The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-10 00:00:00

01411141,

LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 1846.

The debate in the House of Commons on Friday
when Lord JOHN RUSSELL brought forward the new
regulations adopted by the Commander in-Chief with
respect to corporal punishment in the army, cannot
fail to awaken the most lively interest in every per-
son possessing the feelings of common humanity.
We deeply lament that the principle, modified as
it is by the new regulations attached thereto,
is still to be retained and sanctioned in the ser-
vice. Much that is valuable, however, has
been attained, and we cannot doubt that the result
of a very few such discussions as that of Friday night
must lead to the total and entire abolition of the hor-
rible system. We can respect and allow for the feelings
of the Prime Minister, in not making the change an
immediate one, in oppasition to the wishes of the
gallant veteran at the head of the army ;
and we can trace in his speech evidences
of his desire and intention that the improvement
shall not be final, but that it shall gradually lead
to the great end, and that in the meanwhile the
effect of other means and other punishments for
the preservation of military discipline should be fully
tested, so that when they have been found
to be efficacious, and amply sufficient for the
purpose, the degrading and brutalising lash
may be finally and for ever banished.
We must still, however, declare ourselves the uncom-
promising enemy of the practice. Had we enter-
tained any doubt on the subject, it would have been
entirely removed by the able and convincing argu-
ments of the friends of the British soldier, who have
entitled themselves to the highest honour for the
course adopted by them on this occasion. They will
not relax in their exertions. The seed has
been duly sown, and in the fulness of time
will spring up to maturity, and produce the
fruit so earnestly desired by the British people.
A general election must speedily take pace, and the
electors will know how to do their duty. No great
change has ever been effected without much discus-
sion and energetic exertions on the part of its sup-
porters. and none of equal magnitude has ever made
so great, so astounding a progress in so
brief a period. Dangers obvious to the meanest
capacity will be daily passed unnoticed,
without any step being taken for their prevention,
until at length some fatal, some heartrending acci-
dent, will call the public attention thereto, and all
will be astonished at the negligence, the carelessness,
which so long permitted the existence of the nuisance.
It is the last drop of water that will cause the
overflow of the measure, the addition of a trifling
weight that will break the back of the already
over-burdened animal ; so it was the melan-
choly end of poor WHITE, and the full and
searching investigation into its causes that took
place, that fully awakened the attention of
the public to the abominations that were
daily taking place, and excited their warmest indig-
nation, their fixed and earnest resolution that such
things should no longer be sanctioned.
The following are the heads of the proposed
plan. By the present Articles of War, no
offender convicted before a general court-martial
is liable to be sentenced to any corporal punish-
ment exceeding 200 lashes. If convicted by
a district, or garrison court-martial, it cannot
exceed 1.50 lashes, and by a regimental court-
martial, 100 lashes. Under the new rule no court-
martial whatever, -whether general, district, garrison,
or regimental, shall order the infliction of more than
50 lashes. Special directions have also been given
that every precaution than be taken in order to ascer-
tain the state of health of any soldier
who shall be sentenced to corporal punishment,
for the purpose of knowing whether it is
such as to enable him to bear the punishment ordered ;
and other circumstances are to be attended to, such
as extreme heat or severity of the weather, or any
other circumstance whatever which might make the
infliction of the flogging dangerous to the offender.
These are all valuable in their way if the cruel
system must be maintained, and it is deeply to be de-
plored that they were not earlier promul-
gated, by which much suffering might have
been avoided, and human life spared; but
it appears to us to be still defective in some par-
ticulars, in which even the advocates of military
flogging might well be contented to have it
amended. In the first place, why should it be at all
permitted under the sentence of a regimental court-
martial ? The former regulations drew a considerable
distinction, and a very proper one, between the sen-
tence of a regimental and other courts-martial, by per-
mitting only a lesser amount of punishment under
the sentence of the former. The officers of the
offender's regiment are more apt to be influenced by
other considerations than those which appear in evi-
dence during the trial. They are more likely to be
prejudiced, and to select a mode of punishment in one
case which they would not inflict in another. The
sentence is not submitted to the scrutiny or revision
of the higher military authorities, which we conceive
in every case it ought to be, before the offender is sub-
jected to so grievous a torture. The other soldiers of the
regiment will be more satisfied of the strict impar-
tiality of the tribunal, it will make a far deeper im-
pression generally, and it will relieve the officers of
the regiment from odium, and prevent feelings
of dislike and hatred in the men towards those
placed in authority over them. An officer should
never, under any circumstances, sit on a court-mar-
tial for the trial of a soldier of his own regiment
which may end in flogging. Thus the feelings
of mutual goodwill and regard, which should
to the utmost degree be kept up, will be pre-
rserved ...nd maintained. Again, there should be:some
regulations adopted for equalising the punishment.
It is well known that 50 lashes may be made equal
in severity to 500 ; much will depend on the size,
material, and manner of preparing the instrument of
torture, and the mode of inflicting it, and yet this
matter, so important in itself, on which the very
life of the victim may depend, is wholly left to the
discretion of the executioner, a subordinate, who
may possibly entertain feelings of personal malignity
to the man he is about to punish. The evidence
taken before the inquest on WHITE, proved that
there were no printed or written instructions as to
the mode of flogging, or as to the description of cat.
Farrier CEITTEN stated " that he had been fourteen
years in the regiment, and had never, when called
upon to flog a man, received any orders. He lis-
tened to the sentence, and then went to flog
the man sentenced. He had seen old farriers flog,
and, as well as he could, he imitated them
He never had any direction as to the weight or force
of the blow. He struck as he thought best. Ile
never had instructions how to strike, where to strike,
or with what force to strike. He purchased the
whip-cord, and made the cats himself." By an ex-
traordinary circumstance in one of the cats produced
at the inquest, seven out of eight of the knots were
doubled, (thus increasing fearfully the severity of the
punishment therewith inflicted), although Farrier
C:iITTEN positively swore that the double knots
were not made by him, or by any other man. We
have it thus incontestably proved that the entire
matter is left to the sole discretion of an inferior,
little above the rank of the offender, who may in-
crease or mitigate the punishment at his option. This
is a power which should not he permitted to remain
in such hands. Again, if possible, the man
so punished should not be permitted to remain
in the regiment, but should be exchanged
into another on the earliest opportunity, if not dis-
missed the service. It would by this means be
much more valuable as an example to the other
soldiers, and the man would not have the oppor-
tunity of leading astray and seducing his comrades,
who, from sympathy with the sufferer, would be
' induced to COUnt4ullllo and 011E1)00 him. We hero

