There is no such punishment as breaking on the wheel known to the English
law, and I and my English comrades protest against such a sentence being
carried out."

"But I will have it so!" Ginckle exclaimed, his face purple with passion.

"Then, sir," General Hamilton said, "I tell you that, in half an hour
from the present time, I will march out from your camp, at the head of my
division of British troops, and will return to Dublin; and, what is more,
I will fight my way out of the camp if any opposition is offered, and
will explain my conduct to the king and the British parliament. Enough
disgrace has already been brought upon all connected with the army, by
the doings of the foreign troops; but when it comes to the death by
torture of prisoners, by the order of their general, it is time that
every British officer should refuse to permit such foul disgrace to rest
upon his name."

There was a chorus of assent from the other English officers, while
Ginckle's foreign officers gathered round him, and it looked for a moment
as if swords would be drawn.

Ginckle saw that he had gone too far, and felt that, not only would this
quarrel, if pushed further, compel him to raise the siege and fall back
upon Dublin, but it would entail upon him the displeasure of the king,
still more certainly that of the English parliament.

"There is no occasion for threats," he said, mastering his passion. "You
tell me that such a punishment is contrary to English law. That is
enough. I abandon it at once. The prisoners shall be hung and quartered.
I presume that you have no objection to offer to that."