The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-01 00:00:00

'°l'ZVCi IN NEWCASTLE BARRACKS.

It is
clian, to -14 in our painful duty, says the Newcastle Gu.ar•
record another case of this brutalisin
nog punis
eoh-
a.e"
trit our town. On Tuesday last, about on, G.
re) aged 28, a private in the 26th Cameronians, at
3ent stationed here, underwent the sentence of a
iclurt-tnartial, receiving 40 lashes by the cat-o'-nine-tails
N(*desertion, using iisrespectful and threatening lan-
„, ge to his sergeant, sad for two several cases of
„"gett. At the time appointed for his punishment the
mantasr .n
garrison paraded in the square and were
hed down to the hospital, taking up a position im-
itats,diately in front of it. The prisoner, after being
i„,4ll3Ped, was tied up to the triangle by the arms and
t-gfa; while the adjutant stood by to see each stroke as
1;,;11 from the powerful arms of the drummer, selected
1.4-47 amongst others for his aptitude in what is called
th"W time"—a refinement of cruelty only known to
e initiated.
"I ,observer of the scene that ensued thus describes it
expected a bloody scene, but the reality far ex-
til'ed all I had even dreamed of in human torture. At
ere titla stroke of the lash the flesh rose up on the suffer-
of tikeelCl the welts thicker than my wrist, and the writhing
Fe body showed the agony he endured. As each sue-
-14,14- ,
,Ttlash fell on the lacerated and bleeding back, the
lashluowed about on all around. After the fortieth
toilin":4 been inflicted, he was untied, and after stagd-
to th'ialfew paces, fell fainting, when he was removed
cal 056SE,jeal3ltal and paced under the charge of the meth-
a:•"
riani I,7,Yet to receive the remainder of his punishment
sly ,Ye
days' solitary confinement.
atatnecr ",81.".ce to the officers of the 26th, we have heard it
and wA""`at they were averse to flogging in this case,
atithrfe overruled by a recently arrived high military
thi c"L'7, well-known as a " martinet." We should
aotilf,,dtuat such treatment of the British soldier would.
at I,;"tice Such a rapid augmentation of the army
.as
fnrin-ei:ent called for. In a corps like the Cameromasts,
rrinkte almost of re.' w recruits, desertion in numbers
inde "Isvitably be the, result.of Tuesday's exhibition—
ish ed, before three hours had elapsed after the pun-
to r„elerit a desertion took place, most likely in terror
%;_-a3: receiving a similar military lesson.
„ent e think it is exceedingly unfortunate, at the pre-
sort i./14:14)eot, that it should be deemed necessary to re-
inh": a punishment, which is deservedly odious, both
havt— eYes of soldiers and civilians, and which, as we
wie often contended, while it lacerates the body bru-
th spe: the mind. How can we expect recruits to enter.
the, --114 a of the army when they find that by doing so
t. 1,9 render themselves liable to castigation by an instru-
f 'at which the British Parliament indignantly struck
tr°ela the hand of the slave-owner ?If we would make
cod service popular, we must reform the military penal
ratieo' and substitute for coarse and revolting, torture
Hal and reformatory penalties.

slate so 110 w ascertained that the heroic private who
ere rnny liussians on the bloody field of Inkerman
ikeii-dge fells was Fergusson Bowie, formerly a flax-dresser,
native of Arbroatiu—Ohnoil Condtgutionol.