The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-05 00:00:00

Confidential.

Horse Guards, sth July, 1853.
The General Commanding-in-Chief has perused the de-
tails of the conduct of the four officers of the 50th Regi-
ment, tried by a general court-martial at Preston, with
the deepest concern.
_ _

The disgusting and insulting language used by Lieutenant
-- and Lieutenant in the mess-room of the 50th
Regiment, and applied to Ensign ---, terminating by
the forcible seizure of that officer and dragging him to a
pump and there pumping upon him, is an instance of out-
rage unparalleled in the British army.
It has been clearly proved, that these officers did use the
language with which they have been charged, and in their
defence and in the preceding correspondence they admit,
that, in seizing Ensign by force and pumping upon
him, they, at the moment, acted under feelings of great ex-
citement and irritation. It is therefore evident that this
outrage cannot be glossed over as being a mere practical
joke carried too far.
It is further proved, that after this personal outrage,
when Ensign - sought for an apology, he was violently
pushed out of the room.
As regards these two officers nothing more could be said
by the Court than a recommendation for her Majesty's
clemency in the case of Lieutenant - founded on his
gallant services, and his previohs unexceptionable conduct,
as certified by he commanding officers under whom he has
served. An officer who has served gallantly should feel
that he can afford to be forbearing and moderate, when in-
volved in a discussion with a young ensign, add his lord-
ship regrets that this part of the case from first to last has
no possible extenuation. Viscount Hardinge therefore re-
commended her Majesty to confirm the sentence of the
Court, and these officers have been dismissed from the
service.

With regard to Lieutenant --, the Court found him
guilty of the charge of offering personal violence to Ensign
--, by forcibly, and in concert with other officers, taking
Ensign -- to a pump, and there pumping upon him, but
the Court acquitted him of "conduct unbecoming the
character of an officer and a gentleman," and did not con-
sider the act of thus forcibly pumping upon him to have
been of a " most insulting and outrageous nature."
The same was the result in the case of Lieutenant -,
in whose favour there is a slight shade of difference.
The opinion of the court, therefore, in tho two cases of
Lieutenants -- and --- was recorded, and to drag
an officer by force from the mess-room to a pump, and
there pump upon him, was not conduct unbecoming offi-
cers and gentlemen, nor an insulting outrage on a brother
officer.

Lieutenant -- admits, in his letter of the 18th
March, addressed to the commanding officer and produced
before the court, that at the time of seeing Ensign
he was much irritated by the conversation in the ante-
room, which was of an insulting character, applied to
Ensign --, and thus it is clear that, in dragging En-
sign
as a practical joke carried too far, but that, being under
irritation, he aided Lieutenant -- and Lieutenant
in pumping on Ensign ---.
The General Commanding-in-Chief could not allow such
an erroneous opinion to pass unnoticed, which, if tolerated,
would be subversive of that social good feeling, high tone
of honour, and military discipline which have hitherto
prevailed in the British Army.
If such opinions and doctrines are to be sanctioned by a
court-martial, where is the licence to degrade a brother
officer to stop? Is it to be confined to subalterns? The
high sense of personal honour must be as scrupulously up-
held in their case as in the upper ranks. In private
society, English gentlemen would not tolerate such insults,
excused and palliated on the plea of practical jokes; and
Viscount Harding° was convinced that the court, com-
posed of thirteen gentlemen, would, on reflection, revise
their opinion, calculated to mislead the officers of the army,
and to lower the tone of honour which all are desirous of
upholding.
The revised finding of 'the court, to the effect that this
conduct was unofficex-like, ungentleman-like, and a gross
insult, has been approved and confirmed by her Majesty.
The General Commanding-in-Chief approves of the con-
duct of Ensign —. If that officer had tamely submitted
to the gross and insulting language applied to him, or to
the personal indignity of pumping upon him, and if the
facts bad come to the General Commanding-in-Chiefs
knowledge, he would have tried Ensign —, as unworthy
to hold a commission in her Majesty's service.
Every officer, whatever be his rank, is the guardian of
his own honour, his conduct being governed and controlled
by the Articles of War. This is clearly laid down in the
Judge-Advocate-General's letter to the Secretary-at-War
of 17th April, 1844, and circulated by the Secretary-at-
War in transmitting the Mutiny Act and Articles of War
of that year to every regiment, and if an officer passes
over without notice an insult offered to him, he is liable to
be brought to a court martial, not because he declines to
fight a duel, but because he shrinks from availing himself
of those means which the Articles of War, and the justice
of his brother officers, place at hie disposal, when redress
for insult is not prevented by his own misconduct.
It is competent for any officer, however young his rank,
to protest against such disgusting language as that re-
peatedly used on the 17th March at the mess-table, whether
applied to himself or another officer, on the clear ground
that such language was an insult to the whole regiment;
and whether Captain -- or any senior officer heard the
insults passed upon Ensign -- or not, it would equally
have been the duty of any junior officer to protest against
such language, and to prevent any act of personal violence
offered to a brother officer, in. accordance with the 15th
Article of War, inserted in the margin.*
In all cases of intemperate discussion, or of quarrels,
when they unfortunately occur, a reference to the friendly
arbitration of a brother officer is defined and pointed out
in the Articles of War, specified in the margin.t
Lieutenant-Colonel -- exercised a sound judgment in
the course he pursued, of reporting the circumstance to the
Lieutenant-General commanding the district, and Lord
Hardinge requests it may be clearly understood by every
officer in the army, that in all cases where a blow may be
struck, or a threat of personal chastisement used, the
commanding officer of the regiment or corps will, in all
practicable cases, report the occurrence for the information
and orders of the general officer under whom he may be
acting.

