The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-19 00:00:00

Oteuing

LONDON, SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 19, 1846.

Since the memorable commencement of the Penin-
sular war, when the Grand Duke of BERG was nomi-
nated to the temporary government of Spain, when
CH ARLES and the Prince of the ASTURIAS were at
Bay onne. and JOSEPH, King of Naples, was
,hurry-
ing towards Madrid to assume the Spanish sove-
reignty, the political position of that country has
never been one of such dramatic embarrassment, and
the passions of the Spanish population have never
been so, universally aroused, as at this particular
moment. With the first announcement of the in-
tended marriage between the Duc DE MONTPENSIER
and the Infanta Luisa the latent nationality of the
Spaniards was developed. Since then every moment
has served to elucidate still more remarkably the
inttvase indignation with which the populace regard
that alliance. The Progressista protest was re-
sponded to by thousands, of all degrees of
political opinion ; signatures accumulated with
astimishing rapidity. The public journals ut-
ter,ld no quibbles of discontent, but pronounced them-
sel•res against the proposed arrangement in language
of i he most scornful emphasis, and in terms of the most
dec►'s,ive hostility. Notwithstanding the interference
of l'ea's-d'armerie, and the seizure of newspapers and
other similar endeavours to prevent these ebul-
litions; of violent sentiment on the part of
the citizens, Madrid has been throughout in-
vol wed in a general paroxysm of indigna-
tion. Nor have the provincial inhabitants of
the ZPeninsula been backward in their expressions of
rage. From Badajoz and Seville, from Saragossa
and! Ayamonte, the antagonism of the capital has
bee n answered with alacrity and earnestness. So
bitter is the feeling entertained by the people, so
furic na sly do they yearn
,for the preservation of their
natif suality, that every opportunity is seized, and
ever. y incident, however trivial, is grasped for the
purl), ;se of evidencing their repugnance to the

diplomacy of the French Government, and their de-
termination, at all hazards, to prevent the realisation
of the intentions of King Louis PunarPE. The
Afrancesados are men abhorred. The Gallic race
are derided with the contumelious title of " Ga-
bachos ;" the unfortunate postilion of Count BRESSON
is mobbed ; and in the columns of the Espectador
the following ejaculations are uttered, after a stern
condemnation of the proceedings of the French
Government :

" Let the Due de Montpensier come at once to live
among the populace of the 2d of May, among miscreants
who only breathed robbery and pillage. Let him come
to live among Spaniards who honour themselves by being
set down by the French as robbers and criminals. Let
him come to Spain, and see how he is received. And
when, in passing through the Prado of Madrid, he
directs a look to the Campo de la Lealtad, and asks what
are the ashes which that tomb contains, there mill not be
wanting some one to answer him, Here are the remains
of those who, with the cry of independence, conquered
and humiliated France."

