Another officer has been shot by one of his own
men. Major F. IL de Vere, instructor in field fortifications in the Royal Engineer establishment, had 0C11114011 to send a private named Currie for six days to the cells. He had also refused to allow him to leave the field-works, as incompetent, and Carrie, brooding over these things, resolved to kill his "tyrant." He accordingly loaded two rifles while alone in the barrack-room, and leaning out of the win- dow, shot Major de Vera through the lungs. It was at first believed that his victim would die, but he has rallied, and Currie expresses the greatest regret, adding that had he failed others would have completed his work. Major de Vera served through the whole of the Crimean war, and appears, though a strict officer, to have given no cause for this excessive animosity. It must be remem- bered, when remarks are made on the frequency of this crime in the army, that it is frequent in all armies, discipline not allowing of that abuse and those remonstrances with which an angry cabman, for instance, works off his grievances. The malignity is driven inwards till it produces a thirst for ven- geance, only to be gratified in one way. There is no help for this, as an army in which a soldier, particularly an English soldier, could remonstrate would speedily be a mob.
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