The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-12 00:00:00

Anglo-Indian troops before its embattlements with
a formidable array of heavy artillery. The
manoeuvre not merely awed the garrison into instant
submission, but has aroused the astonishment of the
northern inhabitants generally. The impression is, if
possible, confirmed that English arms are invincible.
KoteKangra has re-evide d
nee_ the puissance displayed
at &brawl.

Gratified, however, as we must undoubtedly be at
such signal assurances of the awe—the wholesome
awe—inspired into our Asiatic subjects and the
people of the neighbouring states by the valour of our
brave soldiers, we cannot but be the more fully im-
pressed with the necessity that exists for consulting
in every possible particular the happiness, the
social comfort, the health and the moral welfare
of those same instruments of our Eastern dominion.
It should never be forgotten that our prosperity in
that wonderful empire, which is surrounded byAsiatic
Russia, Hindostan, China, and the Indian Ocean, is
dependent solely upon the log alty and subordination
and courage of our armies. Considering this, and
remembering the deeds they have achieved
from Seringapatam to Jellalabad, that their
heart's blood has flowed freely on the battle-plains,
and that their constitutions have been wasted in our
service, let us, in the name of justice, in the name of
gratitude, and in the name of policy, shield them
from any unnecessary suffering, and preserve them
from any superfluous dangers ! Hurricanes and con-
tagious diseases are unquestionably casualties which no
human foresight can prevent. We grant that ; but
we do not grant that barracks must by necessity be
built of cardboard, or of gingerbread, or of such
flimsy materials as are subverted at the first change
in the atmosphere ; nor can we perceive the
obligation that exists of treating the wives and
children of soldiers with little more tenderness
than that evinced by GONERIL and REGAN.
Better abolish all the trumpery of ribbons and
medals, and build good barracks and resting-places of
substantial brick.

