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

27.--4 tit

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 1846.

The debate in the House of Commons last night,
when Lord Jose's RUSSELL brought forward the. new '
regulations adopted by the Commander-in-Chief with
respect to corporal punishment hs 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 last 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 opposition 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 dicipline 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 place, 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 150 lashes, and by a regimental court-
martial, 100 lashes. Under the new rule no court-
martial whatever, whether general, district, garrison,
er regimental, shall order the infliction of more than
50 lashes. Special directions have also been given
that every precaution shall 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-
served and 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 WRITE, proved that
there were no printed or written instructions as to
the mode of flogging, or as to the description of cat.
Farrier CRITTEN 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. He
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
CRITTEN 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 be 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 '