The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-23 00:00:00

Surely have been enough to dissuade from any altera-
tion of the British system of discipline in deference to
the example of other States, whose armies are com-
posed of such materials as are not within the reach of
the British Government, for this purpose. But it is
a just subject of triumph and of pride to the country
that the evidence does not stop here. It is proved by
evidence uncontradicted and unimpeachable, that Bri-
tish subjects, who enter into the military service of
their country, undergo a change'in that service, and by
means of its system of discipline, more beneficial than
is imparted, in similar circumstances, to the subjects
of any other State—that when in the army they
speedily attain not merely to an equality with the mili-
tary-subjects of any other Government
,in those par-
ticulars in which they might .naturally be expected
to be permanently inferior, but that in those
very particulars they greatly surpass every other
army—that whether at home or in the colonies—
whether stationed for a time in the dominions of
a friendly Power, or acting in the face of an
enemy—whether flushed by victory, or depressed
by defeat—whether animated in an advance of har-
rassed in a retreat—in all positions, and in all circum-
stances, they invariably prove themselves to be the
most orderly and best conducted of any military body
on the face of the earth. These facts, uncontested
and incontestable, are surely decisive against such es-
sential and irrevocable change in our system of mili-
tary discipline, as the sentimental pretenders to supe-
rior humanity and refinement urge with so much im-
portunity and vehemence. It is notorious that the
discipline of the French army is maintained by frequent
recourse to the punishment of death, a severity scarcely
known in that of Great Britain ; and it is equally no-
torious that notwithstanding this habitual recurrence
to this fatal extremity of punishment, and notwithstand-
ing, also, the superior social elements of which- the
French army is, undoubtedly composed, the latter is
immeasurably l infeiior to the army of Great : Bri-
tain in respect to the daily personal conduct of the
troops, particularly in an enemy's country. Would it
be gratifying to our humanity-mongers to know that in
the next campaign in which British troops shall be en-
gaged, for every man who but for their stupid interfe-
rence would have been flogged, it will be`necessary that
a man shall be shot ? Yet this is the most probable
result of their exertions. Those who are ready to con-
sent that the youths from our counting-houses, shops,
factories and farms—from our grammar-schools and
Universities, from the laboratory of the chemist, and
the studio of the artist—shall be forced into the
ranks by an indiscriminate conscription, may, with-
out absurdity or 'wickedness, insist on the aboli-
tion of corporal punishment in the British army.
Those who are ready, to consent that persons of the
above-mentioned classes shall be induced volun-
tarily to enter into the ranks by such inducements as
must double the expense of our military establishment,
may, without absurdity or wickedness, insist upon the
abolition of corporal punishment in the army. Those
who arc ready to consent that twenty soldiers should
be shot by their comrades, for the preservation of
discipline, in the place of each one who now suffers
that extreme penalty, may, without additional ab-
surdity or wickedness, insist upon the abolition of cor-
poral punishment in the British army. After the full
and conclusive investigation the subject has now un-
dergone, nothing can be more just than to demand
of every man, who continues to urge the abolition of
corporal punishment, to which of the above classes he
beiongs.—Morninfr Post.
With feelings of" indignation, abhorrence, and dis-
gust, too strong for_ language to express, we have
lately referred to the revolting Report of the Commis-
sioners appointed to inquire into military punishments;
however, it is but justice to the Commissioners to state
that the atrocious nature of the evidence brought be-
fore them extenuates, to a certain extent, the enor-
mity of the sentiments to which they have given
expression. We have merely to take as a specimen
the testimony borne by his Grace of Wellington,
which for absurdity, inconsistency, and inhumanity,
may serve as a model for all less eminent in the prac-
tice of tyrannical inflictions. His Grace appears to
have but one principle of
,aictior
fiecria- Catholic— emancipation. "It
is inflicted," says he, " because it is a matter
of necessity." He denies that solitary confinement
has
ma produced
y,
aeenpy ioccasionallynmg a
man
nh mw nfhyr
0101
am: effect, ctsxs pa,
saved
esntnls
diudrLteiehretesod
the heat
solitary ivateraryftn
from
nmoad climatesfifaantefiiegnv it
enr
t
cbLoyt trko
Thereb oarraet e, if
few
pluieuischamn,enstuscflriunainwiirlircahtiomnaeln,asusicidrtion
es-
peciallyfrum
that the
of u n
beingt el 1 el
ecfttu awli t
huo
tritti o
enu, prink,msphaiu iopr.e t h
Butan
ite ylvdoeud be a
nlee
throughs irksomeit a
sb
ats unnecessary b
atities.His to fl
Grace,
raoclw the
eo,ina
word, states " there is no punishment which makes
an impression upon any body, except corporal pu-
nishment I!" What I—is the British soldier so
brutal and debased that the terror of the lash is his
only incentive to action ? In allusion to taking
pri-
soners to solitary confinement, his Grace observes,
" Moreover, you would soon require something to
prevent what I should call the knocking-down system
—the knocking-down the sentry or the non-commis-
sioned officer who is taking the man to the place of
solitary confinement." But is there no danger of the
" knocking-down" system being acted upon in cases of
flogging ? Is the man who would knock down the
person who might take him in charge to.confinement,
likely to forbear from taking greater vengeance on them
who might be accessary to inflicting on him a punish-
ment from which English laws protect the brute-?
And should he do so, who would feel sympathy with
the victim of a retribution which the law of humanity
—a
tion_lawpruthelaatimcasn, ninotthb r
ee
heartepele
aofd
ebvyertyyramannna le
,ictol
be
islajust,
and consistent with the dignity .and impulses of his
nature ?—Morning Advertiser.