The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-11 00:00:00

inVintinlY • *c./11111'
„1

LONDON, TITESDA.y. AUGUST 11, 1846.

On Wednesday next, according to one of the arbi
trary regulations of sport: grouse shooting will
com-
mence ; on Saturday last the Sugar Duties' Bill was
passed through the Commons House of rarliament•
Last evening the measure was introduced to our
legislative aristocracy ; their decision is already more
than conjectured by the community; :he protection!st
opposition has announced its determination not to
thrust itself in the way of Use somewhat dangerous
scythed-chariot of free trade. Litt'e better than a
week now remains of perhaps the most memorable
session of the British Legislature—a session that has
w;tnessed the annihilation of a potent monopoly and
thechampionship ofits previously helplessvictims; that
has ootablished that empire of untrammelled commerce
whi,lb had for centuries been regarded as little has
,rical and impossible than PLATO'S Republic, Sir
chum
THOMA $ MOUE'S Utopia, Sir P _ lIILIP SYDNEY'S
Arcadia, or Lord BAcols's Atalantis. Besides this,
the sessic 'n of 1846 will be ever illustrious and ever
beneficial t o the population of the United Kingdom by
being an ex, ample to arouse the interest and excite the
emulation ot the remotest posterity. It will be an
example of the real nature of political consistency, of
the inna to dignity of forbearance under vituperation,
of that I,',rgetfulness-of-self, which is the noblest
characteris, ic of a true and patriotic statesman, of
the necessity • of being open to conviction and of risk- ,

lag the malignity of a disappointed faction when- I
ever reason and experience combined to direct I
the mind upon a better and more enlightened policy.
This Parliamentary campaign will, moreover, attest
to after generations the period in which the people
of England first recognised the moral potency of
their will, the period when our legislators were not
ashamed to confess that the popular sentiments had
modulated their prejudices; when the oratory of a
self-elected association and the rhetorical pleadings of
a free press enlarged the mind of the public for the
reception of gigantic principles ; when the seeds
sown by Sir WALTER RALEIGH, ADAM SMITH, Lord
HOLLAND, and others, were ripened under the
auspices of Sir ROBERT PEEL, RICHARD COBDEN,
and Lord JOHN RUSSELL. It will be the most me-
morable lesson ever given to mankind for their
guidance in commercial legislation.
It was customary on the opening of this session to
ridicule the Parliament for its redundant squabbles,
and the Ministry for its intolerable procrastination.
The Easter holidays had arrived before anything de-
finite had been done towards the settlement of the
enormous question at issue. People began to tremble
lest the Parliament should degenerate from an active
assembly of legislators into a mere counterpart of a
Chancery-lane debating society. That tendency,
however, towards speechifying gradually disappeared ;
the flame of passion, which had ignited the mental
lamps of so many hitherto silent Members,
in time consumed itself and glimmered away
into the socket. The gentlemen who had so
recently practised rhetoric from below the gang-
way, were now incontinently devouring but-
tered bread and whitebait at Blackwell, or investi-
gating widgeon pies at Goodwood. The deliberative
assembly of the nation was suddenly relieved of a tur •
bulent and intractable party of representatives, and
the immediate consequence of the alteration was a
material improvement in the conduct of public busi-
ness. As the commencement of this session was re-
' markable for its slowness in arriving at any decision,
its termination will be, and indeed has already been,
conspicuous for the rapidity, and yet the decorum,
with which Bills are introduced and accepted. Not only
did the Sugar D aties' Bill obtain the final sanction of the
Commons on Saturday, but two other Bills of very
considerable importance were successively read a
third time and passed without a dissentient voice.
We allude to the Fisheries (Ireland) Bill and the
Exclusive Privilege of Trading Abolition (Ireland)
Bill. Some such facilities for expediting the opera-
tions of the Legislature were absolutely necessary, so
as to prorogue the Parliament within reasonable
limits, and to preserve the RUSSELL Administration
from being involved in a terrible accumulation of
measures on the opening of the succeeding session.
Every one recognises this fact, and perceives
that some concession is requisite, if the conve-
nience of Parliament collectively and individually is
to be consulted. The residue of the questions still un-
settled, and not expressly postponed to a future
period, will, therefore, be submitted, in quick suc-
cession, to the decision of our rulers. Among those
of the most interest we may particularise the pro-
posed reduction of the duties upon rum—a reduction
of sixpence upon the present duty of Ds. 4d.,
leaving a duty of Bs. 10d. upon every gallon of
that spirit. This proposition is to be introduced
immediately by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,
and, although we are somewhat surprised at the
mincing character of the reduction, we are still dis-
posed to welcome it as a step—a diminutive one, no
doubt—in the right direction.

