Star.
London, England, 1811-06-19 00:00:00

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believed that front that system much harm and pro, perform with precision some pact of Ms exercise, con- of regimental courts martial. The statement of the
juice arose to the, army. Why should mot rewards ' demned to the hospital : of this phrase, acondem- desertions was exaggerated. The Hon, Baronet had -
be given for chivalrous feats of bravery, as well as ned to the hospttal," it may be necessary to give apparently concluded that the whole number of 859
punishments bestowed for relaxation or departure some explanation to those who were accustomed to desertions implied so many individuals. This was a
from discipline. There should be rewards to actors- amide an hospital as a place where the diseased mistake, for the same individual sometimes deserted
pany a notable exploit. Persons got familiarised in were / estored and the indigent assisted. The Military live or six times belbre he could be finallrprevented.
witnessing of cruelty, and the good effects which Hospital in the Tower Wilt a place to which refrac- —lf the army were accustom d to make sppeaL to
:night have arisen from it were lace in feeling for the
individual. The Gentlemen of Britain were accus. tory or unskilful soldiers were sent, and placed upon Parliament, some trifling abuses might be corrected,
a diet consisting of a twopenny loaf, a pint and a but the army would be gone. Where. vas the sub-
tomed to eye cruelties which the Gentlemen of, half of milk and water, and a pint and a half of stitute for the present system ? Imprisonment was
other parts of Europe seldom beheld. In Regi- . a thin gruel, known by the name of digygolee, per now part of it. Capital punisl.ment might be used ;
menus 'regulated in discipline, by that barbarous diem, for the procuring of which ten.pence a day but was it to be said that there was to be no mulish-
practice, there was scarcely a petty crime, he had- was stopped out of their pay, and against the ener- ment, except capital, for the higher offences ?
been informed, but what had its punishment in %Pacing effects of which he was sure that no vigorous Mr. BROUGHAM regretted that the actual state-
lashes,and which created frequencyof desertion. A sop. man in the prime of life could bear up, much less an ment of that motion seemed to have totally escaped
dier had been flogged and deserted that same evening; individual worn wilt age and infirmity. He had seen the Honourable Member, whose speech was much
his honour was injured and he had no better means
the veteran, to whom he had alluded, following the more like a prepared anticipation of a speech ex-
of resenting it. The returns of the Army in Ireland,
corporal on whose irsas he was dependant. fruitlessly pected, than an answer to one made. The cases a Inch
for 1811, evidently shewed how fatal the system of soliciting pardon or his involuntary offence; and his Honourable Friend had adduced had been ob.
chastisement was ; the 37 battalions had at the rate after the drill broke up, he was present at a conversa- jetted to, but be would not trouble himself about
of nine to each of them flogged and they all deserted. tion which further enhanced the
pain which his feelings those cases. He was satisfied with spewing from the
And by his curious mode of calculation he proved
flog-
that there had been no lees' thkn four millions of had sustained : one old man complained of a pain in principle of reason and law, that the system of
his side, another of a pain in his head, and they all ging was unwise. This was the object of the motion,
lashes bestowed in Ireland for one year. Men had looked as it they were much fitter for the couch and the and nothing relating to any particular case ;he was
all allowed, that none were ever amended by punish.
arm-chair, than to be made the subjects of an barns- . only anxious to bring the ouse to a pledge that it
ment, but many spoiled by it. 'When man was once
sing and, so far as it regarded them, most useless duty. would proceed on the subject next Ses,ir n. The Judge
degraded by such punishment, he falls from his rank
An observation of the old man condemned to 144- Advocate had spoken of his amendments and theef-
in the scale of existence, and never recovers his
particularly affecting :on its being remarked feces he expectedfrom them. But what was the changer
strength and alacrity. By such modes we weakened Roles was
yoneef his comrades that they would have got th
i The Mutiny Act had, since e Revolution, allowed
and disabled our Armies. A Military Gentleman away sooner if it had not been for old Woollaton, lof a latitude of punishment for higher offences: and j
had told him the effects which punishments had on
he exclaimed—" Well, thirty years ago, I could i a court-martial might sentence to imprisonment oar.
the East India soldiery, where mortifications and
have done it as well as himself, meaningNs judge, ; flagging. Bythe Valsection of the Act. ,a court-martial''
frequent deaths ensued from the practice, and that
the yoting corporal." -He (Sir Francis had spoken could go to anyextentof punishment that did not injure :
at the Cape of Good Hope they suspended punish- individuals of the battalion, who had l life or limb. There was of course no change in the '
anent from the mortality it occasioned. The mode , with many
of
, stated, that they would be quite willing on getting I law ; or if the Hon. Member said there was any
punishment adopted was an excellent one ; they
a blank discharge to renounce any other reward to change, he said what was not law. The law allowed
sentenced men to labour, without any extra pay, at
i which their services might have entitled them ; and latitude of corporal punishment, and imprisonment
the construction of roads, and other objects of uti.
ihe could not help thinking when this circumstance was such. If it was still vbe insisted that there was
pity. Soldiers, he proved, from the opinion of a Ge.
: was considered, that the words " ingrata ',atria" would a change, it must reduce itself to a hint to Courts
Demwere i somewhat prone to punish, not.expected
to be capable for duty in three months after heavy form no inappropriate motto, if added to the inscrip. martial, that they might look rather more to impri.
tion on their breast-plates, designating the number of sonment than they had done. But all this was feeble.
chastisement, and that they went about most me-
their battalion and the length of their service. He Flogging for mutiny, &c. would continue to the
lancholy and dejected creatures ; the _ General ad.
hoped he would not be $ thou ht unwarrantable in I amount of eight or ten hundred lashes, and the change
. . . .
WhY

