ollows. The
British had secured all the French colonies in the West Indies,
excepting Guadeloupe. In Hayti they held nearly all the coast towns, and
maintained an intermittent blockade over the others; but their position
was precarious owing to the thinness of their garrisons, the
untrustworthiness of their mulatto auxiliaries, and the ravages of
disease. It seems probable that, with ordinary precautions and some
reinforcements, the garrisons might have held out in the towns then
occupied, provided that the fleet intercepted French expeditions
destined for the West Indies; and this ought to have been possible after
Howe's victory of 1st June 1794. The fact that the Republic strenuously
prepared to regain those islands at the very time when the Coalition in
Europe and the revolt in Brittany threatened its existence, suffices to
justify Pitt and his colleagues in attacking France in that quarter. A
colony which is worth regaining must be worth gaining. To the capture of
Louisburg, a weaker stronghold than Mole St. Nicholas, England devoted
several expeditions a generation earlier. Had Pitt and Dundas declined
to have as a gift this key to the Indies, what would not their critics
have said of their incapacity and cowardice? For the West Indies were
then far more highly prized than Canada.

Endless difficulties beset every expedition to the tropics, even when
forethought and care minimize the risks from disease. The story of
England's ventures in those seas is, in general, one of hasty action and
long repentance. No one had made a special study of the needs of white
men in that climate. In fact, the military martinets of those days made
little allowance for the altered conditions of service under a broiling
sun; and, until the advent of Abercromby, only slight changes took place
either in the uniform or the time of drills. Dr. Pinckard, in his
account of this enterprise, mentions cases of gross stupidity,
slovenliness, and even of dishonesty on the part of army officials in
those colonies;[378] and it is clear that to this cause the long
death-roll was largely due. The following figures at the close of 1794
are instructive:[379]

BRITISH. | COLONIAL.
|
Effective. Sick. | Effective. Sick.
|
Port-au-Prince 366 462 | 496 48