The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-08 00:00:00

TNT BRUTAL LASH.

NOBLE SENTIMENTS IN REFERENCE THERETO
OF LORD METCALF.
(From the Indian
It givei us great pain 'to observe from the Indian jour-
nals that the opinion of many " practical •tnerall is in fa-
voar of the re-introduction of the lash into the native army.
This, should it takc.place, will, in our judgment, be a
fatal error. The doctrine • that the lash has become ne-
cessary is founded on a misconception which ought not to
exist among Persons making any pretensions to intelli-
gence ; for the late instances of discont-,n, and insubor-
dination have been much less important, and can be more
charly traced to improper treatment of the army, than
those which occurred before flogging was abolished by
Lord William Bentinck. This opmion of the practical
-man referred to -is worth no more than • the opinion
of other practical men, that the Indians, who nake the
bravest soldiers in the world, . are cowards by na;ure—
that the Indians who overthrew the-M,,gul despotism, and
who have repeatedly beat off the British with equal num-
bers, are incapable of organising, of themselves, an effi-
cient military force; and that the Indians, who in armed
mas es are gallant, faithful, and. honourable, are in civil
life a raze of liars, thieves, and scoundrels. These are
ancient prejudices which are fast vanishing before the light
of modern knowledge, and which, in all probability, will
have no existence at ail in the next generation; but in the -
meantime, unfortunately, in the question of the lash, it is
the opinion of the veterans, with the Duke of Wellington at
their head, which will be taken.

This painful subject has been suggested to us by the fol-
lowing paragraph in a letter to a private friend from Lord
-2letcalf, a practical man of another stamp:—
" I exceedingly deplore the contemplatedre-introduction of
flogging into the Indian Native Army, and have always re-
garded •Lord William Bentinck's abolition of that brutal
punishment as reflecting high honour on his administration.
If I had the power, I would abolish it in the British army,
notwithstanding the high authority in favour of its continu-
ance."

In the British army it unhappily exists, and its aboli-
tion, if no adequate substitute could be found, might, for
ought "we know, occasion some disorder among those in-
dividuals whose minds have been brutified and their
backs scored by the whip ; but the Indians are it pre-
sent restrained by military honour—by " fidelity to their
salt"—and this cannot co-exist with the lash. The best pre-
ventive of insubordination among them is just and judicious
treatment by the local government and officers in command.
It is but fair to add, that private accounts mention that
the contemplated brutalisation of a body of men to whom
England owes a debt that ought to be requited otherwise
than by the lash, had been suspended or given up.

RAILWAYS VERSUS COACIIES.—The advantages of
railways over the old system of travelling are daily becoming
more apparent. At first, economy of time was the great
feature in the improvement; now, economy of money is as
strikingly evident. The Brighton Railway Company has
again reduced its fares; the first-class fare, 108., is now less
. _

than the outside fare heretofore charged by the coaches, to
say nothing of the shillings (or rather half-crowns) and six-
pences charged by the coachmen and porters.

_ -
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. - The Congress of Men of
Science, at Naples, held its first sitting on the 20th of last
month, and was opened by a speech of one of the King's
Ministers, in the presence of his Neapolitan Majesty. Our
worthy townsmen, Dr. Brown, of the British Museum, and
Dr. Owen, of the College of Surgeons, were amongst the most
remarked notabilities. - Excursions to Mount Vesuvius, the
royal palace of Casenta will f dlow, as the King and the
municipality of Naples have made great preparations to show
off on that occasion.

FIRE AT HOLLOWAr.--Monday afternoon, shortly
before two o'clock, a fire of a very destructive character, and
which for some time caused considerable alarm in the neigh-
bourhood, broke out in the premises belonging to Mr. George
Flowers, a builder, &c., Queen's-road, Lower Holloway.
'hen first discovered the flames were raging furiously in
the workehop, a brick and timber building, about JO or 60
feet long by 15 or 20 feet wide. This compartment contained
a large quantity of budding materials, but owing to the ra •
pidity of the fire, none of them could. be &wed. The parish
engines were quick in arriving and no time was lost in set-
ting them to work. Meanwhile a messenger was sent to
London with intelligence of the outbreak to the, brigade and
West of England 'Stations. Owing to the inflammable nature
of the stock upon the premises, the tire speedily exteriebtd to
the saw-pits, and from thence to the static: and a store-hrikts4
ali)ining,; it then communicated to the roof of a two-story
cottage, which it set in a blaze. The Farringdon'and Wat-
iing-streets brigade eogines, with the West of l:iigland one
arrived at the scene in rapid succession, and by the exertions
of all parties, the fire wa, at length subdued, but not before
property to the value of several hundred pounds was de-
stroyed, and unfortunately Mr. Flowers was not iusured.