The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-04 00:00:00

111%134 Ant

LONDON, TUESDAY. AUGUST 4, 1846.

The Coffer'swifirzhas inquest on the unfortunate soldier
charged theirdutyconcluded its labours—the jury have div-
a manner alike honourable to
themselves and beneficial in
c.ial to the community. It was
their constitutional
afict the cause which vilege to declare by their ver-
„metro t.he, death of the person
respecting whom they
of
teheT.lpanelled, and also to
express their opinion
injurious tendency of
any practice which, although per se,
yet lead to injurious and fatayll_reetsghuealits. They
might
havelo have spoken out manfully and nobl
re-
corded their own deliberate and solemn convictions
the subject, and have called upon the British people
to to join heart and hand for the purpose of removing
the stain and disgrace inflicted on them byg
so vile a practice being sanctioned in their country.
The following is a copy of the verdict of the jury,
which should be circulated through all parts of the
kingdom, to which every man of feeling and hu-
manity should take every possible means of giving
publicity in his own immediate neighbourhood,
so that there would not, within a few short
days, be a single individual throughout the
length and breadth of the land who would
not be made acquainted with the finding of a con-
scientious jury, given under the obligation of an oath,
and have afforded to him an opportunity of comply-
rig with the appeal thereby made, and recording

his protest against the atrocious system, and his
prayer for its abolition, viz.:—
" The jury do say that Frederick John White died on the
11th of July, 1846, from the mortal effects of the severe and
cruel flogging which he received on the 15th day of June,
in the Cavalry. Barracks, Hounslow; that the same
flogging was inflicted on him under sentence passed
by a district court-martial composed of officers
of the Regiment of the 7th Hussars, and duly constituted for
the trial of the said Frederick John White, &c. And on
returning the verdict, the jury cannot refrain from expressing
their horror and disgust at any law among the statutes or
regulations of this realm which permits the revolting punish-
ment of flogging to be inflicted on British soldiers ; and
at the same time the jury would call upon every man in this
kingdom to join heart and hand in sending petitions to the
British Legislature praying for the abolition of every law
and regulation which permits the degrading' practice of
flogging to remain one moment a slur on the humanity and
fair name of the people of this country."

The jury manifestly could not have returned a
verdict inculpating any of the military authorities.
The law itself which sanctions the frightful barbarity
is the target against which the weapon must be
directed. Everything was done strictly according to
rule and to precedent. The court-martial was
regularly constituted, although it is certainly rather a
curious circumstance that, being a district court-mar-
tial, every single member of it belonged to the same
regiment as the prisoner himself, and it might as well
have been called a regimental court-martial, but
for one little point of difference, viz., that by being
dignified, with the title of "district," although
really " regimental," they were enabled to order
the infliction of fifty lashes more than would
otherwise have been within their power
to adjudge, a privilege of which they availed them-
selves to the utmost extent, and which the merciful
Colonel WHYTE took care should be most punctually
inflicted without curtailment or diminution. The un•
fortunate man pleaded guilty to the charges on which
he was arraigned before this court, he attempted not
to deny his offence, but he put in a
respectful and manly letter, written in a
style far beyond that which could have been
expected from a private soldier, and which, as well as
the letter to his brother, bears the clearest testimony
that his education and habits of life belonged to a
class far beyond that in which his wretched career
was brought to a premature termination. This at-
tempted extenuation, although we venture to say that
it would not have been lost on any of our
venerable Judges, was wholly without effect
on his judges, who forthwith sentenced him
to the very highest punishment within their power,
and added to their finding a clause wholly unneces-
sary, and we believe unusual—one which must have
had the effect of preventing any exercise of mercy on
the part of the Commander-in-Chief--we mean that
part which speaks of the conduct of the unhappy man,
in these words :—" And taking into consideration his
general bad character, particularly towards
his superiors, does now sentence him," &c., &C.
We know not what may have been the evidence laid
before the court to warrant this addition to their
verdict, but it is most undoubtedly at variance with
that which was adduced before the Coroner's inquest.
Sergeant DA LET himself, the person who had been
assaulted by WHITE, gave his opinion that "he was
a man that knew himself very well, and in fact, a
superior and respectable man, by no means an habi-
tual drunkard." Now, if this evidence be correct, and
we see no reason to doubt its being so to the fullest
extent—indeed, it was corroborated by that of all
the other witnesses who were interrogated on the
point, we think it is due to the surviving relatives
of the victim—nay, more, we think it due to the
characters of the officers who constituted that court-
martial—that the grounds which led to that clause in
their finding should be fully stated and set forth.
The letter of poor, unhappy, heart-broken WHITE
to his brother, written ten days after the flogging,
shows that his mind was more lacerated than his
body ; it testifies the existence of that_wretched, de-
sponding, spiritless state which almost every writer
has stated to be the result of corporal punishment,
leading to the adoption of habits of intoxication
and recklessness, the total abandonment of every
hope—nay, of every desire for advancement in the
service ; it speaks trumpet-tongued against a system
which could induce such a state of feeling. The most
eloquent and powerful denouncer of the practise
could not write with half the effect which is pro-
duced by the few siraple sentences of the
lashed soldier speaking unconsciously of the sensa-
tion his confidential communication to his brother
was likely to produce at a future period ;
he says, " I am very unwell, and feel disgusted with
the service, but you need not tell mother so, fur she
would only fret." Again : " I had formed a reso-
lution to commit mischief, but, thank Gon, I have
for the present altered my mind. I have not that con-
fidence in myself I used to have. My star of destiny
frowns at me, and everything goes wrong.
Your letters give me a consolation generally,
but I cannot venture to read them always,
for I am very near approaching to LUNACY at times.
I am an old man now to what I was, and what a few
more years will make me I am afraid to guess it?'
Poor creature ! a few short days had indeed produced
a fearful change in his feelings and prospects, and the
pouring forth of his heart necessarily recorded the
gloomy forebodings which he must have felt.
The want of interest, that hopelessness of feeling which

