Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/405

 AND THE MILITARY. 293 they were not sent out to do more than the duty of soldiers. The 1788 consequence must be obvious to your lordship : here are only con- le May. victs to attend the convicts, and who in general fear to exert any authority, and very little labour is drawn from them in a country which requires the greatest exertions. In this declaration I do not mean to include the Lieutenant-Governor, who has shown every attention that could be expected from him, and the Judge- Advocate, acting as a Justice of the Peace with a diligence that does him the greatest credit. The convicts are under as good order as our present situation permits. The sitting as members of tlie Criminal Court is thought a hard- officers ship by the* officers, and of which they say they were not informed forma before they left England. It is necessary to mention this circum- ^^^ stance to your lordship, that officers coming out may know that a young colony requires something more from officers than garrison duty. The not having the power of immediately granting lands the officerawant officers likewise feel as a hardship. They say that they shall be S?d hn- obliged to make their minds up as to the staying in the country or ™«i»**eJy« i-eturning, before they can know what the bounty of Government intends them. The third despatch referred to some eccentric proceed- ings on the part of Major Boss : — I have the honor of transmitting your lordship copies of the proceedings of a Battalion Court-martial, and the letters which passed on that occasion, by which your lordship will see the reasons officers assigned by the Commandant of the detachment for putting the arrest, officers under arrest, as likewise the reasons given by the Court for not altering the sentence. Battalion Court-martial being ordered by Major Boss, as Com- mandant of the detachment, when he judged necessary, I was not informed of the officers being under arrest till the next morning, when he came to inform me, and I used every means in my power to prevent a General Court-martial, the inconveniences of which gj°!J** were obvious. Any accommodation being declined, I did not judge martial, it prudent to put the guards in the charge of sergeants, which must have been done to assemble the Court, the number of officers capable of doing duty being but thirteen. I therefore ordered the officers to return to their duty till a General Court-martial could be assembled. Digitized by Google