94 THE JHEW SOUTH WAIiES CORPS. 1^^ were ready for inspection. The Corps was subsequently still Further further augmented, and early in 1792 an auLxiliary company, tion. consisting of men from the marines, who had taken thdr discharge in preference to returning with the detachment to England to be discharged there, was raised by Phillip, and placed under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Johnston.* When at its maximum strength the Corps consisted of ten companies, numbering eight hundred and eighty-six non- oommiBsioned officers and privates. Reputation The New Bouth Wales Corps has been held up to reproach of the Corpg . . . , . by more than one writer. Allowing that its materiel was open to criticism, there is no reason to suppose that it was worse than that of other regiments raised in England at about the same time. Grose, who had been recruiting for two years before he was instructed to raise a special force for service in New South Wales, and was, therefore, well-informed con- cerning the composition of the Army, did not regard the ^JlJjJy Corps as below the standard; on the contrary, his account of the men places them above the average. Writing from Portsmouth to the Secretary at War, on the 80th July, 1790, he reported that since he had taken command the men had conducted themselves with the greatest propriety, and had given constant satisfaction " to everyone concerned. This remark occurs towards the close of a letter in which he asked that two incorrigibles might be turned over to the Navy.t These men, he explained, did not belong to those he had received from the Savoy; J they had been enlisted as ordinary
- He was afterwards promoted to the rank of major, and to the command of
the Corps. While in that capacity he deposed Governor Bligh (180*)), and assumed t^ Qoyemment. For doing this he was tried bj rourt-martial and cashiered. t The inference is that in Ghose's view the morale of the Cotrpe was superior to that of the Wavy. X A military prison. It was a part of the old Savoy Palace, bnilt by Simon de Monrfort io 1245, and demolished in 1881 by the foUowerc of Wat Tjler. It was rebuilt and dedicated as a hospital by Henry VIII in 1509. Tn the early pnrt of the last centaiy parts of it served *' as two marshalseas for keeping prisoners — as deserters, men pressed for military service, Dutch recruits, &c" Prints of the Savoy in 1798 and 1798 are still in existence showing the hospital and prison. At the foot of one is a statement that ** thia
