The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-23 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 23. 1851.

A month has scarcely elapsed since the feelings of
the public were horrified by the recital of a series of
atrocities perpetrated by a Roman Catholic priest and
schoolmaster at Islington on the unfortunate children
committed to his charge, and just indignation was
aroused against the slavish and debasing nature of a
creed which could invest the perpetrator of such
cruelty with the power of not only torturing children,
but of forcing, by an unscrupulous exercise of sacer-
dotal power, the parents of the tortured children to
themselves come forward and express their approval
of his conduct. It is our painful duty to re-
cord the occurrence of another instance of

heartless cruelty on the part of a Roman Catholic
schoolmaster, and it would appear as though this
system of cruel scourging was a regularly organised
part of the discipline of Roman Catholic schools,
every one of which is under the immediate superin-
tendence of a priest. The reason for the adoption
of this system of brutal flogging is obvious; if a child is
thus constantly subjected to cruel scourging, his nervous
energies, his courage, all his manly and independent
feelings are broken down; like the flogged hound, the
flogged child crouches in terror before his tormentor,
he becomes in a short time an abject terrified slave,
who, incapable of acting or thinking for himself, gives
himself up unhesitatingly to the guidance of his priest,
of whom thenceforth he becomes the tool. The case
to which we now direct the attention of our readers
is, however, favourably distinguished from the former
case by the fact that the parents did not come forward
to screen the schoolmaster.

L appears that a person named AUGUSTUS O'BuiEN,
who keeps a Roman Catholic school in Greville-
street, Sumer's- town, was yesterday charged at the
Clerken well Police-court,: before Mr. TYRWHITT, with
assaulting, beating, and wounding JAMES HANLEY,
a child. The report of the proceedings, after stating
that " the poor little fellow's back was frightfully
excoriated and blackened," proceeds to give the evi-
dence of the child :

" Having been sworn, be said, I live with my father
at 6, Smith's-place St. Pancras, and go to the Roman
Catholic School. where the defendant is schoolmaster.
Last Monday I played truant, and went on Tuesday
morning. When the boys left for dinner he flogged me.
lie made me take off my coat and shirt in the school-
room iu the presenee•of a boy named Green, saying, he
would pay
" Mr. TYRWHITT—What did he mean by that?
" Witness (trembling)—l don't know, sir. Oh, he
whipped me—he hit me a great many times.—(Murmurs.)
He hurt me very much. He told me to turn round that
he might whip my back, and he pulled me on his knees
and gave me a great many lashes.—(Groans.) When I
got away from school I went to my mother and showed
her my back. I have not been to school since.
" By the Prisoner—My mother took m© to school on
Tuesday morning. I did not hear her say anything
to you.

"The weapon (a kind of cat,' with three thongs
and knots,) was hero produced by Constable 198 S.
Whatever offence a child cf so tender an age could
commit to justify a punishment with such a weapon
every one present was at a loss to conjecture.
" Mrs. Hanley, the mother, said sho told the defendant
to punish her son by keeping him at school all day; but
certainly not to whip him. Her son had received at the
least twenty-five lashes, and was suffering severely from
their effects.

The defendant did not attempt to invalidate one jot
or tittle of the evidence ; he contented himself with
stating that he had been desired by the mother to
punish her child severely, a statement which at once
received from the mother a most emphatic contradic-
. tion, and which the defendant did not venture to re-
assert; and for this most cruel, most brutal as-
sault, for the infliction of 25 lashes with a cat
of three thongs and three knots—that it is to
say, for the infliction of 75 severe stripes
upon the naked back of an unfortunate child,
" marking his person with knotted cords," and pro-
' clueing frightful excoriations, Mr. TYRWHITT, the
magistrate, who had just before fined a man 20s. for
working a horse with a sore shoulder, conte-Ats him-
self with inflicting a fine of five shillings, telling him
that he hoped the inquiry would have due weight, and
act as an example. Whatever effect the inquiry may
have, the fine is more likely to act as an encourage-
ment to such men as the prisoner to gratify their
love of torturing. What ! a fine of five shillings for
the infliction of sevelity-five stripes ? why, it is not
at the rate of a penny a stripe ; and then what does
Mr. TvnwurrT mean by ventilating from the bench
such twaddle as the following:—" He had no fasti-
dious notions as to proper correction. Men, who had
done honour to their country had been punishsd at
school—men of high rank, whose names he could
mention, some of whom were in the Houses of
Lords and Commons, and army and navy." Why,
" men who have done honour to their country,
men of high rank, whose names no doubt the
worthy magistrate could mention, some of
whom were in the Houses of Lords and Com-
mons," have been in the constant habit of
getting drunk, yet we doubt whether even Mr.
TYRWHITT would consider it a valid defence if, on
the part of a person brought before him on a charge
of drunkenness, it were stated that Mr. PITT never
went to bed sober. One thing is certain, Mr. TYR-
wurris sympathies are much more with hacks with
sore shoulders than with scourged human beings,l
showing that it is possible for a man to be merciful to a
beast without being at the same time a merciful man.
We have no doubt that the Roman Catholic schools
will increase in Mr. TYRWHITT'S district. Clerken-
well will, so long as Mr. TYRWIIITT remains on the
bench, be the place of refuge for all flogging
schoolmasters.

The importance of devoting activ:d attention to
the improvement of the navigation of the great
river St. Lawrence seems a,"earcelv to be sufficiently
appreciated in Lower Caiiada. It is true that by the
construction of the
'
cation has been l'
....i,do;reenllbanedtwCeeannatlhae ctleaakresc
Eomrineluanni.d.
tOionntarfiroo,mandth'echalatkveessels may
Sports, or Huron, Michigan, and
sail without obstruc-
Erie, r 4 far as the first rapids on the river between
Pre'Aett and Ogdensburg ; 2 and
that the natural
c:ostacles arising by the numerous successive ripid3
down to Montreal have been ovcrccme by
the ,construction of 'flanking canals. Aloreover,
the magnificent harbour of Montreal, perfect
at a considerable .expense. and the deepenin pg
of the
Lake St. Peter, loetwecn that city and Quebec, have
completed the removal of all impediments in the nevi-
griaatviiognatbietw.eert the upper lakes and the ocean. But the
on ,of the Gulf of St. Lawrence still continues
bestt, with difficulties. Downwards from Quebec the
an:Antis are rendered dangerous and intricate by
r.ocks and shoals, and the mouth of the gulf is at
certain seasons liable to the visitation of heavy winds
and even icebergs. The latter circumstances are of
course beyond human control, but where large sums
have been expended in the improvement of the upper
parts of the river, how is it that the Canadians