" "No, no," was the answer in chorus, "you only protect
the excise men, that forming part of your duty; you are not an informer
but a protector, and we know you won't tell." They were good enough to
emphasise this vote of confidence with an invitation that I should try
their poteen. Naturally I declined, but in a manner, I hope, calculated
not to wound their feelings.'
This demeanour Sir George Grey carried into his office as a centurion of
soldiers, at a date when the lash still plied viciously in the British
army. He sat on a court-martial which had to try a private soldier for
habitual drunkenness. As the youngest officer present, he was the first
to be asked what the sentence ought to be. He suggested a light
punishment, one that was not perhaps in harmony with ideas then prevalent
as to the best manner of preserving military discipline. To him flogging
was abhorrent, and entertaining that view, he had fallen into debate with
brother officers. The sentence which he proposed caused a roar of
laughter among some of the members of the court-martial. 'Gentlemen,'
interjected the general at the head of the table, 'mercy is a very
becoming characteristic of youth, and I do not understand this laughter.'
That cut it short.
Daniel O'Connell was at the height of his influence in Ireland, and Sir
George could look back on the military duties which once or twice brought
him into the precincts of the Tribune.
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