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    sometimes , but not always , countersigned by a senior officer ; upon which the accused , not being allowed to say a syllable in self-defence , was forthwith stripped , and two dozen lashes with the cat-o-nine-tails inflicted for each offence in the manner described by the General Order . The Duke of Wellington , in the most despotic exercise of military authority , never delegated such a power as this into the hands of any officer , as may be seen by his General Order on the subject , which is here subjoined : —

    " G . O . " Head Quarters , Frenada , " November 1 , 1811 . " The office of the Provost Marshal has existed in all British armies in the field * * * his authority must be limited by the necessity of the case , and whatever be the crime of which a soldier may be guilty , the Provost Marshal has not the power of inflicting summary punishment for it unless he should see him in the act of committing it . If he should not see him in the act of committing it , he is directed to report the offence to the Commander-in-Chief of the army , in order that the soldier be tried , and evidence adduced against him . Further , the Commander of the Forces desires that it may be clearly understood that no officer whatever has a right to order the Provost Marshal , or his assistants , to exercise the authority entrusted to them ; nor can the Provost Marshal , or his assistants , inflict punishment on any man , excepting they should see him in the act of committing a breach of orders and discipline . Their duty is , by vigilance and activity , to prevent those breaches which the Commander of the Forces is sorry to observe are too common , and to punish those they may catch in the fact . " *

    The spirit in which the provosting system has been conducted in the Legion has been exactly contrary to this principle * inasmuch as it has been constantly had recourse to ather as a retributive than preventive measure , the provost limself seldom or never being seen on duty excepting in the act > f inflicting punishment . Occasionally even women were subected to this indecent and disgusting ordeal . At the Convent ) f St Peter a Mrs C f received two dozen lashes by order I > f Major , of the 7 th regiment . At Bitoria , about half-amile from Vitoria , another woman , Mrs O . B , by order of Captain , of the same regiment , received two dozen lashes in the presence of her husband and several of the private solfliers . Other cases might be cited . In these instances the 'female , being denuded , the punishment was inflicted—not on Ihe back—by a soldier acting as provost with the

    cat-o-nine-* General Orders of the Duke of Wellington , by Lieut .-Colonel Gurwood . — f We are in possession of the names of the women , and of the officers who rrdered the punishment j and can , if necessary , adduce them , —Ed .

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    196 The Civil War in Spain .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 1, 1837, page 196, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1830/page/6/