The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-30 00:00:00

OLYMPIC.

Last night, being the first of the season, no less than three
entirely new pieces were produced ; the first, a Vaudeville
Burletta called The Loan of a Lover, with some pretty music
arranged by Mr. Tully. The events of three Burlettas comino-
upon the attention in rapid succession, are apt to produce some
little entlnglement of memory, and to render it no very easy
task to mention with sufficient clearness the story of each.
Ernestine (Miss Fitzwalter), a young lady of fortune, has a
number of admirers, each most solicitous to obtain her hand.
The most pressing of them is Captain Amer.yArt (Mr.
Vining). Gertrude (Madame Vestris) is this lady's maid,
an orphan, known from infancy to Peter Spyh (Mr. Keeley),
a substantial fanner, and fondly attached to him, while he is

entirely unconscious of it. Gertrude is most solicitous for a
lover, but cannot make Spyk comprehend her wishes ; and her
mistress—rather teased by the importunities of the Captain,
offer the loan of him as a lover to Gertrude. The offer is ac-
cepted, and both the Captain and Gertrude play their parts
so well as to excite the jealousy of Ernestine and Peter
Spyk, and the result is that the parties are happily united in
wedlock. The amusement of the piece is produced princi-
pally by the lively and natural way in which Gertrude
endeavours to draw from Spyk the secrets of his heart, and
his intentions on the subject of matrimony. He is determined
to have a wife, but among the many he mentions as having
occasionally occupied his thoughts, Gertrude finds in each
some fault of mind or ridiculous defect of person that puts a
stop to his further progress. At length seeing Gertrude, as
he thinks, loved by the Captain, and having a crowd of ad-
mirers besides, an attachment, which was smoulderinc, in his
heart from childhood, breaks out, and he finds himself furiously
enamoured, and of course furiously jealous. In the display
both of his love and his jealousy, Keeley was irresistibly
laughable, and contributed mainly to the success of the piece.
There is sonic pretty music, and Madame Vestris was encored
in one of the airs, which she sung with her usual sweetness and
felicity of expression. There is a very beautiful new scene,
a view on the canal near Utrecht. The second piece is a bur-
letta called A Little Pleasure. It takes this name from .111 r.
Henpeck (Mr. Keeley), who having married his own servant,
by whom he is most cruelly tyrannized over, goes down alone
to Margate "to take a little pleasure' for two or three days.
Here he is brought into a variety of laughable embarrassments
through means of a silly, ignorant, and mischievous coxcomb,
Mr. Fitzflash ; an inquisitive and prattling chambermaid,
Hetty Bandy (Mrs. Orger) ; and his own wife, who pounces
on him unexpectedly from London, while he is very unsuccess-
fully in pursuit of a little pleasure. The waiting maid has,
for her station in life, rather too much to do and to say, and a
little curtailment in her part would not be amiss. There was
some slight indication of disapprobation at the close of the
piece, but nothing to make the repetition a matter of doubt.
The title of the third Vaudeville is "Mrs Friend the
Governor." The Governor of Seville has, in a way utterly
unaccountable to all his friends, heaped favours without limit
upon Pequillo (Mr. Liston) and upon his family. The rea-
son is that this same Governor, when a student at Salamanca,
among other wild freaks of youth, had robbed Pequillo, while
sojourninff there with his wife, of all he possessed in the
world, being 500 pistols. He now, therefore, having arrived
at wealth and power, endeavours by all means to make amends
for the wrong he had inflicted, Pequillo being utterly igno-
rant of the cause, and attributing all the favours heaped upon
him to his own merits. At length, in an unhappy hour, he is
reminded of a madcap of the same name as the Governor,
who, twenty years before, had made himself notorious at Sa-
lamanca by his riotous life and his success among all classes of
females, high and low, married and unmarried. A crotchet
takes possession of his brain that the Governor is the wild
youth who formerly figured away at Salamanca, and by aid of
insinuations from a kind relation,he becomes convinced that the
Governor is now, by his bounty, making payment for favours
received at Salamanca from Ftlipa, his wife, who was then
young and beautiful. Liston's jealousy is The great attraction
of this piece, and he kept the audience in roars of laughter
from the time the fit seizes him till he is undeceived at the close

---
A Miss Paget and a Mrs. Macnamara made thcir first appear.
antes at this Theatre, and did very respectably what was corn•
mitted to them. The house was crowded in every part.

