The Government wish to make Christians of you, my children.

One cheek being smitten, what should you do ?' 'Shall I show you, General ?' cried a quick little subaltern.
'The order, my children, as received a fortnight since from our old Wien, commands you to offer the other cheek to the smiter.' 'So that a proper balance may be restored to both sides of the face,' General Pierson appended.
'And mark me,' he resumed.

'There may be doubts about the policy of anything, though I shouldn't counsel you to cherish them: but there's no mortal doubt about the punishment for this thing.' The General spoke sternly; and then relaxing the severity of his tone, he said, 'The desire of the Government is to make an army of Christians.' 'And a precious way of doing it!' interjected two or three of the younger officers.

They perfectly understood how hateful the Viennese domination was to their chiefs, and that they would meet sympathy and tolerance for any extreme of irony, provided that they showed a disposition to be subordinate.

For the bureaucratic order, whatever it was, had to be obeyed.