of war' are at an end with the garrison, for none of the soldiers have boots! … After having suffered as they have, he says it will be hard for them on their return to England 'to meet the sneers of a set of holiday troops, whose only employ has been to powder their hair, polish their shoes, etc. … though I must admit that our gait and raggedness will give them some title to be merry at our expence.' So continuously had they been employed that no military manœuvre of any consequence had been practised since the detachment left England. And he concludes by saying:—
'The country is past all dispute a wretched one, a very wretched, and totally incapable of yielding to Great Britain any return for colonizing it. Amidst its native productions I cannot number one which is valuable as an article of commerce. There is no wood fit for naval purposes; no fibrous grass or plant from which cloth can be made; no substance which can improve or aid the labours of the manufacturer; no mineral productions; no esculent vegetables worth 'the care of collecting and transporting to other climes; and lastly, which is of the most serious consideration, no likelihood that the colony will be able to support itself in grain or animal food for many years to come, so that a regular annual expence is entailed on the mother country as long as it is kept.'
Ross we have already quoted. So early as July
