Fortunately for this army, the
Duke of Wellington has too much good sense to be a martinet and the good
old times are gone by, thank God, when a soldier used to be sentenced to
two or three hundred lashes for having a dirty belt or being without a
_queue_. To the Duke of York also is humanity much indebted for his
endeavours to check the frequency of corporal punishment. The Duke of York,
with all his zeal for the service, never loses sight of the comfort of the
soldier and is indefatigable in his exertions to ameliorate his conditions.
We had a pleasant dinner party at General Adam's, and at night I went to
sleep at the house occupied by Captain C., one of the aides-de-camp of the
General,[10] an active, intelligent officer who had formerly served in the
marines, which service he had quitted in order to enter the regular army.
May 16.
Yesterday morning we paid a visit to Tournay, which is distant from Leuze
about ten miles, and we breakfasted at the _Signe d'Or_. We then proceeded
to pay our respects to the Commandant General V.[11] The garrison consists
of Belgians. General V. had been some time in England as a prisoner of war.
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