CHAPTER II.

FLOGGING IN THE ARMY.

THE 144th were, generally speaking, a very wellconducted body of men; and it was very seldom that any extremely severe punishments were required in the regiment.

Colonel Grant held the reins of government firmly, but judiciously; he was no martinet, though remarkably strict in enforcing a due performance of their duties both from officers and men; neither was he one of those fidgety, crotchety commanders who are always prying into matters with which they have no particular concern, and worrying out grievances which principally exist in their own imagination.

He was

a man to be loved, but also to be respected and feared; therefore the regiment was in a state of excellent discipline, and Colonel Grant stood well at the Horse Guards, and was considered one of the steadiest and most judicious commanding officers in the entire British army.

But in a large body of men it cannot be expected that offences will never be committed; and though the 144th Highlanders had the best of reputations, and never left any place in which they were quartered

without the universal praises and regret of the inhabitants, yet disaffected spirits will sometimes be found in the steadiest corps, and a very strong and decided hand be required to put them down.

Colonel Grant discouraged drinking in every possible form; he truly said that from a love of ardent spirits sprang more than two-thirds of the crimes committed in the United Kingdom; and he considered that when a soldier was once thoroughly imbued with a passion for strong drink, no further good could be expected of him.

He himself set an example of the most perfect sobriety, and his strictness in that respect gave a tone to the regiment; there was very little, if any, hard drinking.

It had not been always so. The previous colonel was a man of a very different stamp; a brave soldier and pleasant companion, he was wholly wanting in the qualities that alone constitute a good commanding officer. Easy and good-natured, he winked at much that was decidedly wrong; and his own peculiarly convivial disposition deterred him from pronouncing a harsh verdict on those whose tendencies led them in the same direction; so that while he was at the head of the regiment, drunkenness was a fault of incessant occurrence, and soldiers in a disgusting state of intoxication might be met at almost every hour; the corps was rapidly deteriorating into one of the worst in the service.

The detention of an hour or two in the Black-hole was the invariable punishment, in fact, it was scarcely regarded as any punishment at all; but how could the colonel consistently inflict a severe penalty on the men, when the officers were very little, if at all, better;

filling the barracks every night with the most uproarious revelry, and being constantly carried to their rooms in a condition of the most helpless and degrading inebriety. But a change soon came over the spirit of their dream when Colonel Grant assumed the command.

He had not previously been in the 144th, but was sent to it in consequence of Colonel Murray falling a victim to fever in the West Indies. The step was not permitted to go in the regiment, as the officer next in command was much the same kind of person as the colonel, therefore no improvement could be hoped for under his auspices.

Climate and fast-living nearly decimated the corps, many of the officers exchanged or sold out, and a new order of things began in the 144th.

Colonel Grant commenced with the officers, as their lead was naturally certain to be followed by the men under their command. He spoke to them kindly, but firmly, saying he was most anxious to put matters on a different footing in the regiment, and that he looked to them for their support and co-operation, He could not possibly punish the men for debauchery and permit the officers to go scot free; therefore he trusted to their good sense and gentlemanly feeling to prevent a recurrence of the degrading scenes it was his firm resolution to endure no longer.

At first there was some grumbling and a bad feeling among a few towards the colonel, but he took no notice of it, and persevered in his determination; but always in the most open and judicious manner—no one could accuse him of the slightest partiality; he was equally strict with officers as with men-nay, he was more rigorous with the former, as he said that from them more might reasonably be expected.

The improvement came, gradually but surely; and now it was the boast and pride of Colonel Grant that not a regiment in the service bore a better character for steadiness and sobriety than the 144th.

Now and then there might be an outbreak, and among the juniors there were occasionally scenes similar to those which greeted my entrance into the corps, but these were of rare occurrence; had it been otherwise Colonel Grant would at once have interfered, and a hint from him was as effectual as a severe reprimand would be from many others.

Major Thompson and Major Gordon, the two next in command, assisted in carrying out the colonel's views; and it is always a great thing for the junior officers of a regiment when their seniors set them a good example, and are men fully entitled to respect and confidence. There is much truth in the old saying, "What the old cock crows, the young one learns."

And if this is true with respect to young men who have had every advantage in the way of education and refining society, who have had good principles instilled into them from their earliest infancy, and may reasonably be expected to distinguish right from wrong and act accordingly-how much more must it apply to the young untutored soldier in the ranks, who has had no such advantages-nay, who has more probably been brought up in the worst possible moral atmosphere, and has had his perceptions of right and wrong blunted almost before he was old enough to understand the difference.

For such a case as this, strict discipline and the still greater benefit of good example will be found the only efficacious methods to be employed; and it was by these

means that Colonel Grant had worked a reform in the 144th.

He sensibly observed that idleness was the great bane of a military life, and the many unoccupied hours which a soldier will so seldom employ in any rational or improving manner; therefore he set himself to endeavour to cure this, by finding some occupation for his men which should engage their leisure hours more profitably than smoking and card playing.

He secured the services of a good schoolmaster, and had evening classes for such of the men as chose to attend them. Here they were taught all the elements of a plain education; and the room was soon filled with a crowd of eager and willing pupils, many of whom made rapid progress.

A reading-room was also arranged for the use of the men, which was well supplied with many cheap and excellent publications; it was well lighted and well ventilated, and a good blazing fire diffused a comfortable warmth; all these advantages were soon appreciated by the soldiers, and Colonel Grant had the satisfaction of knowing that he had despoiled many a neighbouring tap-room of its accustomed visitors, who were now devoting to Cook's Voyages or the Life of Napoleon Bonaparte the hours they had hitherto spent in the low and riotous conviviality of an alehouse parlour.

This is a lengthy digression, but I cannot consider it an unimportant one. In the course of a long experience I have seen so much the reverse of all I have now described, that I am the more anxious to add my testimony in favour of what has struck me so forcibly as being the duty of every commanding officer; though,