witted, in his usual careless manner, that they had
to drop the system of the borse-whipping to save the
men. It could not be too much reprobated that un-
feeling levity with which punishments were spoken of.
He was assured, that were the soldier sent to labour
at the King's works without extra pay, he would be
contented. It was the opinion of General Co!born
that no man ought to suffer more than one thousand
lashes. But• in inflicting of these, men had to wear
smock-frocks to hinder the flesh and blood from be-
fouling them inthe horrid execution.—(No, se Hear,
bear!)-Hs was happy to find the House was affect.
ed by his true. statement. He was assured from the
humanity which the House indulged towards the
negroes, it would incline them to feel for their own
fellow subjects, who were liable to severer punish.
ments. Good God ! never was such cruelty exer-
cised on a negro as on an English soldier.—(Hear,
gear.)—lt Was once that punishment only belonged
to a few, but the system had overspread the land; the
son beheldl his father, and the father his son, hastened
alike to flogging He hoped that Gentlemen would,
for their own sakes, assist in destroying such a punish-
ment. Soldiers should be nourished up to a high
sense of honour ; but the British soldier, though un-
der the most free Government in the wOrld, _possess-
ed not all tbe.advantages of that freedom. When a
man, tyinglainting and wounded in the time of bat.

tale, tu► his unconquered mind to think that his
enemies would find the marks of dishonour on
his ' back, what must be the affliction of that '
brave man's heart ? Had Ministers freed the brave
army from the cruelty of punishment they would
have saved much obloquy from other nations. Sir
R. Wilson wrote from Russia that the Russian Mi.
nister of War said, in the presence of the Emperor, '
that the finest sight in the world wis a British parade,
and the most frightful spectacle was the camp. The
editor of The Stamford News might have been indicted
for libellin' the Russians, when he said our punish.

making a statement which would be supported by
officers of high rank in the service, and for the purpose
of getting rid of a system disgustful and irritating to the
feelings of the country. He hoped he should not have
marshalled against him the monstrous argument—
that because our soldiers act with such heroism
under the existing system, that therefore it should
remain unaltered. It was true nothing could ex.
ceed the conduct of our troops ; they felt that they
had to support the honour of a free country, and when
they came before the enemy, all other ideas but that,
even the thought of the shameful punishment to
which they were subjected, fled from their minds.—
He would not take up the time of the House in an-
swering this argument, which he was ashamed to an-
ticipate. He conceived that the House, by the alter-
ation they had assented to in the Mutiny Act, :tad
sanctioned the principles he had endeavoured to in-
culcate ; and he trusted they would now acknowledge
the necessity there existed that as long as it might be
expedient to continue the system, so long those who
reduced it to practice should be strictly controuled,
and that measures should be taken with as much
promptitude as circumstances would permit for its
final abolition. He would move—
" That an humble Addeo, be presented to his Royal Wimp
the Prince Renew, paying that be would be graciously pleased
to tab into consideration the practise of dogging now prevalent