VICTORIA THEATRE.

This house has re-opened for the season. The principal
novelty announced in the bills, and that which seemed to be
the great attraction of the evening, was the glass curtain, the
production of which was loudly applauded by the audience.
The house has been thoroughly cleaned, and a great many
small chandeliers illuminated with gas have been judiciously
substituted for one immense chandelier in the centre of the
ceiling. The appearance of the whole is good. Othello was
the play, the part of the Moor being enacted by Mr. Elton,
who is a clever man and a good player ; he reminded us in
many passages of Kean, of whose school he is a successful
disciple. Mr. H. Wallack was the lago, and Miss Horton
and Mrs. Selby the Desdemona and the Emilia of the evening ;
both these ladies displayed considerable talent ; the latter was
on several occasions applauded with enthusiasm. Rame Samee
exhibited his feats of balancing, &c., to the entertainment of
the evening ; and a farce, entitled the Gentleman with the
Carpet Baq, in which a villainous attorney, who is conveying
the deeds of an estate, which he wishes to keep out of sight, in
a carpet-bag, is by no great stretch of imagination mistaken for a
depredator, who travels for the purpose of committing rob-
beries, is detected, and forced to relinquish his pray, con-
cluded the performance; this last trifle was exceedingly well
supported by the acting of Mitchell. The dialogue is a mere
play upon words, in which some real wit is crushed under a
deadweight of extravagant and antiquated puns. The house
was crowded in every part with respectable company.

It is, we understand, the intention of their Royal
Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria
shortly to proceed from Tunbridge Wells to the sea side, and
St. Leonard's has been selected by the Royal party for their
residence during the winter months. The West Villa (re-
cently occupied by Lady Dover), with the two adjoining
houses, are taken for their Royal Highnesses and suite.
On Wednesday the Duchess of Kent and the Prin-
cess Victoria arrived at Sheffield Park, where a brilliant party,
consisting of the neighbouring Nobility and Gentry, had as-
sembled to meet them. We understand that it is their Royal
Highnesses' intention to remain there for some days.—Hamp-
shire Telegraph.
His Royal Highness William Frederick Duke of
Gloucester is at present on a visit to Sir Clifford Constable.
His Royal Highness, when Prince William of Gloucester,
was admitted to the freedom of this town in 1798, on which
occasion he dined with Mr. Standage, who was then Mayor.
In now visiting the town it is expected that some measures
will be taken by the authorities to testify their respect to a
member of the Royal Family, and so near a relative to our
most gracious Sovereign.—Hull Packet.

Lord Burghersh entertained on the 28th inst. the
Marquis and Marchioness of Worcester, Count Torlonia, Sir
Willoughby Cotton, Baron Tuyll, and the Honourable Mr.
Dundas.

Lord and Lady Tullamore on Michaelmas-day en-
tertained a party of friends, amongst whom were the Marquis
of Worcester, Sir Willoughby Cotton, Mr. Villiers, and Mr.
Duncombe.

Mr. and Lady .Elizabeth Vernon Harcourt gave a
sumptuous dljeuner to a large family connection at Nuneham
on Thursday last, on the occasion of the marriage of their only
child, Miss Harcourt, to Viscount Norreys, eldest son of the
Earl of Abingdon.
The Right Hon. R. C. Fergusson, M. P., and
family ; Lord Lumley, M. P. ; Colonel Wright and family,
and Colonel Baillie, have arrived in Carlisle.

Russell Grove, the magnificent seat inherited by the
Hon. R. A. Clive from his brother-in law, the late Earl of
Plymouth, has received an accession of distinguished guests
since the present proprietor took possession. The Duke and
Duchess of Northumberland (sister to Mr. Clive) the Coun-
tess of Pembroke, and the Ladies Herbert from Malvern, have
been among the visitants.

BRIGHTON, SEPT. 28.—The Lord Chancellor, ac-
companied by Miss Spalding, arrived on Friday evening, and
the next morning visited the Earl of Westmorland, at the
Bedford. Lord Brougham took an airing oa the Cliffs yes-
terday afternoon, accompanied by Lady Brougham and Miss
Spalding.

