Had the great Commander, like Moore, exempted from censure those who deserved praise, he would not have wounded the feelings and the _esprit de corps_ of men who had so bravely fought and suffered, and were yet to fight and suffer, under his eye and at his side. While on the subject of discipline I may perhaps mention an incident which occurred while the Regiment was in these cantonments, as well because it shows the confidence of the officer in the right judgment of the men, as because it evinces the opinion of the soldier concerning deserved punishment. A man of the 1st Battalion, a _vaurien_, had robbed his comrades and deserted. He was intercepted and brought back by some guerillas; and having been tried by a regimental Court-Martial was sentenced to receive 150 lashes. As soon as the Adjutant had read the proceedings of the court, Colonel Cameron, who then commanded the Battalion, observing on the infrequency of corporal punishment in it (Costello says that not more than six men were punished in the six years they were in the Peninsula), said that he would forgive the culprit if the Battalion would be answerable for his good behaviour. After a pause, during which not a man spoke or made a sign, Cameron ordered him to strip, and he received twenty-five lashes. Before the next bugler began, Cameron again addressed the men: ‘If,’ said he, ‘this man’s company will speak for him, he shall be no further punished.’ Still not a word was said, nor a man moved; and twenty-five more lashes were inflicted. A third bugler was about to begin, when Cameron again spoke, and said that if one man of the Battalion would come forward in his behalf he would forgive him. No one answered, and the bugler laid on three or four strokes, when a man called out: ‘Forgive him, sir;’ and, being ordered, stepped out of the ranks. ‘Is it you, Robinson?’ said Cameron; ‘I thought as much; a man no better than himself. But I will keep my word. Take him down.’ When the prisoner had been released, Cameron spoke again: ‘Your bravery in the field, men,’ he said, ‘is known to me and to the army. Your moral worth I know now. I am glad that not a man of the Battalion would come forward for that prisoner, except one; and what he is you know as well as I do.’ At Alameda the officers of the 1st Battalion, for the first time for some years, resumed their Battalion mess. A large barn formed the mess-room, in which they constructed two fire-places and chimneys; and dishes, plates, platters, and cups, which had been used by the different company messes in the field, brought into common stock, formed a sufficient if not a very magnificent service.