The division went through several evolutions, and performed them in a very superior manner indeed; the line marching and the echelon movements, for which the 88th, under Wallace, was so celebrated, seemed to surprise the General; he however said little. Once he turned to Wallace and said, in rather a disagreeable tone, “Very well, sir.” The parade was about to be dismissed, and the General about to return to his quarters, when two marauders of the 88th were brought up in charge of a detachment of Portuguese militia. They had stolen a goat on their march up to join their regiment. The complaint was at once made to Picton, who ordered the men to be tried by a drum-head court-martial on the spot. This was accordingly done; the men were found guilty, and flogged on the moment in presence of the General. This act was considered by all as not good taste in General Picton on his first appearance amongst his troops; the offence committed by the soldiers could have been as well punished in front of their own regiment as in the presence of the entire division; and, besides this, there was no necessity for the General’s remaining to witness the punishment. This act on his part caused those who had formed a favourable opinion from his appearance to waver, and the word “tyrant” was more than muttered by many of the division. So soon as the two soldiers were removed after having received the number of lashes it was thought necessary to inflict, the General addressed the brigade in language not of that bearing which an officer of his rank should use, for turning to the 88th he said, “You are not known in the army by the name of 'Connaught Rangers,' but by the name of Connaught _footpads_!” He also made some remarks on their country and their religion. Language like this was enough to exasperate the lowest soldier, equally with the Colonel, who had done so much for the regiment during his command; and Colonel Wallace, directly the parade was over, waited on General Mackinnon, who commanded the brigade, and requested that he would go to General Picton, and intimate to him that he conceived the abusive language which he had made use of towards the 88th was not just to the corps, or to himself as commanding officer of it. Mackinnon was a strict disciplinarian, but a man of an extremely mild temper, and he felt greatly annoyed at what had taken place. He readily complied with Colonel Wallace’s request, and received for answer from Picton, that he would remove those impressions when he again had an opportunity of assembling the division.