in the army, and that he would be pleased to give orders to the
officers commanding reghnents, directing them to adopt such
measures u they Might deem most efficient for metralning and
flatly abolishing that ignominious mode of punishment."
Mr. MANNERS.SUTTON admitted the import-
ance of the subject, but must think the statements
much exaggerated. The very object proposed was
-already attended to, so far as was consistent with the
military policy of the country, and could be made
useful or manageable. It was unfair to speak of the
effect of the law, until it had been tried : from the

produced by the amendment would be nothing.
was not the amendment introduced into the first Sec.
tion, and made adequate to supersede capital punish-
ments, as the only thing that could be superseded by
the amendment ? The Courts-martial having already
had power of imprisonment for inferior offences, would
find their powers neither increased nor diminished by
this alteration. Taylor's case was of small interest
compared with the general question, He had lately
expressed himself s'aongly in abhorrence of the flog-
' ging of negroes, a race less connected with us than
the objects of the motion. Why not, whet: it camenearer
home, and among a gallant and manly race? The spec-
tacle of a military flogging was one of the most horrid;
and that, not on the testimony of persons of peaceful
habits, buton the authority of officers ((located in the
view of them. But those were the very men who
talked of them in the most powerful I.lnriag.,. The
representations of those officers would have been an-
swered, if they were capable of being answered, but
they were not. They had given their names in the
face of the whole army If any thing could have been
said, there were vents; pens .enough to vindicate JA.
cruelty. That the punirshmene-was. irtliltilnioits
was on' tie testimony of officers of no common
tinctioft, General Stewart, Sir Robert Mum, and
General CoCkburn. Fogging turned the indigna-
tion of the crime, against the punisher. Why
a rezular

was not torture a regular punishment ? Except a
dictum, and a solitary passage in the Bill of Rights,
there was nothing about the abolition ref torture,
because it never was the lawof--England. On the trial
of Fenton for the murder of the,Duke of Iruckngliam,
there was an attempt to examine by torture, but
the Judges declared that it could not be administered
by the law of England. That law prohibited any
unusual and cruel punishment. The punishment
was not merely obnoxious as not reclaiming the cul-
prit, but as an offence to public decency. His Hon.
Friend had been called on to point out a substitute

