The Sun.
London, England, 1832-07-07 00:00:00

ruptions of the church pulled down. Judging
from the complexion of the debate on Thursday,
it appears to us that Ministers may yet be under
the necessity of sacrificing these inefficient and
obnoxious measures to the prevailing sense of
Parliament. Mr. Carew, Member for the county
of Wexford, made an impression upon the I louse
by the force with which he, the stanch supporter
of Lord Grey's Government, denounced the in-
competency of Mr. Stanley's Rills; and Mr.
Sheil's powerful and striking speech left them not
a leg to stand tipon.—Times.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated last
in answer to a question from Mr. Alder-
man Wood, that the Commander-in-Chief is
about to institute a Court of Inquiry into the
circumstances of the Court-martial on Somer-
ville, of the Scotch Greys ; and he added, that
he could assure his Hon. Friend that that Court
of Inquiry would be so constituted, and the
proceedings, he hoped, so conducted, as to give
satisfaction to the public. Indeed it hardly
seems possible, with the best disposition in the
world to do so to involve so very simple a trans-
action in any difficulty. The facts of the case
are few. Somerville was sentenced to receive
two hundred lashes, and actually received one
hundred. He was tried nominally for the mili-
tary offence of refusing to re-mount an unbroken
horse, from which he, a recruit, had been already
thrown, but the real offence was writing a letter
to a newsparer. Were there no proof of this in
the conversation held with him by Major Wynd-
ham before the trial, and in the address to the
regiment when the punishment was about to be
inflicted, it would he found in the obvious dis-
proportion between the offence and the punish-
ment. The frets are in a nutshell. A consi-
derable space has now elapsed since the case
was first noticed. The Scotch Greys is an aris-
tocratic regiment. If there had been any misrepre-
sentation, scores of mouths would have been
opened in twenty-four hours after the first men-
tion of the affair in the House of Commons, re-
pelling indignantly, on the part of the officers,
the idea that they could have either entrapped
him into a military offence, for the sake of pu-
nishing him for what was no military offence, or
have sentenced a man to 200 lashes for what could
hardly be called even a military offence. We,
therefore entertain no doubt that the facts will
turn out to be what they have been represented.
We apprehend the officers of the regiment will,
' in either case, find themselves in what is called,
in homely language, a cleft stick. If it should
be proved that Somerville was not, under colour
of a pretended military offence, punished for
what was no military offence, then the whole
nation will indignantly ask, what sort of a Court
that is which could think of sentencing a human
being to 200 lashes on the back with a cat-o%
nine-tails, for the venial offence of refusing to
mount an unbroken horse, from which he, a re-
cruit of four months, had already been thrown,
and on which it was wished to mount him
merely to place him in the dilemma of being
either again thrown, or, in case of refusal, sub-
jected to punishment ? It is not surprising that
this case has produced a strong sensation among the
humblerclasses throughout thecountry. We have
seen accounts of subscriptions for Somerville in
many of the provincial Papers. In Cobbett's
Register of this day the following is given as an
extract from the Kilmarnock Chronicle and
Ayrshire Advertiser, of the 26th June :

-66 We are happy to state that a penny subscription was
commenced in this town on Friday last, for the purpose of
assisting in the purchase of the discharge of that noble of
nature,' Somerville. The collectors of this patriotic and
philanthropic fund have been met almost everywhere with
the most cordial reception, and have had sixpences, shil-
lings, and half-crowns offered them ; but as it was de-
termined not to go beyond a penny from each individual,
they confined themselves to this rule. We understand
that there are now upwards of six hundred names got, and
the subscription is still going on. It was remarked by
some that it should first be ascertained whether Somer-
ville wishes to get rid of his military life, but this we
conceive to be of little importance en the present occasion.
One great object is to give the public an opportunity of
expressing their sentiments on military flogging in general,
and on the lamentable case of Somerville in particular ;
and this, we think, could not be morn decisively done than
by the present method. The subscription must be to his
pecuniary benefit in some shape or other, and the mo-
rale of the thing will be more effective than a hundred
speeches in Parliament against flogging. We hope other
places in Scotland will follow our example, and infuse con-
solation into the mind of the patriot, while they send
shame and confusion into those of his oppressors."

The army forms too large a portion of our
population to be consigned wantonly to men
who evince so little compassion for their fellow-
creatures, as to inflict 200 lashes for refusing to
mount an unbroken horse. Military discipline is
necessary; but brutality is not necessary either
in the army or anywhere else. Mr. flume said,
after what had fallen from the Noble Lord
(Althorp), he would withdraw his motion on
the subject for next Tuesday. Sir J. C. Hob-
house, in moving that the petition relative to
the Court-martial be printed, said he co►i-
sidered it important that every publicity should
he given to the case. It would appear, from what
fell from the Secretary at War, that an order is
about to be expedited for the discharge of So-
merville.—Morning Chronicle.

The non-attendance of Members of Parlia-
ment to perform its ordinary duties inflicts a
serious evil upon the country, and reflects no
credit upon those who thus allow themselves
to violate the most solemn engagements. We
know of no worse sign of the times than that
vanity on the one hand and indifference on the
other which prompts men to embark in dtvies
which they have not the honesty or patriotism
to perform. A correct judgment would teach
a man, that so far from deriving any distinction
from, he is, on the contrary, rather disgraced by
the possession of an office in which he is use-
less himself, yet precludes others from being
useful. To lounge at clubs and frank letters
may be a very amusing way of passing one's
time ; but if it turns out to be a way in which
a large proportion of British senators pass their
time, no wonder if the affairs of the country
fall into decay, which is blessed with such a
race of guardians. n e are well aware
that there are a great .
number oi Members
to whom this imputation can no respect
attach—many whose official duties occupy no
small share of their time—many more whose
laborious attendance upon Committees furnish
a very sufficient apology for not spending the
whole of their nights in the same wearisome oc-
cupation as that which consumes their days. But
Mill these bear no proportion to the far greater
number who appear to neglect their Parliamentary
attendance altogether, and some of whom appear
to consider their gratuitous promises at the
hustings like lovers' vows, made only to be
broken. We trust to see this evil cured in a
Reformed Parliament, either by the good sense
and patriotism of the Members themselves, or by
some compulsory arrangement. Any thing of
the latter description may sound exceedingly un-
courteous in " the ears polite" of the dandy
representatives of schedule A; but when persons
are no longer sent to Parliament to represent
stocks and stones, but to look to the interests of
a new and inquiring constituency, they will, we