Such are the sentiments entertained throughout
every corner of the Peninsula at this juncture, and
precisely at this juncture new occurrences transpire
which tend to plunge the nation into yet greater em-
barrassments, and threaten a series of the most start-
ling and gigantic catastrophes.
By express intelligence we are told of three mar-
vellous events—events, however, so linked together as
to amount to something beyond a mere coincidence.
Don CARLOS has escaped from his place of confinement
—his eldest son, the Count DE MONTEMOLIN, has im-
mediately afterwards escaped from Bourges ; and, as
if to consummate the whole, and to throw everything
into the most inextricable confusion, General
CABRERA has escaped from Paris. What may be
the consequence of all these striking and unexpected
proceedings, it is impossible to picture to our-
selves by the wildest stretch of the imagina-
tion. Catalonia will unquestionably be the
arena of some eclaircissernent. Every eye is turned in
that direction ; and the disdain that is now rankling,
and the fury that is now smouldering in the bosoms
of the Spaniards, will inevitably evince themselves
upon the very earliest occasion. Circumstances have
lately occurred which render rather dubious the
futurity of the entente cordiale. The various Go-
vernments are regarding each other at this moment
with the most vigilant suspicion. Selfishness has
betrayed itself through many of their agents, and a
consequent withdrawal of confidence has evinced the
insecurity of their previous reliance upon a common
integrity among nations.
Throughout the uncertainties which envelope the
affairs of the Peninsula, it is impossible, how-
ever, not to recognise the subjoined facts; they
are so glaringly manifest in themselves as to
preclude any necessity , for heir demonstration.
First, the bulk of the Spanish population is
resolute in its detestation of the intended
marriage. Secondly, arrangements have been
made both in Paris and Madrid for the
speedy performance of that ceremony. Thirdly,
the French Ambassador, and many of the French
journals, have intimated the determination of France
to complete the arrangements already made for the
espousal of the INFANTA to the youngest son of their
Sovereign. Fourthly, the Spanish people in thou-
sands, and several of the Spanish journals, have
declared that that union shall be opposed by
the voices of the multitude; and some have even
proclaimed that it a ill be rejected by an appeal to
arms. Fifthly, the principal leaders of the Carlists
are at liberty and prepared to advance their own
cause in this period of general uncertainty
and disaffection. These facts are altogether indis-
putable, and from them may be drawn certain inferences
as to the next move on the chess-board of the Penin-
sula. The paramount consideration at this juncture
is, whether the Spaniards are, or are not so thoroughly
infuriated by the attempt which is being made to
join the hands of the INFANTA and the Duc DE
MONTPENSIER in contradiction to their wishes, as
to welcome any one, or any event which
may offer the most likelihood for its prevention ;
whether in that case the cause of Don CARLOS may
be regarded as a popular cause, and the success of
his adventure be looked upon as identical with the
preservation of the nationality of Spain. Those are the
considerations which force themselves upon us by the
very nature of recent occurrences. One grand fact is
1..7—a .11 firm —n mPi Y. that the Spaniards are
impressed with a conviction that the proposed
alliance would tend to rendering their country little
better than a colony or dependency of France.
Holding this conviction, they are inspired with
a deep and burning resolve to maintain
the integrity of their native land. Upon this troubled
and passionate multitude will devolve the duty of
dictating the destinies of a great empire. Before that
biassed and prejudiced tribunal will be tried many
diverse claims ; and upon the decision there pro-
nounced will depend the wretchedness or happiness
of millions. Let Spain be only loyal to herself at
this crisis, and her better destiny will be accom-
plished !

Scarcely has the feeling of horror and indignation
by which the public mind was thrilled and inflamed
at the melancholy death of poor WHITE, and the
expose that took place of the fearful system then in
force with respect to corporal punishment in the army
subsided—scarcely have the exertions of the friends
of humanity been successful in procuring a diminu-
tion in the number of lashes that can legally be in-
flicted, and, it is to be hoped, in giving
death-blow to thy abominable practice in

one branch, at least, of the public service,
than circumstances have been stated, which,

if well founded, will doubtless excite similar feelings,
and lead to a temperate, but firm demand for the
total abolition of flogging in the navy as well as in
the army—an appeal which we sincerely hope
may be responded to by the authorities at the
Admiralty as promptly, and with as much de-
ference to the national voice, as was evinced
by the veteran Commander-in-Chief of the army.
It has been said—we know not with what truth, for
the secresy maintained respecting naval punishments,
their infliction without any trial or investigation, at
the mere will and pleasure of the commanding officer,

and the impossibility of the cries, the groans of the
sufferer being heard beyond the bounds of his ship,
or by any disinterested persons, who are not sub-
jected to, and under the command of, the person
by whom the flag►ellation had been sanctioned and
directed, prevent us from being able to vouch for the
accuracy of the statement—that in one small ship on
the Mediterranean station, mounting less than 20
guns, the lash has been more frequently used in one

year than in all the other vessels on the station with-
in four times that period; that from March,
1845, to May, 1846, a period of 14 months,
upwards of 2,000 lashes have been inflicted,
on a crew which has never consisted of more than
120 persons liable to so degrading a punishment,
and that the cat has been called into operation on the

most trivial occasions, and for the most trifling

offences. It is also said that four of the lieutenants
appointed to that vessel have prayed for removal to
other ships, and that they have been re-
moved accordingly. The paymaster and purser
have in like manner requested a change, which re-
quest was acceded to—the clerk had run, and that in
fact there is not a single-subordinate officer or man
on board who would not be glad to get away, almost
on any honourable terms, where the cries
and groans of the bleeding sufferers are but
seldum hushed, where lacerated backs are
exhibitions almost daily afforded. We have
said that we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the
details; we do not therefore give the names either of
the vessel or of the commanding officer; but it is
sufficient for us to say that such things are possible,

they are tolerated and sanctioned by our naval code:
Everything is submitted to the discretion of the com-
mander; there is but one restriction, he cannot direct
more than 48 lashes ; but within that boundary there
is no limitation to the exercise of his caprice or tyranny.

