in 1782. Not that the first fifty-two years of his life had been monastic. He was "naturally of an amorous complexion," wrote the author ofthe biographical sketch in Town and Country Magazine, and in his early life he had "a variety of amours, and some connexions of a more permanent nature."! Without mentioning her name, Hickey threw light on one of Johnstone's mistresses, "a very respectable, accomplished and worthy woman whom he had debauched when quite a child, who had borne him two sons, and conducted herself in the most irreproachable manner." It was common knowledge, he said, that Johnstone had repeatedly promised her marriage even as late as the eve ofhis voyage to the Cape.2 Their boys were probably John and George, Johnstone's favorite son, who seem to have been brought up together in France before entering the navy and the East India Company respectively.3 George went on to prosper as assistant to the resident at Lucknow. In his will Johnstone made provision for three more illegitimate children. James Primrose entered the East India Company in 1790. Sophia inherited the fortune ofthe childless George and married the duke of Cannizaro. Alexander wed a Miss d'Aguilar and lived to see their son a colonel of the Grenadier Guards.4 It is idle to speculate on Johnstone's reasons for marrying Charlotte Dee, daughter of the British vice-consul at Lisbon, at the tailend of his life. It was not for money. The Dees had none, ifthe indigent condition ofhis wife's sister, Leonora Dee, is any guide.s Charlotte was variously described as "handsome" and "dashing" and was young, although not enough plausibly to be Johnstone's granddaughter, as Hickey claimed, since she was over 166 Final Appointments twenty. Nevertheless his marriage to her must have been arranged when he was in Lisbon in 1780; it was not, therefore, a flash-in-the-pan infatuation . Possibly he married to have a son born in wedlock. Ifso, he obtained his wish, for a boy, John Lowther Johnstone, was born in 1783. In other respects he was unlucky, for he had married a tartar. The ubiquitous Hickey attended the wedding reception at the house ofthe British envoy to Lisbon, Sir Robert Walpole. Anxious to return to England, Johnstone told Sir William Burnaby, as soon as the wedding feast was over, to prepare his frigate to sail at first light on the following morning. The bride overheard the order and told Burnaby that he need not hurry. She was not ready to leave Lisbon. Johnstone became angry and a public argument ensued: "We must, my dear Mrs. Johnstone, embark tonight and sail at daybreak tomorrow." "My dear Mr. Johnstone, I beg leave to assure you that I will neither embark tonight nor sail at daybreak, or at any other time tomorrow." "By God, madam, but you must and shall! His Majesty's ship must not be detained at the caprice of any woman!" "By God, sir, I cannot and, what's more, I will not stir from Lisbon until it is my will and pleasure so to do." The sequel, according to Hickey, was that the couple did not leave Lisbon for over three weeks, and...