The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-27 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAM►ENI

HOUSE OF LORDS, April 26.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Wool-
sack at Five o'clock.
REGISTRATION BILL (SCOTLAND).
The Duke of RICHMOND presented a petition from
the Presbytery of Airdrie against the Registration 0
Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Scotland) Bill.
ELECTION OF PEERS (SCOTLAND).
The Earl of EGLINTON gave notice that, on Frday
next, he would move for a Select Committee to inquire
into the existing laws regulating the election ut the
Representative Peers in Scotland.
MESSAGE FROM THE COMMONS.
Messengers from the Commons brought up
several
Bills.

POOR REMOVAL ACT.
Lord MELBOURNE presented several petitions from
Shepton Milieu, and other places, praytmg their Lord'
ships to alter or amend the Puor Removal Act of last
session.
The Duke of RICHMOND did not believe that any
one session of Parhammt would be sufficient to t:+l3
into consideration the whole law of settlement. Ile
believed that no Government would be so unwise as r°
attempt to do so, when there was every chance of Parlia-
ment being immediately dissolved.
After a few words from Lord CAMPBELL,
The Earl of REDESDALE said, on the whole he Co'
sid4 red that the law had worked well. As far as the pc3r
were concerned it Irwl worked beneficially. It would b
extremely injudicious to make any alteration at present
in the law, and he holed that it would be allowed to is
worked 'another session. No Committee would recour
mend any alteration at present.

The petition was the laid on the table.
GOVERNMENT SCHEME OF EDUCATION.
Lord BROUGHAM laid on the table several petitions
from the Dissenters against the mode of application bi
Government of the public funds with respect to
education.