It must also be borne in mind that the instrument of
torture used in the navy is much severer than that
adopted in the army, and that forty-eight lashes de-
livered by a boatswain's mate, " selon les regles," are
considered fully equivalent to two hundred in the
other service, a number which it is now known has
frequently terminated in the death of the sufferer.
We have, therefore, a power, which may be one of life
or death, entrusted to the discretion, for-
sooth, of an individual. In the army
an offence mot at least be charged, and an oppor-
tunity of vindicating himself, of putting forward his

• defence, must be afforded to the soldier, before he can
be subjected to this horrid torture—this brutalising
degradation. But our gallant sailor has no such
safeguard; his innocence avails him not. His
anxiety fully and efficiently to discharge his duty—
nay, the most perfect and admirable perform-
ance ther2of, may be insufficient to protect
him:; he may not have even the poor satisfaction of
being heard in his own defence, of uttering one word
of explanation or justification of his conduct, or in
deprecating the horrible cruelty of which he is to be
made the victim. No; a trifle of this kind must be
left to the discretion of the commanding officer. The
spirit, the heart of a brother Englishman is to be
crushed and broken ; the manly and honourable pride of
character, the most desirable to be obtained, cherished,
and preserved, must be cast away ; and all for what ?
—to pamper the pride, to keep up the consequence of
a heartless despot. Is there anything in the epau-
lettes that confers infallibility on the wearer immedi-
ately on their attainment ? Is the possibility of
error or mistake forthwith taken away? Is there such a
magic about them, that the welfare, the happiness of
hundreds are to be handed over to the tender mercies
of the possessor, without the interposition of any
check or delay, which may give time sufficient for
the great man to recover his temper, to get rid of the
fit of passion which may assail the captain as well as
the inferior officer, and render him for the time unable
to command himself, much more those placed under his
authority ? If all commanding officers were fitted
by nature for command, this discretionary power
might be useful, might safely be entrusted to
their hands ; but, alas 1 they are but men, and sub-
jected to frailties that fall to the lot of ordinary hu-
manity. There will be about the same 'proportion of
discreet and well-disposed men that there will be
amongst a like number of persons picked at random
from the multitude ; the result of this great discre-
tionary power, therefore, is frequently to pro-
duce petty tyrants, who torment their sailors
into desertion and drinking. The person
who acts in this manner is not in every
instance an ill-disposed or badly inclined man, he
may not desire unnecessarily to torture those under
his command, he may be merely a fool—a zealous
fool, anxious to discharge fairly his duties, to wield
with impartiality the tremendous powers placed in
his hands; he may be prejudiced on particular
points, hot after unimportant minutiae, on the
execution of which, he may, perchance, con-
sider the fate of his vessel, nay, of the navy, itself
may depend, and in the enforcement of which he may
most injudiciously use his discretionary powers.
Let our readers peruse the opinions of Sir CHARLES
NAPIERa man whose every thought and sentiment
must command the most profound respect; let them
look to his admirable work on " Military Law and
Flogging," and they will see that we have not gone
to so great a length in deprecating this vast dis-
cretionary power as that distinguished and gal-
lant veteran. What he has said of command-
ing officers in the army will also apply to those
in the navy with still greater force, as there is not in
the latter the same controlling power of immediate
publicity, and the force of public opinion to check
and control its abuse. It is still worse in the navy
for another reason ; in the army every soldier must
voluntarily subject himself to the discipline—must
submit himself of his own free will and accord to
the code of laws by which he is to be governed.
But this is not the case in the navy; the man
may be torn from his family and friends, he may be
forced into unwilling servitude, and, without having
done any act to deprive him of the rights and pri-
vileges of a British subject, he may be rendered liable
to punishments of the utmost stringency and severity,
of the most degrading and revolting character.
These things must no longer be suffered. We,trust
that an explanation will, without delay, be
afforded as to the truth of these rumours, and
that if there is the slightest foundation therefor,
a searching inquiry will be instituted into the causes
that led to such a result. 'We trust that the Society
for the Abolition of Flogging in the Army and Navy
will not be idle. Here is an opportunity afforded to
them of rendering the greatest service to the cause
of philanthropy. We feel certain it will not be ne-
glected, but that the circumstances will be closely
investigated : to their hands we commit it for the
procont, aeauring them of our zealous co-operation in
any steps which may be for the benefit of our naval
brethren.

