The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-08 00:00:00

FLOGGING AT HOUNSLOW.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.
Sir,—l have hitherto abstained from all defence of my
conduct with reference to the late court-martial and inquest
on private Frederick White of the 7th Hussars, trusting that
when the mass of false reports and distorted facts had been
cleared away by time and inquiry, the good sense and feel-
ing of the public could not fail to do me justice ; but deli-
berate false statements made by a recognised authority, such
as are presented by Mr. Wakley's address to his jury, can-
not be slurred over without personal denial. I pass over
the question as to whether flogging was the cause of the
man's death. I leave that to be treated by surgeons in
general and the Medical Times (vide Medical Times of
Saturday, August 1). I pass over the question as to whether
it was fitting and decent that Mr. Wakley, utterly throwing
aside the opinions of the other uninterested medical men,
should recommend the jury to abide by the single opinion
of Mr. Erasmus Wilson. •
I pass over whether it was right that even after Mr.
Erasmus Wilson's discovery, it was proper that the body
should be re-interred without at least giving the other me-
dical gentlemen an opportunity of seeing whether it really
was a fact that such a change was there or not; and lastly,
whether the most general mode of obtaining correct evidence
on any point is to question and admit the evidence of the
criminals themselves, as was done throughout, in the vast
mass of irrelevant matter brought before the inquest. On
all these points I say nothing, but leave them to the world
and the medical profession to deal with, and pass at once
to the broad statement made by Mr. Wakley, in his address
to the jury, that in this case there had been a deliberate
attempt to hold back that investigation due to the law, to
the regiment, and to society. We will now see how far this
statement is justified. On the morning of the 11th July, it
was reported to me by Surgeon Warren that private White
was in a state of danger, from an acute attack of inflam-
mation, that the progress of the disease was rapid, and he
feared it might terminate fatally. I immediately desired
Dr. Warren to report the facts to Sir James Macgregor, the
head of the medical board, and on this report Dr. Hall was
sent down. The man died that night. A post mortem exami-
nation was then made on the 13th, of which the following is
a copy.
[This document has already appeared in our columns.l
On the receipt of this I forwarded it direct to the Adju-
tant-General. The ordinary course in the service is to bury
men the second day after death, whereas this man died on a
Saturday, and the application was made on the Monday to
bury him. On the Wednesday following, or almost five days
after his decease (and that in the hottest weather ever ex-
perienced in this country), the arrangement for his burial
was made, as is usual in the service, by his troop, and an
attempt is made to fasten a charge of misrepresentation
and concealment on the authorities, because the troop
sergeant, who bore the application utterly ignorant of
A. a • ,;- ..411 UleU,
pears to have been as rieltr tile k iu
the opinion of other medical men. Still, to prevent any
misconception arising from this statement, as I found there
were various reports afloat, I sent over to Dr. Trimmer
a copy of the medical certificate on the post mortem
examination the following morning. It was during the
period between the Saturday of his decease and the
Wednesday of his burial that the speculation of public
curiosity was attracted—not from any suspicions (as the co-
roner states) in the regiment as to the cause of the man's
death, nor from any suppressed publication of the medical
examination that had taken place, but from mischievous
misrepresentations, for which I can scarcely be supposed
answerable, as there were no circumstances regarding this
man's death that could embarrass a commanding officer. It
is quite clear that there could be no necessity for concealing
it on the part of the " people in the barracks," and it is
equally clear that the mystery which the coroner alleges to
have hung round the report of this man's death when men-
tioned at the registrar's office, and to the clergyman, was a
mystery that could be traced no further than themselves, and
solely of their own creation. Nor am I aware that the
inquest has elicited any facts, with the exception of Mr.
Wilson's discovery, that the public might not have been
in possession of bad they applied to the proper source.
From the time of the post mortem examination, I further
beg to say thatl placed no bar to the free communication
between the soldiers and civilians. The usual ingress and
egress to the barracks went on between -both parties, which
would scarcely have been the case had I been anxious to
suppress information. Before the inquest sat I desired
Captain Thurley, the senior officer of my regiment, to wait
on Mr. Wakley, and give him every information in his
power, which was done. And further, I wrote at the same
time to Mr. Wakley myself, to the effect that my most
anxious wish was to afford the public, the coroner, and
thejury, every aid in my power to assist their investiga-
tion—stated, although not summoned, I was there in readi-
ness, and anxious to answer any question that any member
of the jury might wish to put, and requested him to read
my letter to the Court. It, however, suited his purposes
better to put it in his pocket; and not name it until
the end of the examination of the second week,
when he made casual mention of it. Mr. Wakley appears to
think that I ought to have reported and made statements on
the circumstances of the man's death, directly to himself and
other civil authorities, and by no means seems to divine
that my duty, as a soldier, was simply to give a full and
clear statement to superior military authorities, and having
done so, to act afterwards solely on their orders. Be this as
it may, I trust that I have made clear to the public that
there was no attempt at concealment on my part or that of
the regiment ; and, therefore, that his statement on the
opening of his address to the jury was utterly unfounded,
and calculated to bias most unnecessarily the minds of the
jury and the public at large—Your most obedient,
(Signed) J. WHYTE, Lieut.-Col. 7th Hussars.
Hounslow Barracks, Aug. 5, 1846.

REMOVAL OF THE COURT TO

THE ISLE OF WIGHT.

PORTSMOUTH, 7.—This afternoon, at twenty-five
minutes past four o'clock, her Majesty, Prince Albert, the
Royal Family, and the Queen of the Belgians, arrived at the
Royal Clarence Victualling Establishment, en route for
Osborne House, Isle of Wight, where the Court will sojourn
for about three weeks.

Mr. C. Stovin, the general manager, and the chief officers
of the South-Western Railway Company, accompanied the
train to Gosport, which made the passage in the usual time,
two hours and a quarter.
On alighting her Majesty was received by Admiral Sir
Charles Ogle, the Commander-in. Chief, and the chief officers
of the port, the Lieutenant-Governor, Major-General the
Hon. Sir Hercules Pakenham, and staff, the Colonels of the
regiments in garrison, the officers of the Clarence-yard, and
a guard of honour of the 74th Highlanders.
It being quite low water, their Majesties and the royal
party embarked in the state barge at the Clarence-stairs, and
were steered by Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence to the royal
yacht, which left at a quarter to five o'clock for East Cowes
(under salutes from the Victory, Platform Battery, and the
Contest, at Spithead), where it arrived about six o'clock.
His Majesty the King of the Belgians will come down to-
morrow. His Majesty will leave the Claremont station of
the South-Western Railway at four o'clock, r.m., and
will
return to London on Wednesday, on which day their Majes-
ties will take their departure from Woolwich for Ostend.
Her Majesty the Queen appeared in the enjoyment of ex-
cellent health and spirits, as did the Prince Consort and the
Royal Family.