r

......aoing ._ , ___
aunts were equally cruel. The perseverance in the lateness of its enactments, it had not been fairly tried.
' for flogging. The law had done it already, by
system of corporal punishment remained to be ac- Even now, frequent applications had been made to pointing out imprisonment. There were other modes
counted for, when considered along with the wonted him to know kow far the usual punishment might of making discipline secure, such as deprivation of
generosity mil feeling of the nation. The troops of not be commuted for imprisonment. Instances of pay and restraint of food. But now we took the
'France were ooetished up in a high sense of honour, cruelty had been spokeirof. If these were brought
,• wretched victims down from the triangles, an object
and rose rapidly in military fame and their officers in forward distinctly, they would meet investigation, for the dissecting room or for the hospitals, to be
preferment, for they had no Acts of Parliament to hire- and receive punishment. It was to be observed, hung up again, and receive another such punish-
der their advancement. We have talked from viewing that the object of the whole motion, the Local
, ment. TI .Duke of Gloucester thanked his Lieu-
things in quite opposite lights. When we spoke of the Militiaman, was omitted. From the mode in which tenant-Colonel for not having had a single flogging
victories and triumphs of our soldiers, we proudly the statement of that case was originally made,' in his regiment in two years and a half.—(Hear.)
voted the thanks of the House to their valour, we some enquiry had been necessary, and the result —Was there any decay of discipline on that account?
gave it as the reward of honourable men, but when was the following statement :—The recruits had been 1 The practice was ruinous to the soldier. He lost his
they were punished we lost sight of their honour and assembled some days before the main body of the I spirit, feeling,
and character. The motion should
treated them as slave[. Were we to treat a beast as regiment, and there was a natural tendency to die- have his support.
we do a soldier we would have our brains beat out Is
/ order. There were some reports that the mens' bread i Lord PALMERSTON spoke at length against
the bye.standers. While Frederick the Greet of Pros. ; was bad, and the Colonel sent for the contractor to' the motion.
sia considered man-as a machine only to be moved direct him to give better. The contractor asserted . Mr. WHITBREAD reprobated the system of
by a stick, he experienced in his very first campaign ^ that the bread was good, and it was sent to the mess- punishment which had been adopted in our army, and
95,000 desertions. The King than inculcated more table to be tried. The officers were all of opinion that highly panegyrised the Dukes of Gloucester and
humane sentiments, and his soldiers proved in vic. 6 it was of the propel, quality ; but the Colonel not Grafton, for their discountenancing it in their Teepee-
tory how much they valued his kindness. The Ger. leaving it even to this, sent some to the Inspecting rive
regiments. Save this one black spot, he knew of
man soldiers were not near se severely handled, and General, who pronounced it good. The regiment no taint upon the honour of our army.
the German troops in Britain wondered to find them. arrived in small parties, and some of those at night 1 Mr. YORKE opposed the motwu, and was in
selves Germanised. Various were the modes which rather intoxicated. The clamour against the bread clined to think, chat during the Honourable Baronet's
his Majesty's Officers had tried to correct the trifling was kept up by these people; and loaves were found stay in the Tower, he had been picking up stories
failings of the army, which created the derision of fo- kicked about the streets, a proof that there was no from the old soldiers, and they really had played the
reigners, who not unfrequently drew laughable pic.; attempt to try the bread. After this, the words" sour old soldier on hon.
tures of the curious systems of punishment which were bread, and other insulting expressions, were chalked Mr. W. SMITH spoke in favour of the motion.
to be found in Britain. By the articles of war, a man upon the walls—placards were hung up—the officers 1 The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
could be confined but for 8 days, yet two instances were hissed down the parade—and still the ringleader thought the House ought not to put any faith in the
had come within his own knowledge, while confined could not be found. The officers, however, were i statement of the Honourable Baronet, who had gone
in the Tower, of this assigned period being overstaid. anxious that something should be done ; the spirit ! about collecting old stories, which, the moment they
One individual was confined for sixteen, and another was ton dangerous to be passed over, and it was im- were stated, were falsified.
for 31 days ; and he could further state, that of the ,witant to find out who was the exciter of the tut.' Mr. ADAMS and Sir H. MONTGOMERY
veteran battalion which did duty in that fortress, in- Taylor wrote the song of which so much had , spoke against the motion.
dividuals had received to the amount of 55,000 lashes said, and exhibited himself as a prominent person.— •
( Mr. C. HUTCHINSON supported the motion,
during the period of six years, while it had been under He was punished ; not for the song, as was absurdly and vindicated the discipline of the French and Rus.
the command of Colonel Cooke. He could not help said, but for the pat t which he had taken. His pu- sian armies.
adverting to the very different mode of treatment to nishment was partially inflicted, and he acknowledged , Sir FRANCIS BIJRDETT. in reply to the Chan.
%illicit we thought proper to subject our veteran sol- its leniency in the presence of the surgeon. Some of cellor of the Etchequer, said, that kir lack of aril, u -
diets, and the very different uses to which we applied Taylor's comrades had come into the room, and were ment he had recourse so the vulgar expedient of itu-
them, from shat was the practice of the Romani- reproaching him with faint heartednese. Taylor told pstiiig motives.
—We learned from Cesar, and other ancient wri- them, and repeated it to the surgeon, that he now . The House then divided,Ayes, 13. Noes, 94.
tees conversant in military matters, that the veteran was satisfied that without discipline, subordination I • Lovlllllolla DIMICIE SILL.
soldiers were considered by that people as the most could not exist, that the sentence was Merciful and ! The Howe went Into *Oesonatttee ea Loveden's Divorce Eill
accordingly,
valuable part of the army, and treated
and his punishment lenient. That was enough as to the ea which a very protraerbd discussion took piece, and it Iv..
&lag always assigned the post of honour, ex- be otherstatements of the Honour,. finally weed that the woman should hose asi mouity of EsO •
cruelty. As to t s _ _
.....—_.
Report
was
brought
up,
sad the BM read .
exaggerated. Some Nt;brityt* in: kr
enipted from all that might be. termed the drudgery able Baronet, he hoped they were.
ta_
arts . .
le passed.
of military service. Ho arose from
w different the lot of of those casesg leo I Adjourned at Three o'clock till this day.
ourPt Met! ._ . .
detail of
veierans was might be ascertained from the. which of tours! could
not come within his (Mr. ..
what he had had the opportunity of witnessing. He Sutton • corssione they might be' '• d slims us STOCKS THIS DAY A I ONE O'CLOCK.
°e) $ but eareasose
had seen an old man, worn out in the service, for kno. A fro days ago. the Duke of York ellimcmci c, spi
ter,rt:me. Keened 113-4 per Ct. Ten
some trifling omission, or -rather for his 'mobility to that a sepias Teta= should be made of
si,-,..e11i . .._flr Irian, IH4-oenstiure if dia.
NM lii. es. pee—llasills 14a. per.
8.5.111.1.11 r.
. .
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THE EVENING STAR. • - *::