thrown out these suggestions, not as approving
the practice, but since, unfortunately, it must
be continued for a brief space, to do away
with some few of the objections. It i 3 impossible
to go through the entire debate. The admirable
speech of Dr. BOWRING could not be curtailed or
abridged. It should be deeply studied, and uni-
versally circulated. IVe trust that steps will be taken
to effect this object, so that every Englishman may
be fully informed on the subject in all its fearful
details. We shall only say to the Learned Gentle-
man, persevere in the course you have so well com-
menced, and you will receive the cordial esteem of all
good men—the approbation of your own conscience.

Another protectionist hero has just received an
ovation. The civic crown has scarcely settled down
upon the ears of Lord G. BENTINCK, when another—
just as gaudy with the paint of flattery and the tinsel
of egotism—is awarded to the Marquis of GRANBY.
If banquets are to be given to every individual
capable of spouting nonsense with fluency, or of
pressing upon the Legislature theories utterly used
up and exploded, then must GUNTER enlarge his
cuisine, then must TOOLE open an academy for toast-
masters, then must Sheffield sod Covent-garden
increase their accumulation of cutlery and vegetables.
An epidemic of dinner-parties appears to be raging
in various agricultural districts, the contak.,ion is
spreading with alarming rapidity, and, unless some
corrective be speedily discovered, many of our
leading-string representatives are in danger of
being carried off by a surfeit. If the protectionists
are really desirous of propitiating the favour of their
countrymen, they are proceeding upon the very worst
system possible. Instead of decreasing the
amount of ridicule attached to their previous
exertions, they will merely be rendering them-
selves more thoroughly ludicrous. Although
John Bull has a proverbial affection for "the roast
beef of Old England" and other masterpieces of the
art of cookery, he still abhors any immoderate grati-
fication of the appetite ; and least of all is his admi-
ration aroused by seeing his legislators stuffing them-
selves like so many turkies, and guzzling
each other's health like so many toadies. Sir
JOHN FALSTAFF, when taunted by PISTOL with
having received threepence halfpenny nut of seven-
pence, as his share in a petty theft, replies, " Reason,
man ! Reason. Shall I endanger my soul gratis ?"
And precisely upon this metaphysical principle of
compensation we presume the protectionists are
acting at the present moment ; they claim
the contents of the larder, in recompence
for endangering their popularity. In this we
conceive they are guided by a marvellous obliquity of
judgment; their resolves, like those of CHRISTOPHER
MARLOW, are
4- In folly ripe, in reason rotten."