A letter from Breslau, published in the Emancipa-
tion of Brussels, of the 16th, confirms the accounts
which had been previously received, of another out-
break in Poland. " The account," says this letter,
"of disorders having broken out in Galicia and the
free state of Cracow are confirmed. The authorities
have, in consequence, adopted extraordinary measures
of repression. There are constant patrols of detach-
ments of light horse, and the innkeepers are formed
into a civic guard. At Cracow a cannon accompanies
the patrols. The nobles of Galicia have taken refuge
in Cracow, and the landholders of the republic seek
shelter in the towns from the apprehended attacks of
the peasantry. All political discussion is forbidden in
Cracow, under pain of corporal punishment. The
peasants of Galicia refuse the feudal service, or avenge
themselves by incendiarism."
On the 7th the King of DENMARK arrived 'at
Schleswig. The people were perfectly oalm, but re-
ceived him without any demonstrations of loyalty.
A Berlin letter of the 12th says :—"ln conse-
quence of the establishment of special night trains
by the French Northern Railroad for the purpose of
forwarding the letters, and organising a service of
estafette from Aix-la Chapelle to Hanover, which
will correspond with the first train leaving the latter
city for Berlin, the letters which will leave Paris at
seven o'clock in the evening will arrive at Berlin at
five o'clock in the afternoon of the fourth day, or
twenty-six hours earlier than formerly, and will be
delivered the same day. Letters sent from Berlin to
Paris will arrive in eighty-three hours."
It is proposed to establish a new bank in Vienna.
A letter from that city, dated Sept. 8, says—"'We
shall soon have a new bank for loans opened here.
The National Bank makes advances of only two-
thirds upon public securities, exacting four per cent. ,
discount. The other funds, such as joint-stock
shares, are excluded from this advantage, but the
Savings' Bank grants loans upon them at 4i or 5 per
cent. The new bank will be supported by the State.
The legal interest will be 5 per cent. There is great
talk of a new loan to meet the expenses of the public
works proposal by the Government, and which will
exceed 100,000,000 f. This sum will suffice for the
principal railroads, and should there be any surplus it
will be applied to the construction of railroads to the
frontier of Bavaria."

At a conference of the Ecclesiastical Chapter lately
held at Mosback, in the Necker, the following reso-
lution was unanimously adopted :—" That the new
head of the Catholic Church, Pope Pius IX., having
manifested in his wisdom, matured by age and the
spirit of Gon, an intention to promote the welfare of
the Church and of the State, by useful reforms called
for by the wants of the age, the conference proposes
as follows :-Ist, The Ordinariat is requested to ad-
dress itself to the head of the church through the
archbishop, in order to obtain the assembly of a na-
tional German Synod. 2dly, The Ordinariat is
requested to put in force in the present diocese the
institutions of the diocesan synods, conformably to the
resolutions of the Council of Trent."

Accounts from Bologna state that great prepara-
tions are making in that city for the celebration of a
grand fête in honour of his Holiness POP/3 Pius IX.
ROSSINI has composed the music of a Te Deum, to
be sung in the Cathedral on the occasion.

Accounts have been received from Lisbon to
the 9th.

Count DAS ANT S, Commander-in-Chief in the
province of the Minho, has completely defeated and
dispersed the Miguelites on the heights of Pico de
Regalaclos and of Aboine, and had devised a plan by
which the troops from Valencia, Oporto, Braga, and
Chaves were, by a combined movement, to attack
Father CASIMULO'S band of Miguelites. This band
is composed of Spaniards, and the Holy Father desig-
nates himself, somewhat blasphemously to our think-
ing, " the Defender of the five wounds of CHRIST."

Madrid papers of the 12th have arrived.

The hatred of the Gabachos, as the Spaniards now
contumeliously denominate the French, is increasing
every day in intensity throughout the length and