take a liberty which I
have no reason to believe your Grace will be offended at--I mean, in
remarking that the manner in which this corps has, since employed upon
this service, been recruited, does in a great measure weaken the effect
or service which we would expect to derive from the assistance of the
military. Soldiers from the Savoy, and other characters who have been
considered as disgraceful to every other regiment in His Majesty's
service, have been thought fit and proper recruits for the New South
Wales Corps, which, in my humble opinion, my Lord, should have been
composed of the very best and most orderly dispositions. They are sent
here to guard and keep in obedience to the laws when force may be
requisite, a set of the worst, the most atrocious characters that ever
disgraced human nature; and yet we find amongst those safeguards men
capable of corrupting the heart of the best disposed, and often superior
in every species of infamy to the most expert in wickedness amongst the
convicts. Our stores, provisions, and granaries must be intrusted to the
care of these men; what security can we have in the hands of such
people? None, my Lord. Your Grace will see the impropriety of such
recruits being sent to this country, and mixed with a corps who have the
care of our most valuable concerns. Not to detain your Grace, I will beg
permission to observe that a corps of military to be permanently
established for the service of this colony, to which the dregs and
refuse of our native country are directed by its laws to be sent as a
punishment, cannot be attended with that advantage which may have been
expected from it.

This, I confess, my Lord, to be my opinion, and for this reason, that
they will make connections with infamous characters here, whatever
attention may be paid by their officers to prevent it; by this means
they will in time be corrupted and rendered unfit people for the trust
which we must repose in them. It might probably be thought expensive to
relieve them as other garrisons, once in three, four, or five years; but
I cannot help believing, my Lord, that the service would be much
benefited by such a measure; and two forty-four-gun ships armed _en
flute_ sailing at a proper season would complete the relief, and return
in from twelve to fourteen months, frequently less. The expense
attending this measure will probably be an objection; but, my Lord,
although the saving to be made by it may appear too remote