ABSTRACT
This chapter brings religion back into the Byng affair. Split into two parts, domestic and international religious pressures played a decisive role in Admiral John Byng’s execution. Transatlantic religious networks matured during the evangelical sweep which Americans call the First Great Awakening. This chapter follows a sermon written by Samuel Davies, a Presbyterian proselytising from colonial Virginia. Thomas Gibbons, a Congregationalist preaching from Haberdasher Hall in London, plucked the Davies’ sermon from the religious communication networks that linked North America to Britain in the mid-eighteenth century. The sermon was published by Gibbons just as Byng’s court martial neared its conclusion. The sermon represented the militant nature of Britain’s religious-based nationalism and was a scathing indictment against John Byng. Part two reveals a Catholic League of Nations threatening to unite Austria, France, and Spain. Here, Maria Thresa of Austria pushed France to dangle Minorca before Spain, thereby allying them against Britain. Austria had switched allegiances, a severe blow to continentalist approaches favoured by Britain’s Hanoverians since 1714. The news of the Catholic League occurred just as Byng’s fleet sailed for Minorca. Threat of a Catholic League may explain the panicked response to reports emanating from the Battle of Minorca.