A discussion of considerable interest took place in
the House of Lords last night, on the occasion of the
presentation of a petition by Earl FORTESCUE, for the
abolition of flogging in the army. The declaration
of the Duke of WELLINGTON, who commands an
influence far beyond that of mere official rank, is
highly gratifying—viz., " that in consequence of the
feeling of the Government, of Parliament, and of the
public on it, he had taken upon himself
greatly to diminish its severity, and he hoped that
with that arrangement which may be made in fu-
ture in the alteration of the law it may be still fur-
ther diminished, so as to lead at last to its final dis-
Continuance." We have here the direct admission of
the universal detestation with which the horrible sys-
tem is regarded by persons of all ranks and condi-
tions throughout the nation. With the Government,
the Parliament, and the public arrayed against
it, their feelings strongly excited on the
point, there would be little prospect of its
being suffered much longer to remain the stigma, the
disgrace of the British nation ; but we have also the
intimation given by the only man who could, even for
a time, resist that feeling, that " he hopes it may be
still further diminished, so as to lead to its
final discontinuance." This is a cheering an-
nouncement for those who are conscientiously
opposed to the practice, but they must not on
that account relax their exertions, or abandon
the agitation they were about to commence. Already
steps have been taken for the formation of a society
to promote the abolition of flogging in the army and
navy. Within one single week a meeting will be
held at Exeter Hall for that purpose, and sincerely
do we hope that on that occasion the friends of huma-
nity will not be wanting—that a demonstration so
powerful will be made as to convince those who
still advocate the necessity of its continuance,
that other and less objectionable means must be de-
vised for the preservation of military discipline.
Much has of late years been done in mitigation of
the grievance ; the number of lashes which can by
any possibility be ordered, have been diminished
from 1,200 or 1,500 to 200, and since the recent re-
gulation to 50. Has that regulation impaired the
efficiency of the army, or made it more diffi-
cult to maintain the proper and necessary subor-
dination ? Far from it; in proportion to the reduction
of lashes, the discipline has been improved, the sol-
diers have been more orderly and better disposed.
Ills Grace himself has borne his strongest testimony
in that behalf; he says—" I assure you that the
troops are now, at this moment, daily in the per-
formance of services which you would not require—
nay, I go further, and say that you could not have,
from any other troops in the world." And
again—" If any acccident happens, such as ship-
wreck, they act in the most admirable
manner, and I find that they acquire the confidence
of all." This conduct, so justly described by his
Grace, must surely satisfy any unprejudiced and dis-
passionate mind that the persons so eulogised are
capable of being influenced by other and higher
motives than those of fear. They have so distin-
guished themselves, not by reason of, but in despite
of the lash. It is a universally admitted fact,
that what are usually styled flogging regiments are
in a worse state of organisation, in every respect
inferior to those in which the cat has been suffered
to fall into disuse. The commanding officers who have
taken the lead in this humane experiment have at-
tained a degree of popularity in their respective re-
giments that has had the effect of inducing the men
to do that from love which could not be produced by
fear alone. In no instance has it been found
that men have become worse in consequence of
their being treated as men, and net degraded
to the condition of brutes. How can you
possibly hope for the maintenance of that high spirit
of honour, the existence of which is so necessary in
the army, essentially an honourable profession, it its
members are subjected to such degradation? We
may be pardoned for again quoting the opinions
of Sir CHARLES NAPIER, as to the improved
state of discipline consequent upon the de-
crease of corporal punishment. That gallant
General says, " When I was a subaltern, the
army was not in a high state of discipline, yet the
punishments were extremely severe. Now the army
is in a high state of discipline, and punishments are
comparatively mild." And, speaking of the present
state of the army he says, " It is difficult to imagine
an army that has not seen services to be in
a more perfect state of discipline, as far as the
private soldiers are considered." This is evidence
that cannot be impeached or underrated,
The Gallant Officer then draws a picture of what
punishment was, contrasted with what it now is :
" That he then frequently saw 600, 700, 800, 900,
and 1,000, sentenced by regimental courts-martial,
and generally every lash inflicted ; the unhappy
victim of such barbarous work brought out
from hospital three or four times to receive
the remainder of his punishment, too severe to
be borne without danger of death, at one flogging,
and sometimes the prolonged torture applied, for
the avowed purpose of adding to its severity." Let
the same witness answer to its effects :—" Yet, with
all the above stated severity (may I not say ferocity?)
of discipline, I have proved that the army
was then in an inferior state to what it
is now. And if it be asked why, with such
severe punishments to restrain crime, was not
the army in a higher state of discipline ? I answer,
because every soldier who beheld such bloody execu-
tions lost sight of the criminal, and beheld only a
martyr in the flogged man. The cool reason of every
man of sense condemned the cruelty, and crime lost
its shame, when over-severity of punishment turned
the criminals into hefoes." Again, we find the
following :—" A dreadful flogging, disproportioned
to the crime resolutely borne, sends more men away
with their courage whetted, to irritate the culprit,
than struck with fear of being placed in his situation.
The law becomes judged, condemned, and defied as
an enemy. If the poor culprit sends forth screams
of agony, if he faint, he is an object of pity, perhaps
of contempt—a poor devil that it is a sin to cut up;
and a sin, in such cases as I have stated, no doubt it
is. The man of reflection needs no other proof of
the inefficiency of the excess of punishment as it then
stood than those I have given. It was cruel and it
was not effectual." Again—" When punishments
are slight, their effect is powerfully added to by the
hearty concurrence evinced by the public in their
justice—the culprit finds no commisseration. If pu-

nishments are over severe, the culprit is sustained by
public pity, and the violence of his punishment is thus
mitigated, even though the public think him justly
condemned."

We cannot apologise for the length at which we
have quoted from this admirable work. Every
opinion expressed therein carries with it a conviction
to the mind of the sincerity of the writer, of the
justice and accuracy of the views he has put
forth. Now that the public feeling is so strongly
excited on the topic, we cannot render
better service than by putting prominently
forward the deliberate opinions of a man like Sir
CHARLES NAPIER. There is not a single page of his
work on military law and dogging from the perusal
of which it would be possible to rise without new
reasons being forced on the mind why the revolting
Practice should be altogether abolished. They are
not new opinions taken up by him to suit
the present occasion ; they have grown with
his growth and strengthened with his strength.
Forty years of service in all parts of the world,
during which he has gained immortal honours for
himself, and attained the highest glory ; where his
services in every station, whether as subaltern or
commander, were such as to entitle him to the
laurels he has received, the fame he has won, have
only confirmed the impressions originally inculcated
by his renowned father, a father worthy of such
a hero, and the father of heroes, and who oftentimes
stated to his son, "that flogging was an inhuman,
and, in peace, an unnecessary punishment, injurious
to those honourable feelings that he justly held to be
the great principle by which troops should be mainly
governed ;" and who, of course, thought, with such
feelings, " that flogging ought to be abolished."

