The Glasgow Chronicle. — 1849-09-26 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

CASE OF COMMANDER PITMAN.  We read of a few more detestable expressions of human barbarity—Of low, vulgar, and capricious tyranny—than those supplied by investigations into the conduct of superior officers at sea. We know of no men who run such a risk of being abused, insulted, and subjected to grevious bodily harm, and mental torture, as those whose hardihood and heroism are amongst the proudest boasts of this country ;—whose deeds have furnished genius with some sf her choicest themes, and whose character can bear a comparison, in point of honesty and fidelity, with that of any body of men in which a country ever put its trust. One would think theta common and constant exposure to hardship and danger would draw the bonds of friendship among a ship's crew far more firmly then among any society on shore. The captain depinads upon the men, the men upon the captain, every hour and minute of the day, for their joint lives, and it would seem natural that such mutual dependence would of necessity engender mutual confldince and respect; and we believe there is no instance of master and men being so estranged as on board of a ship. The former seems to think himself a kind of superior being to those over wham the accident of interest or birth has given him the command ;—nay, though sprung from the ranks himself, where he may have been subjected to harsh treatment and abuse, the recollection of his former sufferings, instead of teaching him mercy, seems only to harden his heart against those who not long ago were his equals. He "takes it out" of his inferiors apparently to compensate for what he suffered himself. We are aware that the discipline on board of ship must be strict, and that the punishment of its breach must be severe. The government at sea must be a pure despotism, maintained by the most stringent laws and most uncompromising regularity; but we have often wondered how the influence of any law or the terror of any punishment has prevented a crew from throwing a rnon • star of a commander overboard; and in many instances which we have read of, whatever the law may say, we think they would have been justified. How British seamen can quietly look on and see their comrades lashed, hacked, tortured, and for no crime, offence, or breach of discipline, but merely at the caprice of a vulgar tyrant, is, to us, unaccountable, and, what is equally so, is the rareness that they complain even when on shore, and safe to prefer a charge. "I'll teach them what an old war officer is," was the boast of a brute who got the command of better men than himself; and for years he kept them in misery to which death was almost preferable. His whole study was to insult his officers and harass his men; and unfortunately this can in many cases be done to a frightful extent, without either officers or men having it in their power to seek a remedy. If they mutiny they are hanged; if they desert they are ruined for life; if they complain they incur the future vengeance of their oppressor. Some cases of enormous cruelty are occasionally brought to light, where men have been tortured beyond human endurance, but many, many gross oppressions are never heard of. What, if committed in a factory or a workshop on shore, would set a country ins blaze of indignation is a small affair at sea,—a passing squall, scarcely ruffling the quiet surface of every day life. What is the remedy? There is little doubt that men cannot be vested with such extensive powers as those possessed by commanders of ships, without those powers being abused; and to curtail them might, we could conceive, be injurious to the service. The only way to improvement that we can see is to abolish courts martial, and to bring any offender before a civil jury, or to alter very considerably the constitution of courts martial as they now exist. The procedure and verdicts at present are absurd. Those who sit judgment areoften as culpable as the men they j udge. They are almost all imbued with the some inflexibledetermination to preserve discipline at all hazards, and they look upon the success of a common man in making out a charge against his superior as pessimi exempli. Their great precept is that a commanding officer can do no wrong to his inferiors. It is the duty of these to take abuse quietly and obediently. Such, at least, are the inferences we would draw from the reports of most courts martial we have been unhappy enough to read. Where misconduct is established against a superior, the punishment is trifling; alien against a private, it is excessive. We are much inclined to think that civilians would hold the scales of justice more evenly. There would be no prejudice against or in favour of masters or men, and they might soon be furnished with a more just and a more merciful code than that contained in "the articles of war." None of lower rank than that of captain can sit upon a court martial. What would be thought of the case of a master manufacturer or flax-spinner being tried, for cruelty or oppression, to any of his hands, by his fellow manufac • turers or flax-spinners? We need not say that we have been led into these remarks by the conduct, trial, and htence of Captain Pitman of her Majesty's ship Chil4ars. Men have been driven by the cruelty of this !mmmander to desperation, i nsani ty, and suicide. The thing IJ. proved even to the satisfaction of a court-martial, Capt. ::rnan venturing only be produce one witness in his our. A Doctor Roger gives the whole exculpatoryevinmi and very singular evidence it appears to us to be. !dowever, Pitman is found guilty, and he is dismissed from her Majesty's service. A most lenient sentence it appears t° as to be for cruelty, brutality, and false book-keeping. We hardly think that his punishment will prevent others i!om committing the like offence. While we admit that the discipline on board of ships must be necessarily more strict than that in establishments shore, we think that abases by those in command r be most severely punished. On shore, in the r abuse, there is an immediate appeal to cruelty the civ The first act of or • Master is ,1"g 'voyage the Irreslionsible service he can th'ritYi until it is the lash to the Attie), are punish t(!?,Th desperate. daptain Pitman, ""t, They are missed the service and the author of larvice. We this Mal we are not agrant cage has tem under which !he atrocities ill nave been the co bav„ mmoni. let°,l nik Random; Zi in en ..nde since th 544, and fili.torture his Itt all cesen manY ways t s the law ia too 'al ivied Aaverti,or.  Oppression Jealously  can be  despof  yio.rk  deep Punished  thiak  vritiwut  di4  which