The General Commanding-in-Chief desires that, as these
insults, miscalled practical jokes, are calculated to annoy
and exasperate the feelings of officers, and interrupt the
harmony which ought to prevail in every regiment, they
may be peremptorily prohibited ; and officers commanding
regiments will point out to every young officer, when he
first joins the regiment, those Articles of War referred to in
this letter (Arts. 14 to 17 inclusive), which directly apply
to discussions and quarrels in the regiment, so as to enable
him to regulate his conduct with the most perfect good
temper, and at the same time with that high sense of
honour and military spirit inculcated in her Majesty's
Articles of War, in almost every ono of which it is re-
quired that an officer shall not only act gallantly in the
field, but that his conduct and temper shall be those of a
gentleman in every relation of life.
Lieutenants and -- will, in the presence of the
officers assembled, bo reprimanded for their ungenerous and
unmanly treatment of Ensign —, Their conduct will be
reported upon by inspecting general and staff officers dur-
ing the next twelve months.
The General Commanding-in-Chief expresses his regret
that he should have to animadvert on such gross misconduct
as that which occurred in the 50th regiment, in their social
intercourse in the mess-room. Lord Hardincm has witnessed
the gallant behaviour of this regiment at bViiniera under
Sir G. Walker, at Corunna under Sir C. Napier, and more
recently he has had to thank the regiment, repeatedly, for
their eminent services and most distinguished conduct in
the four battles of the Sutlej campaign, when commanded
and forming part of
Sir Henry Smith's division. He has the fullest confidence
in the regiment, in whose welfare and honour he takes the
by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Ryan,
deepest interest ; and, as a mark of his unabated regard, he
will, by her Majesty's gracious pornaission, dispense with
the usual publication of the charges and sentence, in a
general order to the army, and, in lieu of it,
transmits
this confidential memorandum to officers commanding re-
giments, td be by them read to the officers assembled in

the mess-room.
By command of the Right Honourable General Viseonn'
Hardinge, UuummßaßnotllvinNg,
-In-Cbief.
(Signed)Adjutant-General.

Horse-Guards
APPENDIX No. 2.
7 1853
(Copy.)
CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM.
t s'a, t
Lieutenant C atrol the
() awsc, e°
ril in-
The General Commanding-in-Chief has ,er Dec.' d •
respondence which has been transmitted, relatings
nseensiaultis and acts of
discipline by three
oouffiseberrseaocfhthofeinngv6,o2,_olavdelotaggr,dbie:nyr
ecialnuaatdpvoitmnan.glinldoi tffe_stnii
_which C,
aapretai
outrage to Lieutenant ---.7 of the same regiment,
on the
pretence that these proceedings were merely practical jokes.
Captain --- was the officer in command of the two
companies detached ; and it appears, by the report of Lien-
ho considered him,
tenant-Colonel Trollop°, commanding the 62d Regiment,
that Captain -- had been on a former occasion admo-
nished by him, in presence of thelefficers of the regiment
orleonel Trollopo, he
assembled, not to resort to such. objectionable conduct for
the future as that of annoying the. you.nger officers of the
regiment by what are termed practical jokes. Lieutenant-
serious
the imputation.
scrape, which the
Lieutenant-
Colonel
outrages,
Itlporntanagtei
henl
seT:_sraaonn
11
and
oe_cpl,eea
ttpottteha:ie
ennf observedrt_ohme_7.lLe
aied(uieit.
leader
int
nnha
onatttt
h(..
IC: n y
further states that only a few days before Captain
____P_____
went in command of the detachment. to.n i ~ desired
Carlow, he
Major --- to caution him to alter his conduct towards
his brother officers, as his example had influenced the con-
duct
teonfaantyocuoino
after the arrival of the detachment at Car-
low, Lieutenant --- wrote to Major —7 expressing
his wish to exchange into another regiment in consequence
of the insulting practical jokes to. which he had been
younger
rl
hadoftie settled.er In
a
subjected by Captain ----, Captain --_, and Lieu-
-1 tenant ---.
Lieutenant-Colonel Trollope did not hesitate, as Boon as
these facts came to his knowledge, to do his duty firmly.
He had cautioned Captain —77, and had exhausted all
the means of advice and admonition ; and considering that,
in this instance, he had grossly neglected his duty by being
an active party to these annoyances, he made it a point
that Captain -- should no longer remain in the regi-
ment.
The General Commanding-in-Chief approves of the view
taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Trollope, and his lordship as-
sures Lieutenant-Colonel Trollope, and everycommanding
officer, that they will, on all occasions of a similar nature,
be supported by him in putting down a practice by which
officers become habituatedto take great liberties with, and
use very coarse language towards each other, which would
not be tolerated in any other profession. It is a practice

* Art. 15. All officers, of what condition soever, liave
power to quell all quarrels, frays, and disorders, though the
persons concerned should be of a superior rank or belong to
another corps, and either to order officers into arrest or sol-
diers into confinement, until their superior officers shall be
acquainted therewith.
t Arta. 16, 17, 101, for the year 1853.