A letter from Kiel, of the 4th of August, says :
" The congress of German lawyers which was to
have met at Kiel on the 6th of this month, but the
meeting of which has been forbidden by the Danish
Government, will be held in the island of Heligoland,
which since 1815 has belonged to England. The
congress will be opened on the 14th of this month,
and proceed to deliberate on the measures to be
adopted in order to secure in all the states of Ger-
many the establishment of the public and oral examina-
tion of witnesses in all judicial proceedings, and trial
by jury in all criminal cases."

Letters from Rome state that the POPE has dis-
patched Monsignore CORBOLI Bussi to Bologna, with
orders to dismiss the 400 Swiss in garrison there.
These men, who were engaged for twenty years,
will be paid an indemnity. The laws of Rome re-
quire that none but Roman Catholics should serve in
the Swiss guards, and as more thanone-half of those at
present serving in the Roman territory are Pro-
testants, it is said that the POPE will take advantage
of that circumstance to diminish the difficulties in the
way of annulling the treaty with the Helvetic Con-
federation.

The deputation of Jews which went up to congra-
tulate the POPE on his accession, was well received.
His HOLINESS, on the 15th ult., issued an ordonnance
permitting Jews in distress to share in the alms dis-
tributed by his orders.

Madrid journals of the sth have arrived. Great
preparations were making at La Granja for the re-
oeption of her MAJESTY. It was rumoured in Madrid
that differences had occurred in the Cabinet between
the Minister of Justice and his colleagues, in conse-
quence of his having taken upon himself, vt ithout con-
sulting them, to decree the suppression of the Com-
mittee charged with preparing the new code.
According to the Espandt M. MoN has dispatched
the Director-General of the Sinking Fund to Lon-
don, on a financial mission.

The following royal ordonnance, modifying the
import duties on cotton goods, has just been promul-
gated .
"Art. 1. Cotton• from foreign ports and colonies, which
are not places of the production, will continue to pay the
present duty.
"2. Cotton coming direct from the foreign parts where it
is produced, will pay a customs duty of 5 per cent. on the
valuation of 256 reals the quintal.
"3. If a vessel arriving at the Havannab, or at Puerto
Rico, demand the depot of their cargo without discharging,
it shall be granted, on paying a duty of 1 per cent., and the
same amount on leaving, and a duty of 3 per cent. at the
port of its destination. _ _ .

"4. Cotton coming from the Spanish colonies, and of
Spanish production, will continue, to pay the present duty.
"5. The preceding provisions only relate to cotton im-
ported in Spanish bottoms; cotton in foreign vessels will
continue to pay the duties hitherto levied."
MAnrn, BoLsA, AUG. s.—The Three per Cents. were done
at 33% for cash, the Five per Cents. at 23, the Four per
Cents. at 2i%, the Debt without Interest at 6%, and the
Coupons at 20.

We have received the Paris papers of Monday.
The Journal des Debats says—

"On Monday next the Chamber of Peers and the new
Chamber of Deputies will be opened for the short session, in
which the latter will proceed to the verification of the quali-
fication of its members, and to the formation of its but eaux.
It is said that the King will open this session in person, and
that his Majesty will confine himself to expressing in a few
words his satisfaction at seeing assembled around him the
representatives of the nation. The Chambers will reply by
an address to the words of the King, and, after the verifica-
tion of qualifications, the nomination of the presidents, of
the vice-presidents, the secretaries, and the questors, the
session will be prorogued to the usual period, the end of De-
cember or the beginning of January. It is at that time that
the usual opening speech will be made. It is thought that
the preparatory session, which will open on the lith instant,
will not continue beyond the beginning of September."

