Edward Bancroft, M.D., F.R.S., and the War of American Independence / by Sir Arthur S. MacNalty.

  • MacNalty, Arthur Salusbury, Sir, 1880-1969.
Date:
1944
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Edward Bancroft, M.D., F.R.S., and the War of American Independence / by Sir Arthur S. MacNalty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/10 (page 9)
    Auckland papers were published, said that if Bancroft were really a spy he presents a case of which history affords no parallel. He wrote: “To believe him guilty of such atrocious and yet exquisitely subtle perfidy we must believe that ingenuous, simple- hearted and credulous as he appeared to the general observer ... he was, nevertheless, a dissembler so artful as to defy the scrutiny of Franklin, with whom he was in constant intercourse, an intriguer so skilful as, without money or power, to deceive Vergennes and the multitudinous police with which Vergennes encircled him; a villain so profoundly wary as to win the confidence of Paul Jones, professedly aiding him in desperate secret raids on the British coast, and yet, by an art almost unfathomable, reserving the disclosure of these secrets to British officials . . . ; a double traitor, whose duplicity was so masterly as to be unsuspected by the British Court, which held him to be a rebel; and by such m_en as Lafayette, as John Adams, as Jefferson, who regarded him as a true friend”. Dr, Wharton’s defence has proved to be the most scathing description of Edward Bancroft’s double-dealing. On this aspect of Bancroft’s character, I can only urge that as a spy he took his life in his hands, as he well realized; that he was consistently loyal as a British secret agent; and that he gave full and reliable information and advice to the British Government, advice which if followed might have brought about an honourable and peaceful settlement between Great Britain and America at an early stage of the War of Independence. A man who becomes a spy from patriotic motives without hope or desire of reward may deserve commendation. Bancroft had extravagant tastes and his besetting temptation was money getting. His engaging in shipping of contraband from Britain to America, his holding up of the news of Burgoyne’s defeat to make that “killing on the London Stock Exchange”, and his acceptance of a salary from both sides can hardly be defended. These sins brought their own punishment, for George III thoroughly distrusted him. Another defect in his character was that he frequently laboured under a grievance. He was, as Wentworth said, “most difficult to handle”. In the hazardous occupation of a spy he was never found out, and he retained the friendship and even affection of both British and Americans. He warmed both hands at the fire of life and probably got a good deal of satisfaction out of his adventurous and speculative career. He publicly avowed that “every part of animated nature was created for its own happiness only”, and he lived up to that belief. Printed by .Staples 1'rkss Limited, ('avi'iidisli Place, W.l (John ILale & Sr.\[>LEs Limited Branch)