Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/109

 89 THE NEW SOUTH WALES CORPS. Exactly a montli before Grenville wrote Hs despatch of the ^'^^ 20th June, 1 789, the first official step had been taken to create neSt"*" a special military force which was to replace the detachment S^^ of marines then doing service in the colony. On the 20th May, Sir George Yonge, Secretary at War, addressed a letter to the Treasury, intimating that it had been determined to raise a corps of infantry for service in New South Wales, and directing that it should be immediately placed upon the establishment.* It was to number in the aggregate strength of three hundred rank and file, and to be " commanded by a***®^**'^** major having a company." Early in June, Major Grose received instructions to raise the force, and after some correspondence as to terms the instructions were carried out. It was afterwards decided, in consequence, it may be presumed, of letters from Phillip, in which he stated that a force of five hundred men would be required for the pro- tection of the settlement, to increase the strength of the Corps. Although the Corps was specially raised for service in New specially South Wales, where it remained until its action in the Bligh Se sendee, episode led to its recall, and was described in the despatches as the New South Wales Corps, that title was not always applied to it. It was sometimes called the New South Wales Regiment, while some of the English newspapers of the time chose to call it the " Botany Bay Rangers," and others the " New South Wales Rangers." Its status in the Army was • Historical Records, vol. i, part 2, p. 232.