A COLOSSAL FLOGGING.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR,"] SIR,—Without presuming to discuss the wisdom or the un-
wisdom, the justice or the injustice, of the Sandhurst punish- ments, may I call attention to the following not insignificant passage in Mr. Parkin's "Life of Edward Thring "
"It was at the end of the previous term, on Awe 30th, 1832, that Dr. Keate made a noteworthy addition to the many tradi- tions of Eton. In order to crash an incipient rebellion he flogged
at one time more than eighty lam's. The lads were summoned in detachments from their boarding-houses after having retired for the night, and the work of punishment went on from ten o'clock till past midnight. All names on the alphabetical list of the school from the letter M onward were subjected to this manifestly impartial discipline. From the headmaster's point of view the result justified the exceptional effort. The boys cheered him as he withdrew fron, the field of action, and his authority was never after seriously questioned."
This remarkable appreciation of "impartial discipline" needs no comment.—I am, Sir, &c., L. J. R.
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