ARMY SERVICE BILL.
Earl GREY moved the order of the day for the
second reading of this Bill, and said he would now Pr°-
ceed to do what he had declined to do on a former ee"
casion when the subject was brought before the House
by a Noble Lord, who he regretted to see was not then
in his place. He considered it his duty now
tinter into an explanation of the principles of the Thy
which he thought he ought not to have done then, 016
was not before the House. The Bill must not he.
considered as a single or isolated measure, hai
taken in connexion with other measures, ,_°
which it formed only a part. During ,t_u%
last twenty years a series of measures
been brought forward which had for their object the
raising the chsracter of the
the army, and improving
condition of the soldier. The Noble Lord, however, to
whom he referred, argued that no such improvement bad
taken place, and he regarded it as great presumption
on the part of the Government to dell with such
subject. But, with all deference to that Noble Lord, 1.
(Earl Grey) was of opinion that the Government, from'
the opportunity they had of communicating with the
were
most eminent and di.tinguished military officers, we'"
able to obtain such advice, and to receive such ogge.s-
tions as rendered them qualified to treat the question ra
all its bearings ; and experience had proved that it ha t
done so, not only without injury, but with grey
benefit to the army. When the Noble Lord con-
' tended that there was no necessity for these msesuresi
As the army was in a highly effective and excelleeec
state, he (Earl Grey) was compelled to differ from
and conceived that there was not only great room burs,
great need for these improvements. He did not, boweve.,;
mean, in giving expression to that opinion, to disparage
any degree the merits and excellencies of the British army
To show the fallacy of the argument of the Noble gar:.
quis, who said that because the army had been victorionsi
that therefore the system was perfect, he might aPP.ehne
to an illustrious witness who was then among them--•,_
Noble Duke, who sat on the cross benches, in his tr
spatches, which were at once the best and the oatint
authentic records of his great achievements, and
most imperishable motament of hisfame— bad repeateelY
10
described the difficulty with which he had to struggrb
in conservenee of the defects of the army whlnot
he commanded, and he would say that they could
fully appreciate the achievements of the Noble Dur'n,
and the debt that the country owed him, if they did. did
temember what those difficulties were, and if thee _rot
not understand that the Noble Duke had to a grAid
extent to create the means by which these splen"ct
victories were gained. He had to discipline and insten_,
both the officers and soldiers whom he commanded, ens.
who formed the army at the bead of which, in the
course of a few years, he rolled back the tide of co.
quest which had flowed so nearly over the whole renin•
SAN and terminated upon the plains of Waterloo, in that
memorable contest, the wiar which he had commenced
upon the shores of the Atlantic. The Noble Duke wale
• d• e pursue in the army
the best witness of the system to h
in those days. It would be in the recollection of rnanY
who were still in the army, that in those days the bon
was unfortunately made the instrument of maintaining
the discipline of the army, and by which all offence!!
both great and small, were punished. While for ail:
serious cases the lash was used with a degree of sevehretrio
from which they at present recoiled with horrn_Ar' twee
were instances in which this punishment bib" 25,
inflicted with great severity so lately as the year 18
of
when a general court-martial awarded a sentence; b
no less than 1,900 lashes to be received, and of whse,.
sentence, no fewer than 1,200 were actually inflicter
is
~
It was many years before any change took place in th
state of things. An alteration was made in the system
in the year 1818, by which it was made illegal to brive.g
out the man a second time, in order that he migh, c_r.
ceive those lashes which before he was not able to .Deen
In the year 1833 Lord Hill restricted the haflictionc::
corporal punishment to a very small number of o
ffe
In the Mutiny Act of 1836, the number of the lashes,
nflict,
in the power of any court martial to 1.
was limited to 200, and in the autumn of the last year
lan order had been issued, very properly', by the °I
Duke on the cross benches, restricting the number v
es
the cluing
lashes, for any offence, to fifty. Such were the.
which had been introduced in the system frees43ea.
sear 1833. Great improvements had air too
made in the system of imprisonment of the soldier'so th°
sequent upon the diminution of the punishme-121 to
lash. He would then call the attention of the .I:l?n_b_v
to
the great improvements which had also taken plae7.,„
the comforts and condition of the soldier with resPlyet','""
barrack accommodation. It was a fact, that We
there wereeBoo feet, that 600 feet were retrisite2... far
improvement, however, that had taken pisne.,77 had
from perfect. There was one improvement emery,
the
taken place which was deserving of notice—
b*,ct of the
providing of places for recreation. The su
bad been taken
state and improvement of colonial troops
their Lord-
up, which was most important, because, as _ee the
ships were aware, that it was the strong pressor!
r. ft
colonial service that rendered the service unpopula,
sb
was a fact that, as late as 1836, only two days
remainder
provisions were issued to the soldiers, and the .
of the week they were obliged to take salt provisioo_3
An improvement had taken place in that particular.
been
Savings banks had also established, the effect 0
which would prove most beneficial. Measures had also
been adopted for improving instruction in
That was a matter of the greatest importance,
because the welfare of soldiers was in a great
measure dependent upon the instruction they received.
Having thus stated generally, but imperfectly, the roes"
sures which had been lately introduced fur the improve-
merit of the army, he would now call attention to their
effects, and in doing so he would refer to two heads the
state of punishment, and the mortality in the arm
_,Y•
With regard to the first, he was sorry to say that he ha"
not returns to prove this as he could wish, but he had no
doubt he would be able to show that the improvement
had
been very great, and that there had been a great
diminution in punishment in the army. In 1818, out of
28,900 men, there were 2,273 who were sent to the bat'
p.tal after the infliction of corporal punishment, being
80 men out of 1,000. Last year there were only 4 eutu
1,000 who were subjected to corporal punishment._
the year 1829 there were 19 out of the 1,000, and tcp-7,
that year to 1836, the series was 16, 14, 11, 10, an
re'
respectively, out of the 1,000. From 1836 to the
,he
sent time, the number had been progresst'vely there
Tn
ing. In 1845 it was reduced to 6 7-10. - 18466
wy from
were no returns, but from that portion of the army
which they had returns, it was only 4 out of the
He found that the sentences of death were very a_ll
decreased in number in the ten years between 1826 r:
'
1835; the number of sentences of death passed svia,,
seventy six, and of which forty-one were acttle"-Y,
executed, the remainder were commuted to transperted
don. The punishment in the last few years
dwindled down to only one and two each year, while the
sentences of transportation and imprisonment were Prn-
portionately dec. eased. He found that while the sittni,,;
ber of men serving in the army was increased,
mortality had decreased, in consequence of the nseagir:e
taken for the benefit of the troops, and by which thud
health was very much improved. He had in his le
returns of the comparative health of the troops• n to
found that in the Mediterranean, in the 20 years %ion
1835, the mortality was 23 s.loths for every I,olsiity
employed, while during the last two years the me% the
had been reduced to 14. In other foreign places the
mortality was diminished in a similar rate was
island of St. Helena, while the Emperor Nap station
detained there, the troops appointed to the. , der,
scarcely ever eat fresh provisions except on ePecissi
very
and they were subject, although the station wa
_fficers
healthy one, to very severe mortality; while the 0 and
who rege•
who were exempt from the regulation w
ens Ortality.
to these provisions, were entirely free from al, he had
In Jamaica, during the twenty years to whi"
-10ths per
referred, the soldiers died at the rate of 128 6-
the P°9l-
- but within these few years, by chang
ing of the
don of the barracks, and improving the conditionlOths the
1,000. the mortality had been reduced to 29 7 in the
I,ooo.—(Hear, hear.) The result was,
that
atality was
whole ot the tropical climates where the ni0..r...0,12 per
formerly 84 2-10ths, it was now only 42. 1.1 the lest
within
1,000, or a saving of life had been effected
h t a battalion
two years, of no less than 1,035 men, or about
was
sorry
a y ear.—(Hear, hear.) In India, however,
lace, but 130
to say that no such improvement had taken place,
one.,
thought that state would only
be
a temporary
improve-
(Hear, hear.) He did not think, however, n 00.
meet had as yet reached its highest point,
arovement in
sidered tl,at there was ample room for
Pnd elevating
the condition of the soldier, by improving
_aticing more
the position of the army, and thereby ind
Looking
art
respectable class of persons to join its ranks'compared viz
at the actual position of the soldiers,
as
hire. and other
the condition of the labourers in Dorsets
on
reason
that the
counties of' the country, it was really a a
-wnl reason tbst
army was not more sought after. The o y
he could find was, that the army was composed lag `ile
character.
ral of persons of the lowest, improve,
at
did not look forward to see any gre
change }lea
went in the condition of the army until a
tea „tie
take place in this respect, and the authorities
tadaS any
army were induced to say, " We wilt n,t_huricter.
person into the army, except persons of goou