the Ordnance. Ligonier was the right man for the Master-generalship, but it was an office always filled by noblemen. Accordingly that office was left unsupplied, and for six years Sir John did the duties of the head of that department. On 10th April 1750 he was made Governor of Guernsey. In 1753 (January 27), he was advanced to the colonelcy of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards Blue. Next year, the Parliament having been dissolved, he again presented himself to the constituency of Bath, that is, to the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, and being re-elected, he took his seat in May; he is now called Governor of Plymouth. In 1750 “An Ode on Martial Virtue” was addressed “to the Right Honourable Sir John Ligonier” (printed for M. Cooper, in Pater-noster-Row). Its value now arises only from its indication as to the English pronunciation of his name, which seems to have received exactly the same treatment as the French word, Grenadier; [Ligg-a-near; Grenn-a-dear].
Now turn, O Muse, the bold Pindaric song
To Ligonier; for he deserves it well.
Well has he served thy sister Pallas long,
And long he shall adorn the martial shell.
Mild is thy soldier as the breeze of May;
Put if the brazen tongue of war
Commands him to th’ embattled plain,
He mounts with joy the warlike car,
Or guides the impatient courser’s rein
Where victory or death must close the day.
******
Sweet the remembrance of heroic deeds,
And beauteous as the landskips of the spring!
Graceful the files of war, when Virtue leads
Against the powers of a tyrannic king!
The attention of Government in 1755 was occupied with preparations for war. Artillery was drafted off to the several regiments in country quarters. At the end of the year, Charles Spencer, Duke of Marlborough, was made Master-General of the Ordnance, under whom Ligonier remained as Lieutenant-General for two years.
The year 1757 was an eventful year to him. The Duke of Cumberland retired from the army, and Ligonier had the honour of succeeding to the martial prince’s appointments. He thus became Commander-in-chief of all His Majesty’s land forces in Great Britain, and was permitted to purchase the proud position of Colonel of the 1st Foot-Guards. On the 30th November he was promoted to the rank of Field-Marshal. And he was raised to the peerage on the 21st of December by the title of Viscount Ligonier of Enniskillen, in the kingdom of Ireland. An Irish peer may represent an English constituency in parliament, so he retained his seat in the House of Commons. Lord George Sackville succeeded him in the Ordnance Office.
In 1758 the equipments for the expedition to America under Wolfe occupied the chief attention of Viscount Ligonier. Wolfe always spoke of him as “the Marshal,” and thought he showed some of the jealousy of old age towards a younger aspirant. Probably there was no real grievance. Ligonier vindicated Wolfe’s claim to select the officers of his staff. Lord Ligonier (says history) presented the names of the staff selected by Major-General Wolfe, and His Majesty struck out the name of one officer, Colonel Guy Carleton, who had spoken slightingly of the Hanoverian Guards. Lord Ligonier waited upon His Majesty a second time to request that Carleton’s name should be restored, but the king was inexorable. It was only at a third audience, and in consequence of Lord Ligonier’s persistently arguing that the great responsibility thrown upon Wolfe required that his request should be granted, that the King signed Carleton’s commission.
Bubb Doddington notes under date, 6th July 1758, just after the return of our expedition from St Malo, the Earl of Granville made some strong animadversions at a meeting of the Cabinet. Lord Ligonier said — My Lord Granville, you must admit — Lord Granville interrupted him with — My Lord, I will admit nothing; your Lordship is apt to admit, but I will admit nothing. Ligonier perhaps meant to specify the demolition of Cherbourg harbour. Two new cannons were made out of the guns captured there, and became admired trophies in the Tower of London; on one of them Viscount Ligonier’s arms were carved “in a masterly manner.”
In 1759 the additional honours of a decade of years satisfied the nobility that he might be the chief of the Ordnance Office. On July 3rd the Gazette informs us that the King was pleased to appoint Field-Marshal the Right Honourable Viscount Ligonier to be “Master-General of the Ordnance, arms, armories, and habiliments of war,” in room of the Duke of Marlborough deceased. He found in the office a new