A vast number of questions intimately connected
with the moral welfare, the sanatory condition, and
the systematic education of the people, will be re-
served by the Ministry for the next session. The
question of amelioration to Ireland will, in like
manner, be left in abeyance. We are inclined to
congratulate the country upon this delay, however
irksome it may at first appear, because every matter
will thereby be thoroughly digested before any defi-
nite plan of reformation be submitted to the Legis-
lative Councils.

On Saturday we commented upon the first part of
the new regulations with respect to corporal punish-
ment henceforth to be adopted in the army ; and
while we expressed our uncompromising hostility to
the lash, and our deep regret that the principle, even
in its modified form, should still be maintained in
the service, we offered suggestions which might pos-
sibly not be objected to by the conscientious sup•
porters of the practice, and which might mitigate
some few of the numerous objections to it. A
more pleasing duty now devolves upon us in no-
ticing the means proposed to be adopted for the pre-
servation of military discipline, and which, if found
adequate for that purpose, may eventually lead to
the total abolition of flogging.
The Premier states that we can only hope to attain
this great object by two modes : first, by the substi-
tution of some other punishment which is as effective,
and which will maintain as high and complete a state
of discipline as that which exists at the present time;
and secondly, by changing the moral feelings of those
who belong to the army, so that other punishments,
and other methods of government, will have a greater
effect and produce a stronger impression than they
do in the present state of the military service.
The principal of these substituted punishments
will be found to consist of a proper and well-regu-
lated system of imprisonment, with its various ad
juncts of solitary confinement, hard labour, &c., &c.
'l'o render this efficient, it must be perfectly executed
and instantly applied : the common and usual public
gaol will not be so advantageous in this respect as a
military prison, tenanted by soldiers alone, and pre-
pared for their reception exclusively. A large pro-
portion
of military crime, although demanding and
receiving a severe punishment, may be wholly un-
attended with moral guilt, and it would manifestly
be most injurious to expose a man as yet untainted
with crime to the pollution of daily intercourse with,
and the probability of contamination by, the aban-
doned and profligate characters who are the constant
inmates of the public gaols. There are now nine
military prisons already established in the United
Kingdom, viz., four in England, four in Ireland, and
one in Scotland ; and for their good effect it is un-
necessary to seek any testimony beyond
that of the Secretary-at-War, who while
advocating the necessity for the continuance
of corporal punishments, produced one of the strong-
est arguments against that necessity, when he stated,
" that out of 4,276 prisoners confined in these military
prisons, there were only 20 cases in which it was
found necessary to inflict corporal punishment, the
highest being 100, and the lowest 24 lashes, and of
recommittals to prison the number had only been in
the proportion of three per cent.; and he had it upon
the authority of several military officers to state that
they had received their men back from prison better
men, and better soldiers, than when they left." If
this be the truth, and we cannot doubt it, what an
extraordinary improvement must this be on the old
system. It is a well-known fact that, in 19 cases
out of 20, the man who has been degraded in the
sight of his comrades, who has been tied up, and had
inflicted on him the indelible marks of his disgrace,
has ,never regained his lost character, has become a
reckless, good-for-nothing soldier, indulging in the
most vicious habits and propensities, and generally
suffering a repetition of the Punishment over
and over again. Now, if the olject of
punishment is the prevention of crime and
the amt-ndment of the oil'ender, as we have ever
supposed it to be, and not vengeance, surely the
sy,tem which makes him a better man and a better
soldier, and in which the instances of second punish-
ments are but three per cent. nn their entire, must
be far better and more efficacious than that which
ruins his prospects and makes him a disgrace and a
reproach to the service, and destroys the probability,
almost the possibility, of amendment. Forfeiture of
pay and pension, increased drill, confinement to bar-
racks, and a variety of minor punishments within the
power of a commanding offlusr, might be most ad-
vantageously resorted to, and would probably be
found, in the majority of cases, quite sufficient for
the preservation of discipline. There is one mode of
punishment, however, so singular and ludicrous in its
nature, that we would be unwilling to mention it
were it not so strongly supported by one of the
brightest ornaments of our country, whose intelli-
gence, foresight, and sagacity in peace have been no
less remarkable than his services in war have been
brilliant and glorious—who long since stood forward
se the zealous and efficient advocate of his

