man troops only. Judge
what an extent of ground these seeds would cover. There is little doubt
that their own gardens will furnish them a great abundance of vegetables
through the year. Their poultry, pigeons, and other preparations of that
kind, present to the mind the idea of a company of farmers, rather than
a camp of soldiers. In addition to the barracks built for them by the
public, and now very comfortable, they have built great numbers for
themselves, in such messes as fancied each other: and the whole
corps, both officers and men, seem now, happy and satisfied with their
situation. Having thus found the art of rendering captivity itself
comfortable, and carried it into execution, at their own great expense
and labor, their spirit sustained by the prospect of gratifications
rising before their eyes, does not every sentiment of humanity revolt
against the proposition of stripping them of all this, and removing
them into new situations, where from the advanced season of the year, no
preparations can be made for carrying themselves comfortably through the
heats of summer; and when it is known that the necessary advances for
the conveniences already provided, have exhausted their funds and left
them unable to make the like exertions anew. Again; review this
matter as it may regard appearances. A body of troops, after staying
a twelvemonth at Boston, are ordered to take a march of seven hundred
miles to Virginia, where, it is said, they may be plentifully subsisted.
As soon as they are there, they are ordered on some other march,
because, in Virginia, it is said, they cannot be subsisted. Indifferent
nations will charge this either to ignorance, or to whim and caprice;
the parties interested, to cruelty. They now view the proposition in
that light, and it is said, there is a general and firm persuasion among
them, that they were marched from Boston with no other purpose than to
harass and destroy them with eternal marches. Perseverance in object,
though not by the most direct way, is often more laudable than perpetual
changes, as often as the object shifts light. A character of steadiness
in our councils is worth more than the subsistence of four thousand
people.

There could not have been a more unlucky concurrence of circumstances
than when these troops first came. The barracks were unfinished for want
of laborers, the spell of weather the worst ever known within the memory
of man, no stores of bread laid in, the ro