The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-03-29 00:00:00

MILITARY PUNISHMENTS.

The commissioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into
the system of punishing...military offences in the British army
have prepared a report, containing an able and impattial review
of that subject, which has been laid before parliament, and
printed for the information of the public. The report, founded
upon ►he evidence of private soldiers and of
,officers of every
grade in the army, from the corporal. to the field-marshal, and
also of some officers of great experience ilk the French army;
disproves all the assumptions and shows the fallacy of the
reasonings upon which the popular clamour respecting " mili-
tary torture" is supported. All the private soldiers who were
examined by the commissioners declared, that the feeling was
universal 'in the army Nat 'fio'inan is ever brought to the hal-
berts who does not deserve that punishment; and the comrades
of some of the sufferers, whose cases have been discussed in and
out of parliament, were of opinion. that
.they had not been
punished with a sufficient degree of severity!

Although not alluded to in the report, there can be no doubt
that the indiscreet meddlin,, of those Who have been in the habit
of holding up an insolent, mischievous, or refractory soldier,
when punished for his misconduct, ..es.the victim of "military
oppression" has had a tendency tOjncreate military offences,
and, of course, military punishments,; The ignorant and the
turbulent soldier is almost tempted to set his officers at defiance
by the readiness with which the public sympathy is excited when
it becomes necessary to correct his vices by an infliction likely
to deter others from the commission of similar offences ; but
for these effusions of ignorance and folly, where fifty lashes
have been inflicted, one would have sufficed to preserve the pro-
per degree of discipline, without which that necessary evil, an
army, would be the greatest curse, the most unendurable nui-
sance that could exist in this or any other country.
We have frequently seen the argument adduced, that, because
corporal punishments are not permitted in the French, they
should be abolished in the English army; but before that posi-
tion can be maintained it is necessary to take into consideration
the materials of which each army is respectively composed.
The ranks of the French army are filled by compulsory service,
every male in France, whatever his' rank in society may be,
being obliged to serve either in person or by deputy for a limited
portion of his life. In that army corporal punishments were
not abolished until recruits for it were levied by a general con-
scription, Speaking of the French system, the commissioners
state, that " in the French army forty-five offences are punish-
able by death—a sentence seldom commuted in time of war;
while in our articles of war authority to pass that sentence is
always coupled with the words " or such punishment as a gene-
ral court martial may award." "Twenty-six other offences are
punishable with imprisonment for periods front five to twelve
years, with a cannon ball attached to the leg or other part of
the body." "Nineteen offences are punishable by imprisonment
in the galleys front one to three sears, which in the English ser-
vice would subject the offender to be tried by a district court
martial, the limit of whose. Power of sentence, in respect of cor-
poral ;punishment, is 300 lashes;" " and," they proceed to say,
it appears front the evidence that the French code does not
produce, even in time of peace, a discipline in any degree equal
to that of the British army."
To these punisinnents, be it, remembered, every male in
France is obliged to incur the risk Of being subjected, while in
England no man can be forced to become a soldier against his
inclinations. Still, with the knowledge that certain breaches of
discipline are punishable by the lash, there is no difficulty in
finding two recruits for every man required in our service, and
the rejected are content to -grcfahroad 'Rs auxiliaries, where they
are treated with ten times the severity that they would have
experienced had their services been accepted at home. Drunk-
enness appears to be the prevailing cause of all the offences
which are visited with corporal inflictions. :-.An increase of pay
has been suggested. Would this be likely to lesson that'levtil?'
Do we never hear of " brutal outrages coonnitted .by drunken
and infuriate soldiers P) And, lastly, are the.
.ativocates for
cheap government pik4re4 to see the amt§oioes 'doubled
or trebled without g,itiatliting at the e°o9r#,t4 oi; the expense?
These _are matters that recinire a little consideration we trow,
The anxiety to itbnlirn military flagging is as general among
military :nett theatielveli as it possibly can be among those who
are occupied in_ the pursuits of civil life. The
:best proof that
can be given of this feeling is the fact that the sentences ac-
tually passed tipOn military culprits are seldom carried fully
into effect. It is, however,: somewhat strange that the flogging
abolitionists should have forgotten the judicial inflictions of this
description.