What, let us inquire, are the claims of such noble-
men as Lord GEORGE BENTINCK and the Marquis
of GRANDY to such lavish honours, such ful-
some panegyrics, and such vociferous accla-
mations as are awarded them at these most ec
centric demonstrations ? Is a very fifth Tate
maiden speech any tolerable reason for such adula-
tion ? Is a great, facility in the utterance of per-
sonalities, or a morbid intensity of vituperation
an admissible reason for such ostentatious
jubilees ? As well might Admiral B TING
have been voted a peerage, instead of being
executed, for losing Minorca. As well might
General BURGOYNE have received a pension for show-
ing himself a poltroon; or the Duke of YORK re-
ceived the thanks of Parliament for the failure of the
Walcheren expedition. Besides all this, the real
friends of protection to agriculture are unconsciously
damaging their own cause by pandering to the
vanity of those few advocates of their policy
who have evinced any talent whatever. Let
them reflect that orators, like plants, can-
not be forced into premature existence without
debilitating their strength and materially lessening
their natural qualities. Great statesmen have never
been fostered by adulation. FREDERICK the GREAT
was treated with contumely by his father, PETER
the GREAT with contempt by his sister. HALL, at the
dawning of his career as an orator, never heard even
the whisperings of flattery. CICERO himself listened
to nol encomiums upon his intellectual powers when
he was an aspirant and a scholar. We feel the utter-
most contempt for those who can administer the nar-
cotic of extravagant praise to a young mind just as it
is beginning to display some little glimpses of talent;
and we:entertain sentiments of the deepest sympathy
and commiseration towards the victims of a practice
so miserably pernicious.
Five hundred gentlemen of the midland counties
assemble together at Waltham, in Leicestershire—
with what purpose ? Why, in the language of the
Chairman; they assembled together for the purpose of
" paying their tribute of thanks to the Marquis of
GRANBY for the ability, zeal, and perseverance
with which he had fouffht the cause of protection in
the House of Commons !" A few lines after this
turgid compliment, we find the expressions, "his
noble conduct"--" ability hardly second to any one."
Then we are assured that the young Marquis had
made the greatest sacrifice a public man can make, and
that he was, moreover, competent to " take the lead in
support of the native industry of this mighty empire !"
All these gross pieces of flattery being uttered in the
presence of this prodigy of a peer; every fresh
epithet of praise being received with shouts of
applause by upwards of 500 persons, including
half-a-dozen noblemen, and the whole of this
wretched piece of adulation being crowned by the
company " rising as one man and giving repeated
bursts of cheering !" If that be not sufficient
to damage the most splendid intellect and
the most admirably constituted mind, then
was our great SHAKSPERE altogether unacquainted
with the workings of the human heart. It
is all very reasonable, and very natural, and very
beautiful, no doubt, to hear the Duke of RUTLAND
declaring of his son, the Marquis, "that in every word
he has ever uttered—that in every act he has ever
done—that the whole course of his life has testified
to me most satisfactorily the purity of his mind,
the integrity of his purposes, the probity of his prin-
ciples, and the excellence of his judgment."
It is the tribute of an affectionate
father, honourable alike to both individuals
concerned. But when we perceive the flattery
lavished upon a young man like the Marquis of
GRANBY by Mr. FLETCHER NORTON and others
—when we see the character of a man painted,
in his presence, in colours the most exag-
gerated, with lines the most unnatural, and
the paint laid on an inch thick, we regard the whole
as a miserable spectacle of voluntary subserviency
and human weakness. Those who remember the
circumstances attendant upon the passage of
Free Trade through Parliament will feel
how disproportioned is the monstrous eulogium
showered upon this precocious politician, the Marquis
of GRANBY, to his maiden speech upon that occasion. It
is the most misjudged huckstering of words man ever
heard of. Surely, if we are to believe his panegyrists,
the Most Noble the Marquis of GRANBY is too great
a man for the House of Commons !

Intelligence has been received from Tiflis of the
20th June, of the complete success of ScnAmim's ex-
pedition for the destruction of the Russian establish-
ments in the Caucasus. At the head of 20,000 men
he rushed from his mountain fastnesses upon the
Cossack settlements in the Kaburdias, took sixteen or
twenty of them, and seized all the property and the
inhabitants they contained. The booty found was
immense, and in order to secure it, SCIIAMYL put the
greater part of his prisoners to death in order not to
be impeded in his fight to the mountains with his
plunder.

U►:der the date Vienna, July 26, we find the fol-
lowing in the Gcrman Gazette of Frankfort :

" Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg set off last week for Bel-
gium and England. lie will return in September, but will
not remain here long, for, according to the favourite project
of the English Ministry, this Prince is destined to become
the husband of Queen Isabella. The father and mother of
the Prince will resist this marriage, from the experience ac-
quired in Portugal. The high position of the Coburgs is a
source of grief fer the female branches of the family."

A letter from Copenhagen, of the 30th ult., states
that, by order of the KING, the administration of the
customs has submitted to him an ordonnance, having
for its object, Ist. To reduce by a fifth the tonnage du-
ties on vessels leaving the Danish states for Norway,
Sweden, the ports in the Baltic, Holland, Belgium,
England, France, and Spain to Cape Finisterre ; and
24. To reduce the export duty on raga from 2 rix-dol,