Naturally, but most regrettably, the opinion of the Army regarded us traditionally as a hostile body; and at this time every effort to accentuate that belief was made by the political party with which the Army had most intercourse and connection.
Writing now, as I hope I may write without offence, of a state of things not far off in time, but divided from us of to-day by the marks of a vast upheaval, it can be said that the old professional Army was a society governed in an extraordinary degree by tradition.

Part of that tradition was that the Army had no politics; and as everyone knows, the man who says he has no politics is in practice almost invariably a Conservative.

In the Army, usage was at its strongest--stronger even than at a public school; it was almost bad manners, "bad form," to hold political opinions differing from those of your mess.

Political discussion was sharply discouraged; but this never meant that a man might not express vehemently the prevailing opinion.

On the broad facts it was inevitable that the prevailing opinion should be unfriendly to Irish Nationalists.