BERLIN, SEPT. 22.—A list is circulated in the
high circles here of the distinguished persons who are expected
at our Court while the Empress of Russia is here in i3erlin,
and in Potsdam. Among them are—the Grand Dukei of
Oldenburgh and Saxe Weimar and their families, the reigning
Duke of Anhault Roothen. Duke Eugene of Wirtemberg, the
Landgraves of Hesse Philipsthue and Hesse Rothemberg, &c.
RYDE, SEPT. 27.—His Grace the Duke of St.
Alban's, as Grand Falconer of England, intends flying his
hawks on Ashley Down on Monday next. Oar amusements
were never so varied nor so warmly supported as during the
present season, which we may fairly attribute to'the Duke and
Duche4s of St. Alban's. Whatever can contribute to the plea-
sore, of the place meets their ready and liberal sanction. At,
rivals—Sir William Robinson, K. C. 8., and Lady Robinson,
and A. Goldschmidt, Esq.
SOUTHAMPTON, SEPT.27.—On.Re
v.
the the
the Chancellor of the diocese held a visitation in Holyrood
Church, and delivered a most impressive charge. The ser-
mon was preached by the Rev. T. Mears, Rector of All Saints.
The Rev. J. B. Clifford (Curate to Dr. Wilson at Holyrood
Church) has been presented to the Curacy of Petersfield by
the Bishop of Winchester. The Revising Barristers ap-
pointed to this town have, during the week, completed their
labours. On Friday morning, 'as the Hon. Berkeley Craven
was turning the corner of East-street from the High-street,
with his carriage and four, one of the leaders fell and entangled
the others, and before they could be separated one (a valuable
horse) was so severely injured that it is not likely to recover.
The noble owner and friend escaped without injury.
WINCHESTER, SEPT. 27.—The C and D troops
of North Hants Yeomanry Cavalry will be quartered in Win-
chester on Monday and Tuesday next, under the command
of Major Sir W. Heathcote, Bart., and Captain Baring. On
Tuesday they will be inspected on Compton Down, being their
last this autumn. A public Meeting, convened by the Mayor,
was held at the Guildhall on Tuesday last, to take into consi-
deration the best means of supporting the police force esta-
blished in the city and suburbs, when necessary resolutions
were entered into for that purpose. Confirmations.—The
Lord Bishop of Winchester will hold a confirmation for the
Lord Bishop of Bristol at Wimborne Minster, and also at
Poole on Thursday next, the 2d of October ; at Wareham
on Friday the 3d, and Dorchester on Saturday the 4th.
COWES, SEPT. V.—Commodore Lord Yarborough
returned from his six weeks' cruise on Sunday last, having vi-
sited Lisbon and Madeira. The variable weather experienced
satisfactorily proved that the Falcon haw been improved by the
alterations. She is come into harbour to be laid up. His
Lordship entertained a distinguished party at the Yacht House
on Thursday. On Thursday the SparrothhaWk cutter, E.
Heneage, Es also returned, last from St. Michael's, in
eiaiit days. She ran 3,000 miles in twenty days. Sailed the
Water Witch, the Earl of Belfast, for Portsmouth, to be sun
veyed for the British packet service. The Vice-Cciinnodore
intends to build an improved brit--yacht. Yachts in the roads
Ann, Earl of Listowell ; Emily, Captain Pechell ;
Spenser de Horsey, Esq. ; Pet, Captain Corry
hawk, E. Heneage, Esq.

,pdoPg,
p ' SPurw"

