The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-28 00:00:00

THE -SUN,

the important—question in the case, however, is.,
what was the cause of the death of the unfoltu-
, nate man ?—was that death occasioned, or was it in
any degree accelerated, by the flogging ? for if there
';ti even the possibility of such a result,
',he British
peopie, who have already procured th' abolition of
capital punishment in almost every instance
save that of wilful and aggravated murder,
and of which a large and influential portion
are conscieOtiouslY opposed to its infliction under
any circumstanc es whatsoever, will surely spare
no exertions, will leave no step untried, to procure
the total and immediate disuse of the horrible lash.

The medical gentlemen examined differ on this
import:lnt point, for while those connected with the
army ai Ihere to the opinions expressed in the certifi-
cate signed by them previous to the inquiry before the
Coronet • being instituted, and assert that the cause of
death vi 'as in no wise connected with the corporal
punishr nent, although they stated a totally different
cause from that assigned by Dr. WARREN in his cer-
tificateF'to the registrar of deaths for the district,
Mr. Wu.sox positively and distinctly states his de-
cided opi7nion, that there can be no doubt that the man
would be alive now had it not been for the corporal
punishment he was subjected to.
Under these circumstances, it will be for the jury to
decide between the learned gentlemen, and many
points w ill, of course, be taken into consideration
before- the conclusion can he arrived at. The weight
and character of the witnesses, the opportunities they
have liadl for post-mortem examinations, and the proba -
bility, the verisimilitude of the reasons assigned fur
the opirrions arrived at. Now, Mr. Wrn..soN states that
he has been a lecturer on anatomy for more than twelve
years, .and that during that period he had opened
from .500 to 1,000 bodies. This would cerOinly,
without taking into consideration his surgical testi-
monials, which are of the highest character, entitle any
opinion o f his to the greatest weight. It must, too, he
recollected that Mr. WILSON had not previously ex-
pressed •an opinion which he must naturally have been
anxious to maintain, nor could he be supposed to have
any prejudice or feelings on the subject of military
punishment, save those in which he must be supposed to
participate with every man of common humanity. On
the contrary, he states that if he had been pressed at
the time of his examination to give his opinion with
respect to the corporal punishment, he would have
agreed with the other gentlemen that it was not the
cause of death. His opinion, therefore, is based on
the appearances he observed during the post-mortem
examination —an advantage not enjoyed by the
military surgeons, who might, had their attention
been attracted thereto, have agreed with Mr. WILSON
in opinion. During his long practice Mr. WILSON
had never observed similar appearances. His entire
evidence is worthy of the closest perusal and most
serious consideration ; his explanations are so per-
fectly simple and plain, that, although couched in
medical terms, they can be most easily understood
by the non-professional reader. He states that in
the spine there were no indications of disease. The
muscles were disorganised by corporal punishment,
and he had no doubt that this induced the inflamma-
tion which occasioned his death ; and he gives the
following as the result of his observations, viz. :
" On raising the muscles or flesh off the ribs and spine, I
found a part of the deepest layer of muscles—namely, that
which lay in contact with the bogies—in a state of dis-
organisation, and converted into soft pulp. In medical
language, I should call this a pulpy softening of the muscles.
Its seat was the sixth and seventh ribs, near their attach-
ment to the spine, together with their intervening space, and
the hollow between the sixth and seventh pieces of spine.
The extent of the disorganisation was about three
inches in length by about one inch and a half
in its greatest breadth, and between half an inch and
a quarter of an inch in thickness. In the space be-
tween the ribs the muscles had undergone this pulpy alte-
ration, even so deep as the lining membrane of the chest, the
softened muscles being in absolute contact with the lining
membrane. That portion of the flesh which occupied the
groove of the spine, and had undergone similar disorganisa-
tion was one of the little muscles known to medical men
under the name of niultifidus spinre. In addition to the
softening of this little muscle, it was partly surrounded with
blood. It was in a state medically called ecchymosed. The
interior of the spine was in a state of extreme decomposition.
The tissue between the spinal canal and the spinal sheath was
filled with a dark-coloured fluid, resulting from decomposition.
The sheath itself was smooth and polished on its internal
surface, a state indicative of health. It was perfectly devoid
of nervous substance, which had been converted into fluid by
decomposition, and had flowed away. The nerves remained,
and presented a healthy appearance, so that as far as the
spine is concerned, I discovered no indication of disease. Two

