George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 3, 15th edition.

[442] days were wet, the nights brilliant with vivid light-

Chap. XXIV.}

ning. The fever of the low country in the tropics began its rapid work; men perished in crowds; the dead were cast into the sea, sometimes without windingsheet or sinkers; the hospital ships were crowded with miserable sufferers. In two days, the effective force on land dwindled from six thousand six hundred to three thousand two hundred. Men grew as jealous as they were wretched, and inquired if there were not Papists in the army. The English could only demolish the fortifications and retire. ‘Even the Spaniards,’ wrote Vernon, ‘will give us a certificate that we have effectually destroyed all their castles.’

In July, an attack on Santiago, in Cuba, was meditated, and abandoned almost as soon as attempted.

Such were the fruits of an expedition which was to have prepared the way for conquering Mexico and Peru. Of the recruits from the colonies, nine out of ten fell victims to the climate and the service. When the fleet returned to Jamaica, late in November, 1741, the entire loss of lives is estimated to have been about twenty thousand, of whom few fell by the enemy. Vernon attributed the failure to his own want of a sole command. It is certain that nothing had been accomplished.

In March, 1742, Vernon and Wentworth planned an expedition against Panama; but, on reaching Porto Bello, the design was voted impracticable, and they returned. Meantime, the commerce of England with Spain itself was destroyed; the assiento was interrupted; even the contraband was impaired; while English ships became the plunder of privateers. England had made no acquisitions, and had inflicted on the Spanish West Indies far less evil than she herself had suffered.