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1834

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS IN THE ARMY.
HINTS TO THE MILITARY COMMISSION, &c.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlB,—The debate on the flogging of private Hutchinson,
of the Guards, is likely to have important results. In the
season of peace we may safely conclude that the petition
on that subject, presented to the House of Commons by
Mr. Tennyson, has given its death blow to corporeal punish-
ment. Public opinion has been so loudly and decidedly
pronounced against it, that every officer in either Service
must now be convinced that this revolting system cannot
be much longer upheld.
The Secretary at War on that occasion stated to the
House of Commons, that one-fifth of the army had within
the last year passed through the different gaols ; he subse-
quently qualified this astounding assertion by saying it was but
a tenth : however, we learn from other sources of information
that in the period he speaks of, there have been no less
than 18,000 courts-martial in the army—consequently the
Secretary could not have been far wrong when he estimated
the number of offenders at one-fifth. But whether we take
the number as one-fifth or a tenth, in either case the por-
tion is so great as to give rise to the most serious appre-
hensions ; and whether we look to the sullen discontent
now prevalent among so many of those neglected officers,
who fought their country's battles, or to the avowed in-
subordination of the soldiery, it is evident there is an in-
ternal rot, and we can no longer disguise the fact, that the
once proud and martial spirit of the British army is fast
falling away.
It appears there is a Commission about to be appointed
for the purpose of inquiring into everything connected with
the discipline of the army, of revising our military code, and
to recommend some substitute for corporeal punishment.
This Commission will, no doubt, be empowered to call what-
ever evidence they can collect. I sincerely hope their la-
bours may be attended with useful results ; but it is
earnestly recommended that they do not confine their in-
quiries to foolish theorists, or to those who have lately given
their testimony on the sinecure governments ; the same
persons, always questioned, seldom throw new light on a
subject, and the present is one infinitely too important to
be any longer trifled with by the drivelling of. dotage. They
must have recourse to practical men—that is to say, to
'generals of districts, to colonels in command of regiments,
and captains in command of companies, who have served
in war and in peace ; to adjutants, selecting those particu-
larly who have risen from the ranks, and respectable ser-
jeants; Those are the men who maybe said to have charge
of the discipline of the army, and who, from experience and
knowledge of a soldier's life, must be the most competent
judges of how he can be best governed without the use of
the lash.
It has been asserted, I believe, on the authority of Sir
W. Gordon, that a soldier of infantry, who is the lowest
paid of any class, receives only twenty-five shillings annually
in cash, after defraying all his wants. Now, if we examine
into the list of offences committed by soldiers, it will be
found, that in nineteen cases out of twenty, they originate
from drunkenness. Let some of the captains who pay the
men be then called upon, and I venture to affirm it will ap-
pear that in all well-regulated regiments the soldier receives
at least twele or thirteen shillings a month in hard cash ;
that is, after being well fed, housed, and clothed, with every
comfort about him, he gets the amount of twelve or thirteen
shillings a month to spend as he pleases. With this money
the soldier generally goes to the canteen, or to some spirit-
shop, where he frequently gets beastly drunk, and in this
state commits some disgusting outrage, possibly on a help-
less female or other unoffending member of society, and is
deservedly punished for his misconduct. The question
may be here asked, ought the army to be paid at this extra-
vagant rate ?—or how long will the people consent to pay an
idle and dissolute soldiery all this money, that so many
thousands of them may pass as culprits through the gaols
for violating those laws, which they are so• well paid to
protect?