The following are the. conclusions from the evidence to which
the commissioners have arrived:— .„

I. That the opinion of almost every witness whom we 'have
examined is, that the substitution of other punishments for cor-
poral punishment in the British Army, upon actual service
and in the field, is impracticable, and, if practicable, would be
insufficient for the maintenance of proper discipline in your
Majesty's Army.
"2. That the abolition of the power of awarding corporal pun-
ishment, by sentence of Court-martial, in the British islands
and the colonies, and during peace, and the •retention of the
power of indicting that punishment when the army is on service
and in the field, appear to us, for the reasons we have stated,
manifestly unjust.
"3. That it does not appear to us that the punishments which
have been resorted to as substitutes have hitherto had such an
effect as to render it safe'to abolish altogether, that power in
Great i3ritain or the colonies, nor have. any other punishments
been suggested to its that appear to promise a more favourable
result.

4. That it appears to us, that even supposing that some effec-
tual substitute might be devised, or that those now in use inight
be made more effectual, so. as to render corporal punishment
ultimately unnecessary, it would be.,unsafe to proceed at once
to abolish it entirely ; and that even .in that case its abolition
should be gradual.
"5. That in order to give full effect to the punishments now
in use as substitutes fur corporal punishment, considerable al-
terations must be made in the means of rendering.solitary con-
finement in the several barracks more effective, and that a cer-
tain number of. prisons exclusively for military offenders should
be provided as soon as possible.
"6. That although we have been unwillingly convinced of the
necessity of still retaining the power of corporal punishment,
in proportion to our conviction of that necessity we earnestly
recommend that no pains may be spared to endeavour to make
its infliction less frequent.
"7. That, with the view of diminishing the frequency of this
punishment, the offences to which it is limited, and the occasions
upon which it should be resorted to, should be more clearly de-
fined. ,
" 8. That with the same view:morediscretion should be vested
in Commanding Officers as to the power of making use of minor
punishments, and in determining on the offences which shall,
under their orders, be tried by a regimental Court-martial.
"0.. That it appears to' us that the extent of the sentences in
the power of the several (IWr4-ptions oWourts-martialto a.ward
may, wilhout danger, be more limited than,at preseut.
‘ -Sinitild'be 'given in- the' way of
honorary‘o 'That
Irealtv earzoattgurdalir:nti;elrii
ct ion
~lioth,to the gallant and to the
well-conducted solffier.
"11. That no consideratien •rif 'expense- within reasonable
bounds should be allowed to stand in the . way of attending to
the comforts of the soldier
Whiieio.the,service, and of a suffi-
cient pension for'thegood-andr:deseivirre ma rafter that service
has been performed.
" We cannot close our Report without, assuring your Ma-
jesty that we find ample evidence of the earnest desire, and the
most strenuous efforts upon the part, not only of the superior
officers, but of officers of all ranks, so to conduct- the . discipline
of the army as to render corporal punishment as rare as pos-
sible; and more especially we observe that the. Commanding
Officers are fully aware of -your •,Majesty's gracious wishes in
that respect, and we are satisfied that they will persevere in
giving the fullest effect, by the strictest attention to the moral
discipline of their regiments, to those-wishes. •
" How far the result of the inquiry in which we have, by your
Majesty's command, been so long engaged, will tend to remove
or mitigate the feeling which now prevails against the. use of
corporal punishment in the army we know not, but we can
assure your Majesty that we have endeavoured to sift the ques-
tions submitted to our inquiry fully and fairly, and without pre-
judice, and that we have formed our opinions upon the result of
the very best evidence that could have been obtained upon the
question.
" Finally, we feel it to be our duty to your Majesty to state
our conviction, that if it were possible to introduce such a sys-
tem of discipline as that of France into your Majesty's army
(a system which in its effects we believe to be far from being
as successful as that of Great Britain,) it could only be by the
establishment of such a rigorous conscription of all ranks as we
believe would not be endured, and by a change in the whole
tone in this country, as to the military service, such as we have
no expectation of seeing effected.
" We humbly submit this our unanimous Report to your Ms-
jestfa Royal consideration.
" WHARNCLIFFE.
JAMES KEMPT.
'SANDON.
E. Hynn EAST.,
R. C Fanutissom.
1, BARNES, Lieutenant-General,
41% BEYNELL.
"India Boar:to-Meth 15, 1836."

"What is the lotitteit thing you can remember ?")111<ed
acquaintance of King' Methtisakm. " The kird frost ia1709;"
was the eueletitts prompt reply; " it lasted 19 weeks,"