The National Register. — London, England, 1811-06-23 00:00:00

... _~~ • • the measures pursued for obedience, unless that he had borne witness himself to the instances which he had cited. Well could be have wished the hills to cover him, and the earth to open and swallow him up, to secure him from the endurance of such dis grace. The punishment was called one hundred lashes, but be ing inflicted with an.instrument of nine thongs, multiplied them to nine hundred. The cord from which the instruments of tor ture were formed was not like the handsome cord with which gentlemen touched their horses in a calash ; it was equal in thickness to the piPce of cord (a piece on the Clerk's table) which ' lay befuke the House on the table.—(Hear, hear!)—ln regiments regulated in discipline by that barbarous practice, there was scarcely a petty crime, he had been informed, but what had its punishment in li,hes and which created frequency of desertion. A soldier had been flogged and deserted that same evening; his honour was Injured and he had no better means of resenting it. The returns of the Army in Ireland, for'lBll, evidently showed bow fatal the system of chastisement was; the 37 battalions had at the rate of nine to each of them flogged, and they all deserted. A military gentleman had told him the effects which punish ments had on the East India soldiery, where mortifications and frequent deaths ensued from the practice, and that at the Cape • of Good Hope they suspended punishment from the mortality it occasioned. It was the opinion of General Colborn that no man ought to suffer more than one thousand lashes. But in inflicting of these, men had to wear smock frocks to hinder the flesh and blood from befouling them in the horrid execution.—( No, no Hear, hear !)—He was happy to find the House was affected by his true statement. He was assured from the humanity which the House indulged towards the negroes, it would incline them to feel for their own fellow subjects, who were liable to severer puti;.shinents. Good God! never was such cruelty exercised on a negro as on 'an English soldier.—(Hear, hear ! )—Were we to treat a beast as we do a soldier we should have our brains beat but by the bye-standers. While Frederick the Great of Prussia considered man as a machine only to he moved by a stick, he experienced in. his very first campaign 25,000 desertions. The King then inculcated more humane sentiments, and his soldiers proved in victory how much they valued his kindness. By the articles of war,- a • man could be confined but for eight days, yet two instances had come within his own knowledge, while confined in the Tower, of this assigned period being overstaid.— One individual was confined for sixteen, and another for thirty one days; and he could further state, that of the veteran batta lion which did duty in that fortress, individuals had received to the amount of 55 thousand lashes, during a period of six years. He had.secn an old man, worn out in the service, for some trifling emisbion,." condemned to the hospital." It may be-necessary to give some explanation to those who were accustomed to con sider an hospital as a place where the diseased were restored and the indigent assisted. The Military Hospital in the Tower was a place to which refractory or unskilful soldiers were sent, and placed upon a diet consisting of a twopenny loaf, a pint and a half of milk and water, and a pint and a half of thin gruel, known by the name of skillygolee, per diem, for the procuring' of which ten-pence a day was stopped out of their pay. lie had seen the veteran, to whom he had alluded, 'following the corpo ral on whosefiut he was dependent, fruitlessly soliciting pardon for his involuntary offence; and after the drill broke up, he was present at a conversation which further enhanced the pain which his feelings had sustained t one old man complained of a pain in his side, another of a pain in his head, and they all looked a. if they were much fitter fur the couch, than to be made the sub jects of an harrassing and useless duty. An observation of the old man condemn :4.w asit(egolee sets particularly affecting . on its being remarked by one of his comrades that they would have got away sooner if it had not been for old Woolia,ton, he ex claimed" Well, thirty years ago, I could have done it as well as himself (meaning his Judge, the young corporal)." He con cluded by moving, That an humble Address be presented to his Royal Highnt ss the. Prince Regent, playing that he would be graciously pleased to take into consideration the practice of flogging now preva lent in the army, and that he would be pleaSed to give oral 0., to the officers commanding' regiments, directing them to adopt such measure", as they nii&lit deem most efficient for redr,.ining and finally abolishing that ignorninioui mode of punishment. Mr. 11,4. in N s SuT ro sr said, it had been directed that cor poreal punishment should be avoided in every case where it wig possible. It imprisonment were an ado quate substitute, the wishes of the Hon. Baronet had been in some degree anticipated. The Hon. Barii let had a short time since brought before the House the case of a Local Militiaman, who had been flogged. He had instituted an inquiry tato thar'circumstt.nce, and a: the lion. Bart. had cautiously abstained from am allusion to it, he presumed that he was acquainted with the result. The facts he ssou'al beg leave to narrate to the House. Previous to the taros to which Taylor belonged being collected, reports had reac;led the ears of the COlonei, that the bread prepared for their use 51st IPA CVjlSrgUCnCtti of which he sent fur the Con- .