brother soldiers—who vindicated their characters from
the reproaches with which they were assailed—who
has ever ably opposed the assertion that the British
soldier is of a.: "inferior class" in his country and
less respectable in his character than the conscript ;
' the unwilling soldier of other nations, and who in
that feeling has most ably advocated the total aboli-
tion of flogging in time of peace, and the substitution
of other and less objectionable punishments, while
his reputation as an officer and strict maintainer of
discipline (though not by the intervention of the cat),
renders superfluous his assertion, that "If he thought
diminished severity of punishment would produce
slackness of discipline, he assuredly would not be the
advocate of change." We allude to the hero of
Meeanee and Hyderabad, Sir CHARLES J. NAPIER,
who, in his admirable work on military law and
flogging, p. 177, suggests the adoption of blistering
the back as a punishment for drunkenness, the ter-
rible vice from which nearly all military offences
have their origin. He states that in the only two in-
stances in which it was tried it fully and entirely
succeeded : in one case the regiment had been in an
infamous state—it had been in a distant
colony." They had just returned to Guernsey ; the
cheapness of liquor made the soldiers drink hard ;
" the flogging was dreadful, and, as usual, without
of A new lieutenant-colonel joined. He did
not inflict a single lash, and in three months the in-
specting general officer returned the highest report of
the state of the corps. The means that produced
this extraordinary change were sending the drunkard
to hospital, where he was put to bed, his back blis-
tered, and himself fed on bread and water for a week,
and then discharged cured ; his comrades laughed at
and ridiculed, in place of sympathising with and
pitying him, and the effect was complete ; and the
Gallant General well exclaims, " after witnessing
this can I believe the lash to be necessary ?" After
this strong testimony, surely it would be worth re-
peating the experiment.
Everything that tends to the second mode by which
corporal punishment may be abolished, viz., the im-
provement of the moral condition of the soldier, and
inducing him thereby to the maintenance of a better
and more orderly behaviour, will be hailed with the
greatest delight : in this respect the statement of the
Premier is very gratifyinz. His Lordship announces
that rewards have been established for good conduct,
and also increased pay after a certain number of
years ; that since December last no less than thirty
commissions have been given to private soldiers in
the army, and also sums furnished them for the out-
lay necessary on the acceptance of those commis-
sions ; 100 soldiers' libraries have been established,
containing 60,000 volumes, and a normal school is
projected, for the purpose of providing good regimen-
tal schools; savings' banks are now encouraged in
several regiments, in place of being discouraged and
sneered at, as was formerly the case ; and his Lord-
ship bears the strongest testimony as to the good
effects of a plan originally suggested by himself when
at the head of the establishment at Chelsea, viz., the
allotment of small gardens to the men, in the cub.
tivation of which they took the greatest delight, and
from which they derived some small profit, who before
that time had been constantly in public-houses. The
proposal was, as usual, sneered at by those who
thought that no useful suggestion for military
government could come from a civilian, and
yet it proved eminently successful. Can there be a
more powerful evidence for the advantage, the ne-
cessity of teaching the soldiers some trade, of pro-
viding some employment on which they may usefully
employ their leisure hours ? The principle of reward
must be put into activity in a wise and generous
manner, and its good effects will speedily be apparent.
There are many, very many improvements, all of
which would greatly conduce to the same end, but
which our space to-day forbids a mention of ; many,
however, will be found in the valuable work to which
we have already referred, which may be studied with
the greatest advantage by every philanthropist, by
every man desirous of doing justice to his military
brethren.

Accounts received in England from Constantinople
of the 22d ult., state that MEUEMET Ala has been
treated with marked respect by the SULTAN. The
Journal des Dants, however, publishes a letter from
Constantinople of the same date, which represents the
reception of MEHEMET Au as cold in the extreme,
and concludes by saying that no one can explain the
reason for the SULTAN inflicting such humiliation on
his illustrious vassal.