questions naturally arise out of the preceding examination—
first, what was the cause of the pulpy softening of the
muscles ? second, could the state of disorganisation preceding
the pulpy softening influence the disease existing in the
chest? The cause of the pulpy softening I believe to have
been the excessive contraction of the muscles taking place
during the agony of punishment. This excessive contrac-
tion would produce laceration, and subsequent inflamma-
tion of the muscles, and the inflammation being repellative,
would, in consequence of the depressed state of the powers
of the nervous system of the sufferer, be of the disorganised
kind which results in pulpy softening. Had the man lived,
disorganisation of the muscles would in time have been re-
paired. As regards the second question, there can be no
doubt that, although the cause of inflammation of the con-
tents of the chest is cold, acting in conjunction with physical
or moral depression, and might have been the cause in the
case of the deceased, yet, the presence of a portion of muscle
in a state of disorganisation and inflammation, in close con-
tact with the lining membrane of the chest, ought to be ade-
quate to the same effect. Certainly no surgeon would feel
comfortable with regard to the state of his patient if he were
aware of such dangerous proximity."

This evidence may safely be left to the public to

form their own conclusions on ; for eur own part we
cannot hesitate for a moment in expressing our con-
currence with the deductions of Mr. WILSON. We
do not mean to say that the other gentlemen were
influenced by improper motives in the evidence they
gave, far from it; but we must say that their state-
ments do not carry with them the same conviction
which is forced on the mind by that of Mr. WILSON.
We cannot doubt but that, after this investigation,
active steps will be taken to abate this nuisance,
to do away with the atrocious and abominable system
in toto. Under any circumstances, it has been proved
to be most injurious in its effects, ruining to all in-
tents and purposes the unfortunate victim. All au-
thorities concur in stating that there is no hope for

the reformation and amendment of the man who has
once been subjected to the lash ; his self-respect is
gone for ever, and he finds at once his bane and anti-
dote in habits of intoxication. Nay, more, he becomes
anxious to reduce others to the same level with himself.
He becomes the tempter, the seducer of the young
soldier. He laughs at the cat, and exhibits a
hardened and reckless indifference to all the influences
by which he might be acted, on, if not so thoroughly
abased and degraded. The system cannot continue;
justice, humanity forbid it. But the public attention
must still be directed to the subject,—the interest
which has been excited must not be suffered to
subside until again awakened by the death of another
victim. We doubt not that the exertions of
our brethren of the press will be devoted to the sub-
ject--our own shall not be wanting. Let these but be
aided and assisted by some benevolent and zealous
philanthropists, and the stigma will be removed, the
stain will be blotted out from our naval and military
code.

Madrid papers of the 21st have arrived. The In-
fante Don FRANCISCO D'Assrs had obtained leave of
absence from his military duties at Pampeluna (where
he was serving as brigadier in command of the
cavalry regiment of La Princesa), and was expected
hourly in Madrid. He has been invited to the magni-
ficent court banquet, which is to be given on the 24th
at the Casa del Campo, in honour of the fête day of
the Queen-Mother.

The Heraldo announces that a conspiracy had been
discovered at Pampeluna, and that several non-com-
missioned officers, and also some of the inhabitants
of the town, bad been placed under arrest. The
same journal gives, what may be considered as an
official contradiction of the report, that the Mar-
quis Of MIRAFLORES would supersede M. MARTINEZ
DE LA Rosa. at Ambassador to France.
MADRID BoLSA, JULY 21.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 34k, for cash ; Five per Cents., at 21f ;
the Debt without Interest, at 6i ; the shares of the
Bank of San Fernando, at 390; and those of Isabel,
at 203.

We have received the Paris papers of Sunday,
which are still almost exclusively occupied with
electioneering matters.

On the 20th of July terrific storms ravaged many
parts of France. A letter from St. Jean Pied de
Port states that it burst in the gorges of the Pyrenees
at Baigorry, utterly destroying the harvest and the
vineyards. The standing corn remaining is not
worth harvesting, and that which was cut was COM.
pletely thrashed out by the hail, and the straw broken
to pieces.
On the same day a terrific hurricaLe burst on the
first plateau of the Jura, destroying churches, houses,
vineyards, trees, and fields of corn. "An earth-
palm," says a letter published in the jaurnal dee