nothing can for a moment excite or banish, is well
expressed in the following :—" I have not seen Lon-
don yet, nor shall I, unless I change my mind. Every
one there is lost to me now." Again : " I hope you
will keep quiet to mother that I am ill, for her sake.
You must excuse my faults, and forgive my failings,
for I cannot help them ;fate wills my proceedings, and I
must go with the tide. My paper is short, and I
must cut short my tale of woe, and resume my most
horrid and wretched duty of a soldier." Poor fellow
his sufferings, both of mind and body, have been,
indeed, most frightful; but few, by their deaths,
will have achieved so great a benefit to
thousands. It cannot be doubted but that

the appeal of the jury will be fully re-
sponded to; neither can there be a doubt of
the happy issue of the agitation and petitions there
indicated; but we sincerely trust that the public will
not restrict themselves to its abolition in the army.
Let our naval brethren also have the benefit of their
exertions—their prayers ; and let not the unfortunate
JAMES SAYER be forgotten, who now pines in anguish,
awaiting the infliction of his sentence of 'death,
death certainly in a milder form—the more humane
naval court-martial having merely ordered him to be
hanged for striking his sergeant, by which his suffer-
ings will be more speedily terminated than if he were
sentenced to the lingering and painful, intensely pain-
ful, death under the still more degrading lash.

Government has explicitly divulged its intentions
with reference to Irish legislation. We are sincerely
rejoiced at this circumstance, as the explanation of
the Premier and the Secretary for Ireland will be
productive of very considerable advantage to the
population of these islands. It will alleviate that
hope deferred which maketh the heart sick among our
fellow-countrymen across St. George's Channel ; it
will allay a thousand anxieties in their regard
among the other inhabitants of Great Britain, and it
will impart stability to the new Administration on a
matter with which the popularity of the Cabinet is
most inextricably associated. If one sentiment is
at this moment more prevalent than another
throughout this empire, it is a sentiment of
cordial sympathy with Irish sufferings, a
sentiment of honest indignation at her protracted
misrule, a sentiment of ear nest anxiety to co-operate
with her leading patriots in the adjustment of her
embarrassments and in the organisation of her social
and political machinery. That some concessions were
requisite in reference to this integral portion of the
British dominions has long been manifest. The de.
claration made by Sir R. PV.EL on his accession to
office, that Ireland would -priwe his greatest difficulty,
the precipitation of the five• trade measures in con-
sequence of the potato fl amine of November and De-
ceimtatr,th and e pertinacity of the repeal cry, the cala-
mparoxysm wholesale rejectments of tenantry, the
commercial apathy and commercial
excitement which have alternated with such alarm-
ing rapidity in that comma .nits—have all demonstrated
the existence of more ,an one monster grievance,
and have clamoured lorab and imperatively for the
amelioration of Hibernian distress. Anything that
would tend to consolidate the vigour of our sister
island, that would insure the happiness of her chil-
dren, that would promot4 mercantile and agricultural
activity among her unen iployed labourers, and render
them satisfied of the sincere good-will and fraternal
affection of England, w ould not merely conduce to