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

persons are frequently sentenced -to receive a number
of lashes, which it is now clearly proved may
produce the most fatal results, at the mere will and
pleasure of the prison authorities. The public feeling
has most properly been directed against this descrip-
ti-in of punishment, and its infliction even in the pri-
vacy of the prison-house is strongly objected to.
We may hope that the report of the newly-appointed
Commission will fully enter into this point, and that
measures may be suggested for the total abolition of
the practice, or, at least, the adoption of better regu-
lations with respect thereto. There must be some-
thing radically wrong in the system which leads to
so fearful a number of suicides as those effected and
attempted in the prison within the last three years.
The statements, too, that prisoners had ben
removed to the hulks in a dying state, to avoid the
inquest before the coroner, which would be neces-
sary in the event of their dying within the prison—
that persons had been so removed while unable to gst
up from their beds, and in so weakly a state that
brandy and water was administered to them
during their journey to keep up their strength,
require a searching and ample investigation.
The extraordinary number of cases of insanity, deaths,
or pardons of prisoners on medical grounds, must
be fully explained, if the causes can possibly be
traced. We know nothing of the governor of the
prison ; we should be the last to condemn him with-
out full evidence of the truth of the statements.
It is a very different thing investigating charges
so brought forward, and acting on them
as if they were fully proved. The more
serious they are the less willing should we
be to admit their accuracy. Captain GROVES ap-
pears to have met the charges in a manly and inde-
pendent manner. It appears that he wrote to Sir
GEORGE GREY, stating his anxiety to meet the
charges and his desire that they should be adju-
dicated on by persons other than the Prison
Inspectors. This is certainly very creditable to him,
and affords a certain presumption against his guilt.
Under any circumstances the result of the inquiry
must be beneficial; and if it should not be conducted
in a fair and proper manner, it will be open to any
Member, in the early part of next session, to move for
a Committee of the House, to inquire not merely into
the charges, but also into the manner in which the
Commissioners have exercised their powers. Mr.
DGNCOMBE, therefore, acted with much discretion in
resting satisfied for the present with the promise of
the Home Secretary, and awaiting the result of the
promised inquiry.

The treaty of Navigation between Austria and
Russia was signed on the 20th July.
The Agnates of AUGUSTENROURG and of GLUCKS-
nounG and the Grand Duke of OLDENaURG have
protested against the letter patent of the King of
DENMARK on the subject of the succession to the
Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
The police of Hesse Cassel have orders to make
out a list of all the German Catholics, and to report
periodically on their conduct.

Madrid papers of the 4th have arrived. The ru-
mour that GONZALES BRAVO had been recalled from
Lisbon was again Prevalent in Madrid. The Spanish
Government is giving every encouragement to
General FLORES, late President of the Republic of
the Ecuador, to raise troops in Spain, nominally for
the service of the Republic, but it is shrewdly sus-
pected that their destination will be Mexico, and their
mission the establishment of a monarchy.
MATuo, Borst, AUG. 4.—The Three per Cents. were done
at 33% for cash, the Five per Cents. at 22%, the Four per
tents. at 21 9-16, the Debt without Interest at 04, and the
Coupons at 20.