LONDON.


WEDNESDAY. JUNE 19.

The report at Windsor yesterday. was, That the
KING was a little better.
The Catholic Question was negatived last night,
in the Howe cif_Lords, by a majority of 121 to 62.
A great deal of firing has been heard again on the
coast of France, occasioned, as is suppmed, by the
b.iptism of the King if Route, on Wednesday last.

French Papers to the 12th instant, which were re-'
ceived last night, state the arrival of MassaNa and
!Amman at. Paris. They also contain the following
military report : s
TO MU IMGDNESS TS MIMICS Or DIAGRAM AND NRII/CDATRI.
" Ealamixea, May 14.
" Monseigneur—l had the honour to give an l'e-
count to your Highness, in my last dispatches, of the
success which the army obtained on the sth of May,
over die right wing of the English army. The eneniy
bad employed the night between the sth and the 6th,
as well as the Last of these days, to entrench the centre
of his line, which the army threatened in flank by its
position after the attack. From that mmrtent he has
i laboured incessantly at his trenches. The attack of
these works was difficult. Considering also that the
garrison of Almeida had pmvisions for only ten days,
mend that I could give them a supply fur_ only a few
days more, I thought it my duty, under these cir-
cumstances, to give orders for exploding the mines
which had been prepared two months ago, according
to the instructions of your Highness ; and to direct
General Brenier, who commanded the fortress, to
conic and join me. Several days were necessary for
charging the mines.
" On the morning of the 7th I caused my troops
to make some movements, in order to keep the enemy
in that state of alarm which he discovered by the
assiduity of his labours, and I made a chew of recon-
noitring all the approaches to his line.
" On thellth, I improved my position, continuing
to occupy the village of Fuente d'Onolo. The object
of these dispositions was to make the enemy fear a
movement en the centre of his line, or on one of his
flanks. He therefore kept himself the whole day in
a mass, under arms, and in continual manizuvres.
" On the 9th the army remained in the same posi-
tions;and my reconnoitring parties felt the whole of
the enemy's line. The English never shewed them-
selves beyond their rocks and entrenchments; they
shewed by all sorts of defensive arrangements, how
nitich they had been intimidated by the vigorous at.
tsitk of the sth.
" On the 10th, at m id night, the mines of A Ipteida were
sprung; 5 bastions and four half-moons were entirely
thrown down and the fortificationsd.±stroyed. General
Brenier displayed as much talent as intrepidity in the
conduct of this affair. He retired with his garrison
upon Barba del Pnerco, where he joined the lid corps,
overthrowing all that opposed him.'
" The operation which had put the army in motion
being thus terminated, it has recited wits tamonments.
--"- I beg yotif Highness to lay before kis Majesty
the good conduct of the officers and soldiers on this
occasion, and to solicit the bestowal of the different
rewards which I demand in my ulterior reports.
" I am, &c. . (Signed)
" MASSENA, Prince of Essling."
TORBAY, JUNE 17.
flailed his Majesty's ship ANTELOPE, with the trade
for Newioundland.Wind East.
l'.

