In committing to print the contents of the following
pages^ I would not for a moment be thought to arrogate
on behalf of the gentleman whose life is the subject of
them, to single him out from among the gallant men
serving in the same degrees of rank as himself^ on the
score that he had exceeded many of his brother officers
in bravery and conduct in the battle field ; or that there
were not many among them equally, nay, more worthy of
the pen of a biographer. The compilation has been to
me a source of amusement and occupation in leisure
hours. In the course of it, I found that one part of
General Worge's war-spent life, the part attended Mrith
the least actual fighting as it turned out — his service in
Africa — was both peculiar and interesting. The impor-
tance of our African conquests in 1768-9 there can be
no doubt of; they were fully appreciated at the time;
but the splendour and value of our victories and territo-



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VI PREFACE

rial acquisitions on so much larger a scale in America,
where the immortal Wolfe lost his life, occurring at the
same time, threw the former suddenly and fatally into the
shade of neglect and more than comparative indifference.
This is apparent from the way in which the settlements
were tdtimately again abandoned to France ; the loose
way in which the Treaties surrendering them, and pro-
viding for the welfare of the British trade in those quar-
ters, were conducted and carried out ; and what has
naturally followed, the French aggression upon the
British merchants trading to the coast of Portendic lately
committed, and the difference between Great Britain and
France relative to compensation for thef same still pending.