The Piedmontese Gazette, of the Ist, sap, " By a
courier arrived from Rome, we receive the important
news of the official nomination of Cardinal Gizzr as
Secretary of State both for Foreign Affairs and the
Interior. Monsignors SANTUCCI and CANELLA will
act as Under-Secretaries of the respective administra-
tions."

Ina letter from Leghorn, dated August 2, we find
the following:—

" Every one here is talking of the audience which M. Renzi
had with the Pope previous to his departure from Rome.
IV hen Renzi was about to kneel, as is generally done when
a person presents himself to the Holy Father, the Pope raised
him up, and. presented him his ring to kiss. M. Renzi wish-
ing to express his sentiments of gratitude, his Holiness in-
terrupted him by turning the conversation on the eldest son
of M. Renzi, whom he had seen while passing through Ri-
mini. The Pope also spoke of the manifesto published at
that place, on the 23t1 September, 1845, saying that it con.•
tained many good things, several of which he proposed to
carry into execution in spite of the opposition which he met
with, but added, that, with regard to the secularisation of
the Papal Government, he did not agree with it, for it was
enough that the benefit was effected without its being of any
consequence whether it proceeded from a priest or a layman.
The interview lasted nearly twenty minutes. M. Renzi ar-
rived at Rimini on the evening of the 25th, where he was
received with strong demonstrations of joy from his friends
and his fellow-citizens. A grand fete was to take place there
on the 30th; all the inhabitants of the place. as well as of
the surrounding country, proposed to take part in it, in order
to inaugurate the new era, which, it is hoped, the railroads,
the abolition of political commissions, and the amnesty, may
open to the Papal States."
Accounts from Bologna of the 30th announce the
arrival in that city of Messrs. GALETTI and MATTIOLI,
who had for the last three years been prisoners in the
Castle of St. Angelo. M. GALETTI had an interview
with the POPE, at which he presented his HOLINESS
with a memorial on the subject of law reform, with
which the POPE was so pleased, that he sent him a
medal of honour. His HOLINESS has granted permis-
sion to the docti of Rome to attend the scientific Con-
gress which is to be held next month at Genoa.
The Prince DE JOINVILLE, who was admitted to
pratique at Malta on the 30th, was to sail from Sicily
on the Ist.

The Grand Duke of TUSCANY, it appears is offended
with Prince Lours NAPOLEON for not having made
direct application to him for permission to visit
Florence. The Courrier Francais says—
" When Prince Louis escaped from Elam he wrote to Prince
de Metternich to solicit from him the authorisation to pro-
ceed to Tuscany to his father. Not receiving any reply, he
had a request made by one of his friends to the Grand Duke
himself. The following was his reply It was not to Aus-
tria that a demand ought to be made in a matter which re-
gards me. lam alone master in my states, as the Emperor
is in his dominions. 'DB Prince Louis that if he desires to
come to Florence he must address lics demand to me, and I
shall then consider what is to be done.' We can guarantee
the truth of this account."

Madrid journals and letters of the 2d have arrived

The differences between Spain and Portugal were
likely to be settled through the mediation of Eng-
land. The Spanish Cabinet no longer insisted on
the extradition of the deserters. In reply to Baron
DE RENDUFF, the Portuguese Minister, M. ISTURITZ
denied that Spain had any hostile intention in con-
centrating troops on the Portuguese frontier, and
that the moment the Portuguese Government re-
moved the Spanish refugees into depots into the in-
terior of Portugal, the Spanish troops would return
to their quarters; that Spain had no intention to
meddle with the internal affair., of Portugal, but
that if any Spanish refugees crossed the frontier
they would be driven back and pursued into the in-
terior of Portugal until taken. Mr. BULWER has
removed to a country seat at St. Isidro, but not,
says the Eco del Conn;ercio, on account of his health,
which is excellent. The same journal states that
DON ENRIQUE is about to visit London.

MADRID BOLBA, AUG. 3.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 33 15-16ths for cash ; the Five per
Cents., at 221 ; the Four per Cents., at 214 9-16ths ;
and the Debt without Interest, at 61.

We have received the Paris papers of Friday and
Saturday.
The elections are all over, and the Ministerial ma-
jority will be from 110 to 120. On this subject the
Journal des Dobats says—" Out of 457 nominations,
289 belong to the Conservative party, and 168 to
the Opposition. On the whole, the new Chamber