Note 32 — January the 10th, 1740.
Reading edition
The imbarking the Troops, (vide k) in the cool of the Evening, was not only approved by the General, but by the Council of War; who had but too justly deserved Censure, should they have unnecessarily exposed the Men, not only to the violent Heat of the Sun, but to the Enemy's Cannon, which commanded one of the Places of Imbarkation.
Had the Author's Apprehensions suffered him to go on Shore at the time of the Retreat, he might have observed that it was made without any Precipitation, and that neither Tents, Arms, working Tools, nor Baggage were left behind.
The General in Person brought up the Rear with his Guard, and having perceived, after the Troops had begun their March, that five Tents belonging to one of the American Battalions were left standing (for which their Lieutenant Colonel had undergone a severe Censure, if his Death had not prevented it) and likewise that some Arms and working Tools remained upon the Ground, he ordered them to be carried off by the Serjeant's Guard which came from La Popa, to which Lieutenant Forest, at the General's Request, added some Sailors, so that the whole Ground might be carefully searched to prevent any thing whatsoever from falling into the Hands of the Enemy. We having lost no Tents, none could (as the Author alledges) be pitched by the Enemy on the top of the Hill.
The Admiral having, (when a Flag of Truce was to be sent into the Vice-Roy) refused to admit of a particular Messenger from the General, I cannot say what idle Expressions might be then made use of to the Disadvantage of the Land Forces. If there were any such, possibly they did not loose in the Report; but if what the Enemy might throw out deserves repeating, it is well known that they frequently expressed their Astonishment, that so fine a Fleet should lie unactive within their very Harbour; and it was affirmed by Persons of Credit, that a Spanish Officer of Rank, who served in Carthagena, declared that they only waited for the coming in of our great Ships, to have surrendered.