The Presse estimates the Conservative majority in
the new Chamber at 124, the Debats at 107. The
following statistics of the new Chamber may be found
not uninteresting :
"New writs must be issued, when the Chamber meets, for
five colleges in which there have been double returns, but it
is more than probable that in all these cases members will
be nominated of the same opinions as those called on to resign
one of their seats. The double returns alluded to are, on the
Conservative side, those of M. de Salvandy for Evreux and
Le.ctour ; and, on the Opposition side, of M. G. de Beaumont,
for Mamers and Saint Calais; General de Thiars, for Chalons
and Lannion ; M. Paillet, for Chateau-Thierry and La Ro-
chelle; and M. Berger, for Thiars and the second Arrondisse-
ment of Paris. The number of new Deputies amounts to 117,
of whom 84 are Conservative and 33 Oppositionists. The
number of Conservatives who sat in the late Chamber, and have
not been re-elected in 1846, is .57; and that of the Opposition
Deputies in the same case, 60. Out of these 57 Conserva-
tives not re-elected, 24 did not stand at the late election;
out of the 33 others, 20 were replaced by Conservatives,
and 13 ousted by the Opposition. Out of the 60 Opposi-
sition Deputies not re-elected, 16 did not come forward;
whilst out of the 44 remaining, 7 were replaced by gen-
tlemen of their own political opinions, and 37 thrown
out by Conservatives. We have in a former article al-
luded to the discomfiture of the Legitimatist party; it will
therefore be sufficient at present merely to state, in addi-
tion, that they have lost 17 seats arid gained 6, leaving a
difference of 11 against them, or about half their number
in the Chamber. The public press has found particular
favour at the late election, and will be more fully repre •
sented in the new Chamber than on any occasion since
1789. Independently of the great number of Deputies
known to write in periodicals, we find six jou•nalists be-
longing to the Paris press elected, viz., M. E. de Girar-
din, of the Presse; M. Leon Faucher and M. Chambolle,
of the Sie'xle; N. Louis Reynaud, of the Courrier Francais;
the Abbe de Genoude, of the Gazette de France; and M. C.
Lesseps, of the Commerce. Two other well• known members
of the Paris press stood, but have been thrown out, viz., M.
Michel Chevalier, the able writer of articles on political eco-
nomy in the Debats, and M. Cuvillier Fleury, a contributor
to the same journal. As the principle of free trade at pre-
sent excites so much attention, we cannot better conclude
this sketch than by stating that the principal libre-echan-
gistes, or supporters of that doctrine, in the new Chamber,
are MM. Theodore Ducos, Clappier, Lherbette, De Lamar-
tine, Blanqui, Leon Faucher, and Reybaud ; while against it
are, in the Left Centre, M. Thiers ; in the Centre, M. Dar-
blay ; in the Extreme Left, M. Marie; and on the Minis-
terial bench, M. Cunin Gridaine, Minister of Commerce. The
elections for Corsica, which are expected to be both in
favour of Ministers, will take place on the Bth, and the new
Chamber will meet on the 17th."

It is probable that before the Chamber meets Mar-
shal SOULT will have retired from the Presidency of
the Minstry. On the subject of his successor we find
the following in the Portefeuille
"We have announced that M. Guizot bad proposed the
Duke de Broglie to his Majesty as the successor of Marshal
Soult as President of the Council of 111inisters. We can now
add that the choice of the Duke de Broglie has met the ap-
probation of all the members of the Cabinet. The question
is, however, will the Duke de Broglie accept the oiler?"
The general opinion appears to be that the Duke
DE BROGLIE will not accept office, and in that case the
Presidency of the Ministry will be conferred on M.
GUIZOT.

Dispatches have been received from Captain BE-.
RARD, of the Rhin, dated from St. Helena, in which
he states that he had visited the French colony at
Akawa, in New Zealand, and found everthing tran-
quil. Captain BERARD adds, that he had received
from the Governor of New Zealand an assurance
that arrangements had been made between the Eng-
lish Government and the Nanto-Bortielaise Company
respecting this colony.
"We have received," says the Constitutionnel,
"some details of an unsatisfactory nature relative to
our squadron on the western coast of Africa. Before
the departure of the vessels, some of the captains
having complained of the quality of the provisions
furnished to them, Captain Bovor, Chief of the Staff
of the Division, made a general inspection, and found
that the biscuit, among other things, was in a bad