By the present regulations, it is impossible to rid a regi-
ment of a bad character, unless he is transported as a felon.
If there were condemned regiments or companies on parti-
cular stations, it would prove eminently useful, and courts-
martial ought to have the power of sentencing incorrigible
offenders to serve for five, ten, or fourteen years in one of
those condemned regiments or companies, according to the
degree of his offence, and then be discharged with ignominy
from the Service.
It has been remarked that, since the power of punishment
has been taken out of the hands of commanding-officers,
crime has rapidly increased ; for one court-martial in former
days you have now thirty, from which it is plain that the
regulations which transferred the management of a regi-
ment to the general was a most injudicious one. In short,
as by this system, out of an army not in any way exceeding
100,000 men, there have been 18,000 courts-martial in one
year, there is sufficient evidence that responsibility ought
to rest somewhere, and in all fairness the colonel cannot be
held'- responsible for that which he has- not the means of
guarding against ; disorders take place underMiiery. eye,
a quire of paper is wasted in corresponding with the dif-
ferent officers, and this is what they call now-a-days go-
verning an army ! They forget that punishment, to be
effectual, must be prompt, one case being punished by ten
days' imprisonment, under the order of the commanding-
officer, when the offence committed is fresh in the minds of
the men ; or, as an example, with fifty or sixty days in-
flicted by the general in many cases where the crimes are
forgotten by them. A commanding-officer should, more-
over, be empowered to fine soldiers for petty offences and
drunkenness, but not to exceed 2s. 6d. for each offence.
Let it be borne in mind, that in everything connected with
his pay the soldier is like a sensitive plant, and the greater
the drunkard, the more mercenary and selfish will he always
be found; and I am well persuaded that if the power of
fining to a limited extent was_ vested in the commanding-
officer, it would go a very great length in preventing
drunkenness and disorder, and that the number of courts-
martial would be thereby diminished more than one-half.
This is
.only making a commanding-officer a magistrate in
his own corps.
The mode of pensioning soldiers also requires revision.
By the regulations a soldier is entitled to a pension after a
certain period of service ; at present the good and bad cha-
racter are equally rewarded. This ought not to be : character
should at all times have its due weight, and it is most un-
fair to deal out the same measure to a brave, orderly, and
efficient soldier, as you do to the troublesome, disorderly,
and inefficient gaol bird. On a second conviction before a
court-martial a soldier might be mulct of ld. a-day (in addi-
tion
anyo othern s
c punishment), of the pension he would be
entitledand so on ld. for every conviction
afterwards
should he continue incorrigible, the condemned
companies in regiments must be resorted to. This, I be-
t ;oba
re,
be-
lieve, would be found to have a most salutary effect in re-
crime, particularly among those who bad served for pressing
upwards of ten OE fourteen years.
I am clear for restoring to the commanding-officer all the
power in his own regiment, which is at present possessed by
the general of the district, holding- him strictly responsible
for its proper exercise. With this view, there can be no
objection to lay the proceedings of any or every regiment as
regards courts-martial and punishment before Parliament,
whenever they may be called for.
Mr. Buckingham, and some other well meaning individuals,
seem to think that the more frequent advancement of sol-
diers to the rank of officers would, by holding out encou-
ragement, do away in a great degree with crime in the
army. But on inquiry it will be found that the situations
of adjutants frequently, and quarter-maSters without ex-
ception, as vacancies occur, are bestowed'tin deserving non-
commissioned officers ; that many staff-appointments, such
as town-majors and town-adjutants, are. now filled up by
agricultural
therepar t
o i sf
men who have risen from the ranks. If, in addition to all
this, one-half of the commissions at the disposal of the com-
mander-in-chief were given to soldiers, I do not believe it
would induce a better class of men to enter the Service.
at h
e distaste
population to the ete militarysame mayamong
e
thelnE
said of Scotland, and
also some part of
Ireland. It is true
that in war time many
generespecta.ble men were found in the
ranks, and that, generally speaking, there was a much. better
materiel for the formation good non-commissioned
officers than is now to be found.e tmust, however, be re-
collected that the plan of volunteering from the militia at
that period threw into the ranks of most regiments a much
superior class of men than any other mode of recruiting
ever did. Many of those who volunteered got commissions
in due time ; but had there beenmilitia in the first no
.in-
stance, few, if any of them, would ever have enlisted. It
was after the war co •
ntinued for a much longer period than
was expected, that many of them •
seeing no near prospect-of
disbandment, as they were compelled to serve in the
militia at all events, preferred entering into the regular
army and going abroad,
former at boine
ut now this source being dried up, you
have. no other 1; B
way
left than by recruiting.
At present the army is chiefly composed of the refuse of
society--that
is, the idle and dissolute from the manufac-
turing towns in England,and
every one has witnessed the
ragge vagabonds who join the different regiments as re-
cruits from Ireland. Now, when this is notoriously the
case, it cannot be expected that any man of respectability
will feel very anxious to allow his son to enlist, knorcing
beforehand that the
abandoned
man mint, for some period at
least, associate with
when lie
c.hal7ucters in a barrack
room, at a time of life
il be le. 1,00 ready to take impres-
certainty, if he escaped y P"siP7
around him, even with the
to the rank of 01 c(r"1.1- Won of ultimately being raised
The best enco,,- r.
conducted
him 4-- '

—d-agement that you can bold out to a well
„...dialer is to shorten the service that entitles
tns discharge with a pension ; this would make a great
:distinction between the good and the bad, to do which is
the greatest point of all.
By the present system, it disorderly man and a good
man, of equal lengtii of service, are rewarded alike, although

the former may be said to have only performed one-third
part of the duty of the latter, who, by keeping himself free
from punishment, has to bear that portion which belongs to
the disorderly man, whose best time is passed in the guard-
house or in gaol, and who, so far from meriting reward, ought
to be branded with lasting infamy and shame. W. R.