PLYMOUTH, JUNE IT.
The ROTA frigate sailed last evening to blockade
Brest.—Came in the Ranger cartel, 'from the Isle of
France, last from Mor'Aix.
The wind still continues fair for arrivals from the
Peninsula. Two transports have arrived from Co.
runna, with a few foreign deserters from the French
army ; but they bring no news from that quarter.—
Three sail of the line have been in the offing to th!
eastward ever since yesterday evening, but not ne
enough to give their numbers ' • they are supposed to
be the Caledonia, Fame, and Revenge, from Ports.
mouth, bound is the Mediterranean.—Several tram.-
ports, with horses, arumunition, and stores, are wait-
ing for a shift of wind to sail tor the Tagus.—Several
light transports have returned from the Tagus; two
of them left the Tagus the 6th instant, but they bring'
no account of any new military movement, nor any
other news worth notice.
POW FSMOUTH, JUNE IL
Arrived his Majesty's ships NATADEN from the
Downs, and DERWENT from Guernsey.—Sailed his
Majesty's ships Cyane, Portmahon, Thracian, Gan-
nette, and Woolwich, with the trade for Spain, Por.
tugal, and the Mediterranean ; the Atcsanz, with a
convoy for Guernsey, &c. ; and the Costar, with ditto
.for Newfoundland.—Wind Southerly.
DEAL, JUNE ix.
Arrived-the BEAGLE sloop of war, from a crnize
off the French coast. Wind E.

SHEERNESS, JUNE 18.
Arrived the Lauristina, from the River Thames ;
Ind the Cheerful cutter from the Northward, and
caste into harbour.

YARMOUTH, JUNE is.
Yesterday, P.M. arrived from a cruise the ACUTE and HAVOC
gun-brigs, and Dwaar cutter; and the Danish privateer Oden,
(stoop-rigged), with two carriage-guns and small arms, Captain
Lars Nelsen Dal, taken by the Algerine cutter ; the privateer had
not made any careers; and this morning arrived the Frederick ;
Christian Kass; Dawes; Princess Louisa; Pegetta Christina; •
and the Forseyta' aden, leaden with corn and dry reeds, sent
in by his Majesty's ships CaIAR and ALOCR rms.-11/4110i god
Johan& Maria, ivith corn, sent in by his Majesty's ship DAPONer
and the Victoria, with corn, sent in by his Majesty's ship Ilea-
cuares, being part of about thirty sail detained vessels by the'
Noitk Sea cruizers.
The fire in Bury-street, St. Mary-Axe, was not
got under till between two and three o'clock in the
afternoon, but we are happy to hear that no lives
were lost. The fire burnt &fun the houses of Mr.
Le Batts, Dr. Shannon, Dr. Van Novan, Mr. Abra-
ham M:lleda, Mr. Daniels, Mr. Smonda, and Mx.
anJ considerably daniaged several others. I
:Chose who know Bury-street, will be able to form an
Lica of the extent of this destructive fire, when we
state that a full third of it, on both sides, is nearly
levelled with the ground.
Coast MARCIT, lows 19.—This day we hike several fresh
arrivals or Wheat ;.not much in request—fine 4sniples hard.y it
last prices, interior rather give way. Barley in plenty. 4.1.6
4.hcaper, and almost unsaleable. Mak rather lower. Very few
White Peas, again higher, and a rising article. Beans of each sort
-t little variation. There are considerable quantities of Oats, 1.14
_ales thereof nearly support lea prices. Rout as before.