Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/174

168 turbed by the offer of the command of the Eastern district.

Cornwallis would have preferred an order to go to Egypt, but always responding to the call of duty, he took up his post at Colchester 'without horses, house, or aide-de-camp.' The forces at his disposal were not more than eight weak regiments of militia, 'making about 3800 firelocks,' and two regiments of dragoons. His very natural fears for the safety of the country were somewhat allayed by the sight of two line-of-battle ships and a 74 razée (cut down) stationed near Clackton Beach and Walton Tower. 'In our wooden walls alone must we place our trust. We should make a sad business of it on shore;' and then he indulges in a hit at some evidently incompetent military officer. 'If it is really intended that —— should defend Kent and Sussex, it is of very little consequence what army you place under his command.' In the month of August the public fear of invasion began to subside. In the month of September, however, Cornwallis was still full of anxiety. He saw no prospect of peace, and thought that a good many men would be killed in Egypt. To Major-General Ross he writes in the same letter: — 'We shall prepare for the land defence of England by much wild and capricious expenditure of money, and if the enemy should ever elude the vigilance of our wooden walls, we shall, after all, make a bad figure.'