Table Of ContentBombast and Broadsides
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George Johnstone, 1730-1787 (Courtesy of the National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich, Great Britain)
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._.
Bombast
AND
Broadsides
The Lives of George Johnstone
RobinF. A. Fabel
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Tuscaloosa London
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Copyright © 1987 by
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fabel, Robin F. A., 1934-
Bombast and broadsides.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Johnstone, George, 1730-1787. 2. Great Britain-
History-George II, 1727-1760. 3. Legislators-
Great Britain-Biography. 4. Great Britain. Royal
Navy-Biography. 5. WestFlorida-Governors-Biography.
1. Title.
DA501.J63F3 1987 941.07'3'0924 [B] 86-19348
ISBN 0-8173-0337-5
British Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available.
0-8173- 1192-0 (pbk: alk. paper)
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Contents
List of Illustrations vi
Preface Vll
Johnstone Family Tree x
1. Man of War 1
2. "Emporium of the New World" 25
3. The Guerrilla of Leadenhall Street 59
4. "Man of Business" 83
5. A Philadelphia Story 101
6. Gunpowder and Port 129
7. The Broad Pendant Wavers 147
8. Final Appointments 165
9. Conclusion 181
Notes 187
Bibliography 221
Index 235
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Illustrations
George Johnstone frontispiece
Illustrations follow page 119
Map of British West Florida 121
East India House, London 122
William Eden 123
Charles Jenkinson 124
The Curious Zebra 125
Sailors at Porto Praya 126
Charlotte Johnstone and Son 127
Map of Praya Bay 128
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Preface
It has been said, probably many times, that when historical topics have
been "hitherto neglected," it has usually been for good reason. In the case of
George Johnstone's life the most probable reason for the lack of a biog-
raphy lies in the difficulty of finding the raw materials for the study of his
many-faceted career. There is no collection of George Johnstone papers.
The materials pertaining to his life are scattered because his career ranged
wide, taking him from his native Scotland to England, the West Indies,
Portugal, North America, and South Africa. Moreover, although he never
went there, his connection with the East India Company involved him
closely in affairs in India, and many documents relating to him originated
there.
Not only did he acquire acquaintance with a broad variety of places but
also with numerous circles of society: naval and military, plebeian and
noble, literary and mercantile, diplomatic and legal. He moved particu-
larly far in the political world, working amiably, at times, with the Opposi-
tion magnificoes Rockingham, Portland, Fox, and Burke, but at others
giving welcome support to the treasury bench.
There is a note of amazement in J. K. Laughton's comment that "he is,
even now, sometimes described as a politician,"l but the designation
should have caused no surprise. Although he never held political office
Johnstone commanded respect-fear would be more accurate in some
cases-as an effective and influential backbencher of a type not unknown
to the House ofCommons in the 1980s. As this biography will demonstrate,
his political fame rested on various types of expertise, but above all upon
his forcefulness in debate.
Nothing is more ephemeral than a reputation grounded on oratorical
thunder. Burke has retained something ofhis , partly because he made sure
that his speeches were fully and accurately available in printed form.
Johnstone did not, and most of his deliveries survive only through the
chaotic methods of eighteenth-century reporters. Even where the words
have been preserved, the fire he gave them has gone. At the time,
nevertheless, it hurt grievously to be the target ofa speech from Johnstone,
as the testimony ofFox, Burke, North, and Townshend proves. Conversely
he was an unusually welcome ally, "a powerful and active ... friend," as
Wedderburn put it, "who ... does nothing feebly."2 Most political
memorialists of the later eighteenth century wrote of him, and none, as
Laughton should have known, assessed him as a political nonentity.
Yet his celebrity faded. Except as a sailor Johnstone was forgotten. In
the years following his death, few writers except the naval historians
Beatson, Charnock, and Ralfe, all ofwhom found his conduct unforgivable,
cared to remember Johnstone. His sin had been, on the basis of an unor-
thodox theory, publicly to denounce Admiral Howe's failure in battle and
then, when he himself obtained a similar opportunity, to do no better.
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In modern times there have been three biographical essays on
Johnstone. Each is part ofa larger work and none is a well-balanced study
of his life. The earliest of these and already mentioned is by J. K.
Laughton, yet another naval historian, who was almost exclusively in-
terested in Johnstone's career in the Royal Navy: he accords, for example,
not one line to Johnstone's work as a colonial governor. Dunbar Rowland,
by contrast, wrote of him in 1911 in a preface to a collection of documents
3
relating to West Florida in the 1760s. Understandably, most of what he
wrote concerned Johnstone as governor of that province. In the 1960s Ian
Christie wrote an excellently researched study of Johnstone for Namier
and Brooke's The House ofCommons, 1754-1790. His emphasis was natu-
rally on Johnstone's activities as a member of Parliament.
Nobody has attempted to trace his political work as a proprietor and
director in that other pillar of eighteenth-century England, East India
House, nor to plumb his role in the peace commission sent to the warring
colonies in 1778. Most important ofall, no historian has tried to assess the
ways in which his various careers interacted upon one another and to
portray the whole man.
Such a consideration is now attempted, greatly facilitated by documents
unused in the existing published works on Johnstone, such as the
Johnstone family correspondence in the Edinburgh University Library,
Johnstone's letters to his brother William in the Huntington Library, San
Marino, California, and one letter in particular in the Pennsylvania His-
torical Society Library, Philadelphia, which throws completely new light
on Johnstone's view of the peace commission on which he served.
George Johnstone, nevertheless, remains an elusive figure. The surviv-
ing evidence is fragmentary and does not reveal all we should like to know.
Who were the mistresses by whom he had five children? What did he
actually say to the woman who accused him of trying to bribe con-
gressmen? What made him so confident that he would be given cabinet
office? The evidence does not say. If lacunae fail to answer questions,
discoveries too can be disconcerting; such as that Johnstone had shared
4
quarters with his one-time secretary for thirteen years. No hint ofthe fact
is contained elsewhere: we know next to nothing, therefore, about the
relation between Johnstone and the man who was probably his best friend.
All the same, if incomplete, the surviving evidence, when pieced to-
gether, has some coherence and shows a colorful-almost
polychromatic-man who had defects aplenty but also a driving force and
ability which time and again made him a credible candidate for positions of
responsibility to superiors who knew all about his record. Reconstructing
his career also offers insight into the way in which colonies were adminis-
tered, men advanced, bills passed, governments embarrassed, campaigns
spoiled, as well as other processes in the bizarre, subtle, and vital society of
Britain in the eighteenth century.
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My debts to others in writing this biographical study are innumerable.
My creditors range from William Hickey, who thought it worthwhile to
record gossip about his contemporary, to my father, who helped me solid-
ify my ideas on Johnstone by letting me chat about him. To the staffs of all
the several libraries where I worked or from which I obtained research
materials I am indebted. Without exception they were courteous and
helpful. I ought also to say grateful prayers to those who conceived the
interlibrary loan system. More specifically I wish to thank Maggie Fabel
for her patience, Larry Owsley for his encouragement, Gordon Bond for
his humor, Barbara Mowat for her professionalism, Joe Harrison for his
erudition, and Bob Rea, who first drew attention to the need for a life of
Johnstone, for his learning and wisdom. The interest of all of these in my
efforts has sustained me. I also thank Auburn University for a research
grant in the summer of 1975 which facilitated my quest for Johnstone
material.
R.F.A.F.
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