Star.
London, England, 1812-03-07 00:00:00

• . .- -
'fa indifferent thing. for an Officer to have the
!
.;
an
d choice from the hulks sent into his regi-
I; a' , 1 And accordingly, in the regiment alluded to,
in ~,a,equence of this mixture. offences had been
miqed, and punishments been inflicted.
clir sun-roll was cure the Hon. Gentleman had
lab vd in his statement. e wished to know
been ,ti
\loblee Friend or himself intended to introduce
ii his 1 r 1 l'sh flogging. They had no such in,
tita clan. Lran".asi.it n.odgsiule_ to do it: All had agreed
w year, on both si es
.of the. . House, that there was
onpredilection for flogging, if it coud be.changed
wily other. It was wished to ascertain if confine-
,,,,nt assal produce the same effect. In 1811, there
cid been but eight sentences of flogging, and since
torch, it'll, but one, the other seven having taken
place bef, re the new power was conferred. In the
law). c::se ih•• persoi preferred undergoing the pu.
slishment to conniuting it for general service. During
the same time there had been forty instances t - the
Fsaitliment of flogging in Portugal. He wished it
tobe recollected, that this was not the first time it
aothere discussed. It had received the deliberate
ccenideration of the House in the course of successive
punishment so obnoxious to simile
sessions, yet the
*gibers had not been abolished, and the only re.
pro provided was a discretionary power being given
to Courts, to substitute different periods of confine-
r,esa This alteration in the law, he was fiappy to
say, had been attended with a happy effect in Eng-
asd.-but what would be its effect in a foreign
aratii; and in the face of the enemy—(blear, hear.!)
There it was impossible that any other species of pu.
tishment than flogging could effectually enforce ml.
pan- disciplint. If any thing else could be substi.
toted to have the same effect, no person could adopt
it with greater pleasure than himself ; but so long as
no adequato substitution was proposed, he felt con-
siderable surprise on daily reading, that it was a spa.
ties of punishment which ought not to exist in a cis
vilized country'.
Colonel DUCKETT stated, that he had been 17
years employed on hotne service; and no °nicer with!
whom he conversed upon the subject ever expressed 1
to him a wish that punishment by flogging should be
entirely abolished. He was himself no friend to corn
poral punishment ; but, from actual observation, he
was satisfied that the power of inflicting it should
remain, because he was satisfied unit the terror it im-
posed prevented the commission of many offences.
Colonel DILLON thought that Colonial Service
might be advantageously substituted in the place of
finning. - .
Mr. BROUGHAM raid, that he never meant
that if flogging was abolished, no punishment at all
should be silbstituted in its place. lie never meant
to hold out such a bribe to mutiny and disorder r—'
rar from it. It was not the degree, but the kind of
;amity he reprobated. For instance, instead of run-
ring the risk of brotaliiing a whole regiment, by
siiinessing the spectacle of a wretch gradually sinking
under the tedious torture of a thousand lashes, who
hid been guilty of mutiny, he would shoot him at
ante. And as for crimes not worthy of death, could
there not be devised a variety of ways of punishing a
soldier, even upon actual service ? He had been ac-
cused of speaking against this odious systeM, in tertiss
of unwanantable invective. His language might
have been too strong for the delicacy of some gentle-
men ; but had it been stronger, it must have been
aid weak to express his abhorrence of this mode of
punishment. But the Honourable and Learned Gen-
tleman Lad lamented the general animadversions
Without doors, that had been made upon this system.
And whit was the answer the Learned Gentleman
himself gave to his own lamentations ? Why, that in
the last year this barbarous practice had decreased to
eight within'the whole year, and hut one of those in-
flicted. Now (said Mr.-Brougham), I contend that
this is a dist:nctly deducible consequence from those
very animadversions. (Hear, hear.) The press with.
out called the attention of ea public to, and fixed it
immovably upon, this flagrant si stem of punishment.
The public feeling had at length, as it always must
hive, sooner or later, its influence within these walls;
:end accordingly the first step towards the utter abo-
lition of this callous punishment was made in the in
troduction of the clause of last year into the Mutiny
Bill. Such, Sir, was the work of a free press ; rind
I cannot but sincerely lament that those who were
bold and honest enough to begin this battle in the
cause. of humanity-stliat those who fought the good
fight, and won an inestimable victory in that great
cause-_drat Mr. Cobbett and Mr:. Drakard shou!ci
now be immured within a prison. Gentlemen smile,
no doubt with disdain, at the guilty familiarity of
Citing heft re bait grave authority indivitloals com-
paratively so obscure. I a:Wit them to be so ; and
all I wish those Gentlemen is, that their zeal for
truth and their country May never place them where
less prudential patiotism has placed their less fortu-
nate fellow.subjects---ta laugh). I say, ther.elore,
that the animadversions of an honest press have pro-
dated this changt in the practice of military flogging,
u) triumphantly stated by the Learned. Judge 41i.dv0,.
sate; and that the- Legislature had been obliged;
with respect to this question, to act upon the very
rinciples of Mr. Cobbett, who is now in gaol for Ins
unseasonable declaration of thein. It is now, I rejoice
1" findi in the hands of my Worthy Friend, the Mem-
ber fcr Westminster (Sir Francis Burdett), and
backed by his talents, it would be criminal to despair
of its ultimate success.
_Mr. MANNERS SUTTON said, that, whatever
lot merits of Mr. Cobbett or Mr. Drakard might
be,
11vas persuaded that the diminution of corporal pu-
nishments in the army, within the last twelve months,
Ptooectled more from the Officers who sat upon the
Courts-Martial, than from those two Gentlemen.
Sir GEORGE WA RRANDER supported What
ildfallen from the last Gentleman', and telt surprised
tat the names cf Cobbett and Drakard should be
umeuced upon the subiect.
Lord PA I.IsIE RSTON was gljid that the Ltained
r_ osetiernan did not wish to' abolish the present mode
Of Ptinishrtient entirely ' • but the mode of punishment
tialahitcloif he wished to see, in some cast s, substituted,
transportation inte military service in the Co-
-61, esi could have -no good effect; for what good
ciao be . .
expected from a regiment formed entirely of
tnen,discharged for inisConduct Mother regiments.
General TARLETON said, he. felt the greatest
tefrorn stectbor the Learned Gentleman behind him, but,
iita; his oWn experience of thirty-six years in the mi-
Y service, lie was persuaded, that corporal punish-
tent could
not be entirely abolishid in it.-.(Hear,