MILITARY VETERINARY POLITICS. 493 
stood, we shall feel it to be a duty to give such publicity as we 
may to all the facts. 
“ Mr. George Johnston, late veterinary surgeon of the 6th Dra- 
goon Guards, had, it would appear, long been at variance with his 
commanding officer, Colonel Jackson, upon matters connected with 
his duty as veterinary surgeon to the regiment. We cannot pre- 
tend to say up till the date of the transactions we are about to 
relate which of the two was most in fault. In all probability both 
the one and the other were to blame, although, if we are to judge 
from his subsequent conduct, Colonel Jackson was not likely to be 
distinguished by any peculiar mildness of manner or conciliation 
of demeanour. Amongst other purchases of horses made for the 
regiment, there was one of seven 4 remounts,’ which, as the cus- 
tom is, were submitted to Mr. Johnston for inspection, and by him 
(in pursuance of the * Instructions for the Performance of Veteri- 
nary Duties,’ paragraph 36) rejected for various causes, such as 
blindness, spavin, ringbone, &c. The next step in the transaction 
is, that Mr. Johnston engaged in a correspondence with the Prin- 
cipal Veterinary Surgeon on the subject of the seven young un- 
sound horses, without forwarding his letter, as it appears he should 
have done, through his commanding officer. For this he was sen- 
tenced, by the Duke of Wellington, to be severely reprimanded 
by the Commander of the Forces in Ireland, and he was repri- 
manded accordingly. 
“ It would be highly important that the precise nature and bear- 
ing of the grievances endured by Mr. Johnston (a statement of 
which is in the Duke of Wellington’s hands) up to the period of 
the reprimand administered should be clearly drawn out ; it would 
be important, above all, to Colonel Jackson. For unless he can 
make it appear that Mr. Johnston had, prior to this period, evinced 
towards him a spirit of offensive insubordination, his subsequent 
conduct would seem to be very harsh as between man and man, 
and altogether uncalled for by any military necessity. 
“Mr. Johnston’s situation in the regiment became insupportable 
to him. His most anxious, and surely not an unnatural, desire 
was to exchange into another corps. It came to his knowledge 
that there jwas a vacancy in the 7th Hussars; and, in order that he 
might avail himself of the opportunity, he waited on his com- 
manding officer at the orderly room, to request that he would apply 
for leave of absence in his behalf. Before he could get, his sentence 
concluded, he was interrupted by Colonel Jackson with ‘ Your 
conduct of late does not warrant any indulgence from me ; and, let 
me tell you, I don’t want to interfere with your professional charac- 
ter, but the two regiments in which you served previous to coming 
to the Carabineers had no discipline, nor have you any military 