•,• •• • • THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 6 si tractor, and having stated to him the substance of them, enjoined him to have the bread of the proper quality. On the arrival of the corps on the succeeding night, (many of them probably in a state of intoxication,) the reports were renewed .and circulated among them. The Colonel then had the bread served up to the mvs-table, in order that the O ffi cers should decide with respect to its su ffi ciency. They did decide that it was good, and on go ing down and making proper representations to the men, it was taken by those.aniong them who had been loudest in complaint. Shortly after this the bread was kicked about the streets by a fresh set of malcontents; upon which the Colonel not satisfied with the steps he had already taken, sent a sample of the bread to the Inspecting-General of the district, who acquiesced in the judgment already passed by the Officers. The affair now began to assume a serious aspect; the officers were hissed through the streets, and placards were posted up, stating, that the corps had been served with sour bread. The Colonel then thought it ne cessary to confine some of the ringleaders. Taylor was selected for punishment, not as the Hon. Baronet had stated, because he was the author of the song in question, but, because he had ta ken a prominent part in the mutinous proceedings : and consi dering-the pathetic statement which had been made of' his case, it would appear somewhat extraordinary that the man himself was the first to express the necessity there existed for his punish ment, and to acknowledge the lenient spirit in which his sen tence had been executed.—The Hon. Baronent had made a very exaggerated statement with respect to the number of desertions in the army, which he might have been led into by his ignorance of military affairs. When he stated that there were 875 deser tions, it must not be supposed that there was that number of in dividuals, but frequently seven or eight desertions were the crimes of one individual. Mr. Sutton then paid some high On plhuents to our soldiery, deprecated the interference of the House of Commons in military affairs, and concluded by ex pressing his intention to oppose the motion. Mr. Baoucua as supported the motion. Lord PALMERSTON re protested in the strongest manner against the mode in which'the Hon. Baronet had introduced his motion. Although the Honourable Baronet had stated many anonymous cases, he had not informed the House of the names of the individuals concerned, nor had he given such informa tion as might lead to the thorough investigation of the bets to which he alluded. With regard to the regulati.eis of the Regi mental Hospitals, his Lordship believed no army in the world was' better provided for, or their comforts more humanely consulted; thattthat of Great Britain. Were the wishes of the Hon. Baronet complied with, the punishment of death must occur more frequently, and that which was already considered oppressive would become doubly cruel. The attention of his Royal tsighness the Commander in Chief, had already been directed to the subject, and every possible expedient was adopted to render the punishment of flogging less frequent, in conformity with the wish expressed by the House iu their con sideration of the Mutiny Bill. Mr. WHITBREAD was ready to admit, that the punish ment of flogging was much less prevalent of late years than it # had been. Mr. Yo AZ E considered the proposed Address as ill timed. Mr. W. Stoma spoke in favour of the Address. The CHANCELLOR of the Excliequea, in a short but eloquent speech, warmly animadverted on the conduct of the I-lon. Baronet in introducing his 'potion at a period of the Session so far advanced. The Right Hon. Gentleman then appealed to the glorious struggles against the enemies of their country, and to the immortal honours which they had reaped by :heir bravery, as a complete refutation o f the o p inions thrown 1 out by the Hon. Baronet. Opinions which could be only enter tained by the Hon. Baronet himself, and of such a nature that if he only founded his hopes of success upon them, he was likely to divide even without a teller. It had been stated that it was possible to do without flogging, but it bad been also admitted that it was equally possible the discontinuance of it might be attended with ill consequences. It this was the case, lie trusted the discretion , f the House would not suffer them to adopt a measure the effects of which might be so injurious to the mili tary service. Air. C. ADAMS opposed the Address, as did Sir H. MONTGO MERY. Mr. HUTCHINSON spoke in favour of the Address. :sir F. Ile K DETT, in reply, denied that the arguments of the Rt. Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer had at all either shaken his conviction of the necessity of his motion, or his resolution to attempt to execute it. Rational discipline stood on one hand, and correction by the cat.oi•nine tails on the other, and nothing should hinder him from supporting a nieasure of mercy. He dis dained to retort on the insinuations which he believed that 1 the Chancellor had used ag iii ,t hip motives fur his motion. lie. sustain, d, by must ft eling elOilUellCe, his 01,;41jOilli on the , c' uelty of punishment, and quotest, as an act .of Want"' f : : 1 •,, ..1 Four soldier who Lad been &a p ed, becaus4; lie sot I_L-__ 40.41ft*